PHILADELPHIA — Traveling back to Raymond James Stadium on Sunday won’t be a revenge tour for the Philadelphia Eagles, who appear to be over their blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
This is a different Eagles team than the one that appeared in Tampa Bay nine months ago, with a new offense for Jalen Hurts and an improved defense under Vic Fangio. The Buccaneers have relatively the same core of the team that defeated the Eagles 32-9 in the wild card round last January.
With both the Eagles and Buccaneers sitting at 2-1, both teams are going in opposite directions after last week. The Eagles earned a tough win against the New Orleans Saints on the road while the Pirates suffered an embarrassing loss at home to the Denver Broncos. The Buccaneers will look to bounce back against an Eagles team they have beaten in five of their last six meetings, including twice in the playoffs.
How will the Eagles respond against the Buccaneers in their final matchup before the bye week? Here’s a preview of Sunday’s game, along with how to watch the contest:
Where to look
Date: Sunday, September 29 | Time: 1 pm ET
Location: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Florida)
Television: Fox | Stream: fubo (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App
odds: Pirates +3, O/U 48
Eagles wide receiver situation
The Eagles will drop at least two of their top four wide receivers before Sunday. DeVonta Smith is out with a concussion and Britain Covey is out several weeks with a shoulder injury. The biggest question that remains is AJ Brown, who has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury and didn’t practice at all this week until Friday. Brown is questionable for Sunday, and the Eagles very much need him to go because of their current situation at wide receiver.
Philadelphia will have Jahan Dotson and Johnny Wilson on the active roster, with Parris Campbell expected to be called up from the practice squad. John Ross, who spent the entire offseason with the team, was signed to the practice squad this week and is likely a call up because he knows the offense.
Brown’s play on Sunday would be massive for the Eagles, especially since the Buccaneers won’t have Antoine Winfield Jr. in the secondary. Brown has 87.7 receiving yards per game since the start of the 2022 season, fourth in the NFL. With the depleted group at receiver, having Brown would be massive for the Eagles offense.
Jalen Hurts against the blitz
The Eagles’ struggles against the Buccaneers defense last season put Hurts on notice when facing the blitz. Hurts was 12 of 20 against Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles’ defense in the wild-card round loss last season, throwing for a touchdown with an 87.9 passer rating. He also had only 92 yards on those 20 attempts, when Bowles spread the pressure knowing that was Hurts’ weakness.
In Hurts’ five seasons in the NFL, he improved his completion percentage against the blitz each year. Hurts went from 51.1% in his rookie season to his 71.4% this year, a 20.2% increase over that span. Even in Hurts’ best season (2022) he improved his completion percentage against the blitz by 13.3%.
Hurts is completing a career-high 71.4% of his passes against the blitz this season, a vast improvement over the 60.5% he had last season. Hurts’ struggles against the blitz have been well documented, no longer harming his game.
“I think he’s doing a great job,” Bowles told reporters this week. “They understand the offense because he’s been in it for a while now. So, after a few years, he has a good understanding of what they’re trying to do.
“Obviously, Kellen [Moore] added a few things, too, to make the offense a little more multiplied that way. He handles everything well.”
The Pirates attacked Hurts early and often in the previous matchups. That’s not expected to change Sunday, even if the Buccaneers have just two sacks on the season (0 in their last two games).
Key statistics
- Baker Mayfield has a career-high 74.4% completion percentage and 7.8 yards per attempt this season.
- Saquon Barkley is first in the nFL in rushing yards this season (351) and fourth in percentage of his team’s offense (31.7%).
- Jalen Hurts has 7 straight games with an interception — the longest such streak by an Eagles player since Ty Detmer in 1996.
- Eagles have allowed 10 plays of 25+ yards this season, third most in NFL. They allowed 37 all of last season.
- Dallas Goedert has 239 receiving yards this season, the most among tight ends.
- The Buccaneers have 41 missed tackles this season — the most of any team in the NFL.
- The Eagles are first in completion percentage allowed at 57.2%.
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