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PHILADELPHIA — Touring again to Raymond James Stadium on Sunday will not be a vengeance tour for the Philadelphia Eagles, who look like over their blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers within the wild card spherical of the playoffs.
It is a totally different Eagles crew than the one which took the sphere in Tampa Bay 9 months in the past, with a brand new offense for Jalen Hurts and an improved protection beneath Vic Fangio. The Buccaneers have comparatively the identical core from the crew that defeated the Eagles 32-9 within the wild card spherical final January.
With each the Eagles and Buccaneers sitting at 2-1, each groups are heading in reverse instructions after final week. The Eagles earned a hard-fought victory towards the New Orleans Saints on the highway whereas the Buccaneers suffered an embarrassing loss at residence to the Denver Broncos. The Buccaneers will likely be trying to rebound towards an Eagles crew they’ve defeated in 5 of their final six conferences, together with twice within the playoffs.
How will the Eagles reply towards the Buccaneers of their closing matchup earlier than the bye week? Here is a preview of Sunday’s recreation, together with watch the competition:
The place to observe
Date: Sunday, Sept. 29 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Fla.)
TV: Fox | Stream: fubo (try for free)
Observe: CBS Sports App
Odds: Buccaneers +3, O/U 48
Eagles large receiver scenario
The Eagles are going to be down at the least two of their high 4 large receivers heading into Sunday. DeVonta Smith is out with a concussion and Britain Covey is out a number of weeks with a shoulder harm. The most important query that is still is A.J. Brown, who has missed the previous two video games with a hamstring harm and didn’t apply in any respect this week till Friday. Brown is questionable for Sunday, and the Eagles many want him to go given their present scenario at large receiver.
Philadelphia can have Jahan Dotson and Johnny Wilson on the lively roster, with Parris Campbell anticipated to be referred to as up from the apply squad. John Ross, who spent the whole offseason with the crew, was signed to the apply squad this week and is probably going a name up since he is aware of the offense.
Brown taking part in on Sunday could be huge for the Eagles, particularly because the Buccaneers will not have Antoine Winfield Jr. within the secondary. Brown has 87.7 receiving yards per recreation because the begin of the 2022 season, fourth within the NFL. With the depleted group at receiver, having Brown could be huge for the Eagles offense.
Jalen Hurts vs. the blitz
The Eagles’ struggles towards the Buccaneers protection final season put Hurts on discover when dealing with the blitz. Hurts was 12 of 20 towards Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles’ protection within the wild-card spherical defeat final season, throwing a landing with an 87.9 passer ranking. He additionally had simply 92 yards on these 20 makes an attempt, as Bowles dialed up the stress figuring out that was Hurts’ weak spot.
In Hurts’ 5 seasons within the NFL, he improved his completion proportion towards the blitz yearly. Hurts went from 51.1% in his rookie season to his 71.4% this 12 months, a 20.2% enhance over that span. Even in Hurts’ finest season (2022) he improved his completion proportion towards the blitz by 13.3%.
Hurts is finishing a career-high 71.4% of his passes towards the blitz this season, an unlimited enchancment over the 60.5% he had final season. Hurts’ struggles towards the blitz have been well-documented, not a detriment to his recreation.
“I feel he’s doing an amazing job,” Bowles mentioned to reporters this week. “They perceive the offense as a result of he has been in it some time now. So, a pair years in, he is received an excellent grasp of what they’re attempting to do.
“Clearly, Kellen [Moore] added some issues, as effectively, to make the offense somewhat extra a number of that means. He’s dealing with every thing effectively.”
The Buccaneers have blitzed Hurts early and infrequently within the prior matchups. That is not anticipated to vary Sunday, even when the Buccaneers have simply two sacks on the season (0 of their final two video games).
Key stats
- Baker Mayfield has a career-high 74.4% completion price and seven.8 yards per try this season.
- Saquon Barkley is first within the nFL in dashing yards this season (351) and fourth in proportion of his crew’s offense (31.7%).
- Jalen Hurts has 7 straight video games with an interception — the longest such streak by an Eagles participant since Ty Detmer in 1996.
- Eagles have allowed 10 performs of 25+ yards this season, the third-most in NFL. They allowed 37 all of final season.
- Dallas Goedert has 239 receiving yards this season, probably the most amongst tight ends.
- The Buccaneers have 41 missed tackles this season — probably the most of any crew in NFL.
- The Eagles are first in completion proportion allowed at 57.2%.
