Another Year, Another Trip To Tampa Bay — Eagles-Buccaneers Week 4 Preview
Hunter Martin / Philadelphia Eagles
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Philadelphia Eagles are traveling to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers in a Week 4 matchup.
For the second season in a row, the Eagles will be traveling to “The Big Guava” for a Week 4 matchup against the Buccaneers. Including playoffs, this will be the fifth consecutive year that the Buccaneers and Eagles will face off, and the fifth game in a row that will take place in Tampa Bay.
To put it lightly, the Buccaneers have the Eagles’ number as of late. They’ve beaten them in the playoffs twice in the last four years, and since 2015, Tampa Bay is 6-1 against the Eagles. For some reason, the Eagles struggle against the Buccaneers, especially when they have to travel down to Florida.
While that may be the case as of late, this is not only a different Eagles team, but this is an Eagles team that finally got over the hump and won the Super Bowl that this group has been vying for for years. And now they’ve started 2025 off on a good note, opening the year 3-0. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of Eagles team shows up Sunday. Will it be the resilient team that’s coming off an improbable comeback win, or is this the classic case of the team going down to Tampa Bay and losing?
Reinforcements Are Here This Time
While the Buccaneers have had success in the past couple of matchups against Philadelphia, there’s been one key thing that people forget about when they look at the matchups between these two teams. That would be whether or not the Eagles had A.J. Brown playing.
The last two times the Eagles played the Buccaneers, Brown has been inactive, and the Eagles went on to lose both games. The sole time Brown has faced Tampa Bay as a member of the Eagles, Philadelphia defeated the Buccaneers 25-11, and Brown caught nine balls for 131 yards.
Clearly, the Eagles play better as a team when Brown is on the field, and after last week’s six-reception 109 109-yard and one touchdown game against the Rams, the Eagles’ wide receiver is ready to feast on the Buccaneers once again. Also, two players who missed last year’s matchup were DeVonta Smith and Lane Johnson. While Johnson was questionable this week after suffering a neck stinger in last week’s game, he, alongside Smith and the rest of the Eagles offense, is healthy and ready to go in what’s expected to be an electrifying matchup between two of the NFL’s best.
Adjusting To Missing Defensive Starters
While the offensive side of the ball will be healthy for this Sunday’s game, the defense took a major hit this week when they announced that edge rusher Nolan Smith and defensive back Jakorian Bennett would be placed on IR and miss a minimum of four games. On top of that, Eagles starting cornerback Adoree’ Jackson was listed as doubtful on the most recent injury report, which makes it unlikely that he’ll play this weekend.
This is huge for the Eagles as they will now be missing a starting edge rusher, and some say their best edge rusher, as well as both a starting and rotational defensive back. Tampa Bay’s offense is no joke, even though they’ll be without star wide receiver Mike Evans. Baker Mayfield is once again off to a fantastic start to the season, and rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka has burst onto the scene.
The run game and protection up front will see a big upgrade as All-Pro tackle Tristan Wirfs is likely to make his season debut this weekend. Also making his season debut is fellow former All-Pro, wide receiver Chris Godwin, who has been out since last season due to an ankle dislocation. Add up all that, plus a loaded backfield with studs Bucky Irving and Rachaad White, and you have one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL.
So it’s not the best week to be losing key starters on one side of the football. For edge rushers, the Eagles luckily have key depth in Joshua Uche, Ogbo Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, and Azeez Ojulari, and they also just signed Za’Darius Smith just two weeks ago. It’ll be a long stretch of filling in for Smith on the pass rush, but the Eagles have suitable options.
As for the secondary, we could see Cooper DeJean move to the outside corner; however, it’s likely Kelee Ringo will get the start on Sunday. As for the depth spots, the Eagles signed safety Marcus Epps and cornerback Parry Nickerson to the active roster, and they’ll likely see playing time during this Sunday’s game.
Fixing Kickoff Returns
While there were many issues in last week’s 33-26 win over the Los Angeles Rams, one big issue was the numerous kickoff returns by the Eagles that were unable to be returned past the 20-yard line. Eagles return men Tank Bigsby and John Metchie III, both of whom were traded for in the last month for depth, each muffed punts on Sunday, with Metchie muffing three and Bigsby one.
If you include the two touchbacks that were kicked, the Eagles’ average field position start line would’ve been 19.4. If you don’t include the touchbacks, on average, the Eagles were starting at the 16.2-yard line. Yeah, that’s not good. Thankfully, Howie Roseman does what he does best, and he solves the problem.
The Eagles grabbed return specialist Xavier Gipson off the New York Giants to help with the return game. Gibson has mainly been used as a return man since coming into the NFL back in 2023, mainly with the New York Jets. Some may remember when he returned a game-winning touchdown for the Jets in his first-ever NFL game.
Gibson should push Metchie off the return team, who had never previously returned kicks before joining the Eagles, and hopefully clean up the issue moving forward.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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