Buccaneers Begin Defense Of Their Title Against Eagles

It’s that time of year again as the NFL playoffs are underway.

For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they finished the regular season 13-4 and are the second seed in the NFC. The Eagles finished the season 9-8 and are the seventh seed in the NFC. By virtue of earning that second seed, the Bucs have a better playoff scenario than they did last season when they didn’t even host a game until the Super Bowl.

Heading into the postseason, then Bucs employ the greatest winner in the sport, quarterback Tom Brady. Brady has faced the Eagles twice in the postseason with a 1-1 record. Having Brady is the biggest advantage the Bucs have, especially when the opposition, Jalen Hurts, is making their first postseason start of their career.

Around FPC

NFL: High Variance: Steelers Offense Vs Chiefs Defense Preview

NFL: Home Field Advantage in NFL Remains a Big-Time Mystery

NFL: Raiders/Bengals Preview: The Cincinnati Front

NHL: NHL Power Rankings: Florida Panthers Remain Number One

Wrestling: WWE Once Again Chooses To Go Back To Brock Lesnar

PODCAST: Full Press NFL Podcast Ep 27: Week 18 Storylines; COTY Race; Picks and Predictions

Regular Season Re-match

The Bucs and Eagles met in Philadelphia in Week 6 with Tampa winning the game 28-22. Brady finished with 297 yards and two touchdowns with just one interception. For the Eagles, Hurts passed for 115 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Bruce Arians said this week this is a totally different Eagles team than they saw earlier in the season.

“Oh yeah, [they’re] totally different – playing with a ton of confidence, won a bunch of ballgames since we played them,” said Arians. “Once you get in the playoffs, anything can happen, so they’re going to be fired up. They’ve got a ton of weapons and they look pretty healthy. So, yeah, it’s a totally different football team than we played back there in October.”

Tight end Rob Gronkowski missed the earlier matchup with the Eagles and will likely be called upon a lot with the absence of Chris Godwin, Leonard Fournette, and Antonio Brown.  However, his blocking will be just as important to try and get Keshawn Vaughn and the running game going.

The Bucs are starting to get a little healthier with the return of Lavonte David. David had been on injured reserve for three weeks with a foot injury and will add a boost to a defense that will be without Sean Murphy-Bunting in the secondary.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to imagine the Bucs lose this game with Brady under center. Being at home will help, as well as the experience of the respective coaching staff. At the end of the day, the Bucs offense will be too much to handle for the Eagles.