It’s Week 4 of NFL football, and the Tampa Bay Bucs are facing the same Philadelphia Eagles that they knocked out of the playoffs this past season.
Can the Bucs do enough to come away with another victory over those damn Eagles and all their obnoxious fans?
I’d say yes; Vita Vea and Luke Goedeke both practiced Wednesday and seem on track to play Sunday afternoon in the 1 p.m. contest at Raymond James Stadium.
The Eagles are coming off a fun victory on the road against the New Orleans Saints, but are going to be without star receiver A.J. Brown, and other star wideout DeVonta Smith has yet to clear concussion protocol after exiting that game Sunday in the Superdome.
All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson missed Philly’s Wednesday practice, as well, giving a usually strong Eagles offensive line a bit of an issue against a sorry Bucs pass rush that can use any help they can get in increasing their measly sack total of 2.
Is elite tight end Dallas Goedert and rejuvenated star running back Saquan Barkley enough to push the Eagles over the top? Can they give Jalen Hurts enough support to help the quarterback lead this team to a 3-1 start?
I’m not so sure. While Goedert’s YAC ability is among the best in football at the tight end position, his high target share and EPA are mostly due to the Eagles being without their top 2 wideouts last week. He’s going to face a tough challenge in replicating last week’s elite performance.
Barkley has been similarly good at his position, ranking in the top-3 in relative YPC and 13th in yards created, but he hasn’t faced Vita Vea and this Bucs defense yet. He also has to deal with a defense that can load the box significantly more than what he’s faced so far, especially without Brown and Smith lining up on the outside, as the former Penn State man is 42nd in average box defenders on rush attempts amongst ball carriers.
Plus, on the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles have struggled against the pass, ranking 26th in EPA/pass, even despite their fantastic performance last week against the high-flying Saints.
Given, some of their struggles came in the weird Week 1 matchup against the Packers, another good offense, on a weird field in Brazil, so perhaps they get a bit of a pass.
However, their secondary’s average PFF grades combined with a sack total that doubles the Bucs’ (4) speaks to a group that could struggle mightily against the Bucs, assuming Goedeke is healthy and Mike Evans’ limited participation Wednesday is just due to veteran maintenance.
So, while Tampa Bay looked rough in their Sunday loss to the Broncos, with mistakes in every facet of the game and their offense playing uncharacteristically poor, they are getting reinforcements in Vea and LG, and the Eagles are just, as if not more, banged up.
Therefore, the Bucs should come out on top in their rematch Sunday afternoon, taking home a 24-21 victory over the Jalen Hurts-led NFC East foes.
Hopefully I’m right, but even if not, let’s not get too panicky, as 2-2 is still an OK start and there’s 13 games left after this one. It’ll all be OK.
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Can the Bucs do enough to come away with another victory over those damn Eagles and all their obnoxious fans?
I’d say yes; Vita Vea and Luke Goedeke both practiced Wednesday and seem on track to play Sunday afternoon in the 1 p.m. contest at Raymond James Stadium.
The Eagles are coming off a fun victory on the road against the New Orleans Saints, but are going to be without star receiver A.J. Brown, and other star wideout DeVonta Smith has yet to clear concussion protocol after exiting that game Sunday in the Superdome.
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All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson missed Philly’s Wednesday practice, as well, giving a usually strong Eagles offensive line a bit of an issue against a sorry Bucs pass rush that can use any help they can get in increasing their measly sack total of 2.
Is elite tight end Dallas Goedert and rejuvenated star running back Saquan Barkley enough to push the Eagles over the top? Can they give Jalen Hurts enough support to help the quarterback lead this team to a 3-1 start?
I’m not so sure. While Goedert’s YAC ability is among the best in football at the tight end position, his high target share and EPA are mostly due to the Eagles being without their top 2 wideouts last week. He’s going to face a tough challenge in replicating last week’s elite performance.
Barkley has been similarly good at his position, ranking in the top-3 in relative YPC and 13th in yards created, but he hasn’t faced Vita Vea and this Bucs defense yet. He also has to deal with a defense that can load the box significantly more than what he’s faced so far, especially without Brown and Smith lining up on the outside, as the former Penn State man is 42nd in average box defenders on rush attempts amongst ball carriers.
Plus, on the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles have struggled against the pass, ranking 26th in EPA/pass, even despite their fantastic performance last week against the high-flying Saints.
Given, some of their struggles came in the weird Week 1 matchup against the Packers, another good offense, on a weird field in Brazil, so perhaps they get a bit of a pass.
However, their secondary’s average PFF grades combined with a sack total that doubles the Bucs’ (4) speaks to a group that could struggle mightily against the Bucs, assuming Goedeke is healthy and Mike Evans’ limited participation Wednesday is just due to veteran maintenance.
So, while Tampa Bay looked rough in their Sunday loss to the Broncos, with mistakes in every facet of the game and their offense playing uncharacteristically poor, they are getting reinforcements in Vea and LG, and the Eagles are just, as if not more, banged up.
Therefore, the Bucs should come out on top in their rematch Sunday afternoon, taking home a 24-21 victory over the Jalen Hurts-led NFC East foes.
Hopefully I’m right, but even if not, let’s not get too panicky, as 2-2 is still an OK start and there’s 13 games left after this one. It’ll all be OK.
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