The defending NFC champions are coming to town.
The Philadelphia Eagles are set to travel to Tampa, Florida, to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it should turn out to be a great matchup. The Bucs are 2-0 and have boasted a vaunted defense so far in 2023, and the Eagles are also undefeated and looking to maintain their streak.
The Bucs have a few good matchups with Philadelphia, but there’s still plenty about the Eagles that makes for a feared opponent. Here are three things in particular that the Bucs should be concerned about before their Week 3 matchup against their old rivals:
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Yes, Tampa Bay’s run defense has been fantastic for the first two weeks of the season. But it hasn’t played a rushing offense quite like Philadelphia’s.
As it stands, the Eagles have the second-highest rushing yards per game in 2023 with 178. To compare, the Minnesota Vikings are currently in dead last with 34.5 rushing yards per game and the Chicago Bears are 21st with 94.5 rushing yards per game. The Bucs should probably give up a better fight defensively, but the key to beating the Eagles will be to make that offense one-dimensional — and that will start with slowing down players like running back D’Andre Swift and quarterback Jalen Hurts.
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And while the Bucs have a good rush defense themselves, there’s only one in the league that is statistically better.
The Eagles only allow 52 rush yards per game, and so the Bucs will need to get their run game going. Tampa Bay managed to do that against the Chicago Bears, but failed to do that against the Minnesota Vikings — the same Vikings team that gave up a comical 259 yards on the ground. Tampa Bay is going to need to tap into that same energy from Week 2 to avoid falling prey to Philadelphia’s attack.
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They’ve lied dormant for the first part of the year, but don’t be fooled. Wideouts Devonta Smith and A.J. Brown can strike at any moment.
QB Jalen Hurts is still only averaging 162.5 passing yards per game, but the arm that put fear in so many last year could still come out at any time. If the Bucs aren’t careful, the trio of Hurts, Smith and Brown could produce if Tampa Bay focuses too much on the run game.
