The reigning Super Bowl Champs roll into Tampa to take on the 1-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs will look to add another W onto their record against a very familiar foe in the Eagles.
The series history between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Philadelphia Eagles reaches back all the way to 1977 with Tampa taking a three to 13 loss in Philly. The rivalry between these two teams played out often during the playoffs throughout the years.
1979 NFC Divisional Round
The Buccaneers took on the Eagles in 1979 during the NFC Divisional round with a 24 to 17 victory. Since then, these two teams have faced off against each other in the post season three more teams with one game sending the Bucs to the Super Bowl.
The Early 2000’s
In the Early 2000’s, The Eagles seemed to have Tampa’s number in regards to winning significant conference games that had so much leaning towards each teams respective playoff runs.
The Eagles had a young and remarkable quarter back in Donovan McNabb who could get himself out of any pressure the defense threw at him. This defense was led by Hall of Famer’s Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp, along with Tampa’s most dangerous sack leader in Simeon Rice.
In the December 31st, 2000 match-up, the Eagles defense had the Buccaneers figured all day as the Bucs only had 199 yards of total offense. McNabb would go finish the game with 24 of 33 for 161 yards and two scores to propel the Eagles to a win over Tampa, 21 to three. The only Buccaneer score would come from Martin Gramatica for 29 yards.
In 2001, Tampa took on Philly twice, once during the regular season, and once in the post season. The later game truly hurt the Buccaneers as they would have more than likely went to the NFC Championship game. The 2001 Wild Card match-up was all Eagles as the Buccaneers went on to lose the game 31 to nine.
After going through all these great Eagles teams from the past, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally saw themselves on top of the Eagles.
The 2002 Season
After a October lose to Philly in 2002, Tampa found themselves, again, playing the Eagles for the rights to the NFC. On the 19th of January, 2003, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into Veterans Stadium with a mission to punish the team that had their number picked for so many years. One of the most prolific plays in Buccaneers history will always be the Pick Six from Ronde Barber to close the Vet down in style.
Tampa’s Brad Johnson had the Bucs moving down the field for most of the game and with the help of work horse full back Mike Alstott, the Bucs were able to put up two offensive touchdowns.
The Bucs limited McNabb’s ability to run the ball, which in turn saw McNabb throwing the ball 49 times for 243 yards and one fate sealing interception! The Buccaneers would go onto win the Super Bowl following this spectacular victory over the Eagles.
The Bucs would go onto win the next two match-ups against the Eagles, following their Super Bowl victory.
the last time these two teams met was in Philly in 2015 as the Bucs shiny new number one overall pick quarterback, Jameis Winston, would go onto have a record day with five touchdowns against the Eagles.
It’s now 2018, and the Philadelphia Eagles are the reigning champs. This’ll be another great game to put into the long history of the Tampa vs Philly rivalry.
