Davy Jones Locker: Buccaneers vs Eagles Q&A with Bleeding Green Nation

This weekend features a matchup of two 3-0 teams as the Buccaneers play host to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. The Bucs and Eagles have both played some close games but have found ways to win them. To break down this game even more, we sat down with Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation to give us a closer look into this matchup.

“The combination of that sobering loss to the Bucs and the Week 5 bye to follow survived as a good reset point.

Multiple reasons why:

1. The Eagles got healthier. Against Tampa, they were missing A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson. Those players all returned to action after Week 4. They also lost
2. The Eagles made a big change on defense. Avonte Maddox was a liability at nickel cornerback. Benching him in favor of Cooper DeJean turned out to be a major upgrade.
3. The Eagles formed an identity that involved leaning heavily upon Saquon Barkley. From Week 1 to Week 4, Jalen Hurts averaged 33 passing attempts per game. He had seven turnovers as the Eagles went 2-2. In his next 15 games started and finished, he averaged 21.1 passing attempts per game and turned the ball over just four times.

It’s funny to look back at the postgame analysis of that Week 4 loss now after watching the Eagles go on an epic run to win Super Bowl. “

“Yeah, that’s a major deal. The Eagles haven’t lost a game that both Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown started and finished since Week 17 of the 2023 season.

Oddly enough, the Eagles seemed to forget that Brown was on their team for the first 2.5 games of this season. He had just six receptions for 36 yards during that stretch. After the Eagles remembered that they were allowed to throw to Brown, he had six receptions for 109 yards and one touchdown in the second half of their win over the Los Angeles Rams. After the game, both Hurts and Brown alluded to needing to be more aggressive and not merely playing “not to lose.”

So, I’m guessing we’ll see Hurts force-feeding Brown again in this one, as the Eagles should. It shouldn’t matter if he’s perfectly covered because he’s capable of making contested catches and then breaking through tackles after he has the ball. If the Bucs dedicate extra attention to Brown, that figures to open up opportunities for DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert, who are both capable of winning their one-on-one matchups.“

“Assuming the offense has legitimately turned a corner (TBD), the Eagles’ biggest concern right now is the CB2 spot. The Eagles cut Darius Slay and let Isaiah Rodgers (reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week) walk in free agency with the idea that Kelee Ringo was ready to take over as a starting cornerback. Unfortunately for them, Ringo struggled in training camp practices and preseason games to ultimately fall out of starting contention. He lost the battle to veteran Adoree’ Jackson, who didn’t even play well but managed to look less worse than Ringo. Jackson is now dealing with a groin injury but it seems like he might be able to play in Week 4. Jackson was already struggling prior to injury; he was a liability in Week 1 before settling in a little bit more in Week 2 and Week 3. If Jackson isn’t able to make it through the game, the Eagles won’t have their top backup cornerback available since they just placed Jakorian Bennett on injured reserve. And so it might be Ringo who has to play against the Bucs. The Eagles are lucky that Mike Evans won’t be playing in this game but Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin Jr. still figure to challenge this secondary.

The Eagles’ run defense has also been more leaky than expected but I’m looking to air it out if I’m the Bucs (though I’m also not privy to the extent of Baker Mayfield’s right biceps injury).“

“It seems like Tristan Wirfs is on track to return, which is a big deal for the Bucs. But that offensive line is still missing multiple starters. I’d like to see the Eagles’ pass rush be able to take advantage of that unit. The Birds just unexpectedly placed Nolan Smith on injured reserve, so, that hurts. But Jalyx Hunt has shown intriguing potential and Za’Darius Smith has a track record of production on the edge. When it comes to the interior, Jordan Davis is having a career season thus far and Jalen Carter should be able to take advantage of the weakened right side of the Bucs’ offensive line. The Eagles need to get to Baker Mayfield and force him into bad decisions.”

“That’s interesting, right? The Eagles have consistently struggled to beat the Bucs since the Nick Sirianni/Jalen Hurts era began in 2021. And yet the Eagles opened as three-point road favorites and the line has since shifted to Philly being favored by 3.5 points. Call me a sucker for believing things will be different this time but it’s hard to bet against the Birds since they simply do not lose when Hurts starts and finishes the game. And whereas the Eagles have been “the hunted” in the sense of teams wanting to get revenge on them each of the past two weeks, now they’re in a spot with something to prove.

I have a lot of respect for the Bucs; they’re the No. 5 team in my NFL power rankings. I think it’s impressive how they’ve been able to go 3-0 despite being banged up. I figure they’ll only get better as they get healthier.

But I’m taking the Eagles to come out on top in this one via a Jake Elliott game-winning field goal. Final score: Eagles 24, Bucs 21.“

It should be an interesting game. Thanks so much to Brandon for doing this!