Eagles vs. Bucs: 5 adjustments Dave Canales and Todd Bowles will make in Wild Card round
The Buccaneers will look to avenge an early regular season loss when they host the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC Wild Card Round matchup.
The Bucs and Eagles have met five previous times, including Tampa Bay’s NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia in 2002 to close out Veteran’s Stadium. The most recent postseason meeting came just two years ago in 2021 in Jalen Hurts’ first road playoff start, Tampa won, 31-15.
With final preparations completed for both teams, we’re looking five adjustments that Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles, and OC Dave Canales will make on Monday night.
Buccaneers won't play man to man
With Philadelphia having A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert as dominant pass catchers, expect the Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator to pull back and utilize the keep-everything-in-front approach in hopes of limiting explosive plays.
Todd Bowles is going to bring the house
In Philadelphia’s Week 3 win, Bowles blitzed Hurts on 75% of his dropbacks, which was the highest percentage blitz fare from his team this season.
The expectation is that number will rise with the Eagles finishing 1-5 down the stretch, and proving unable to generate any offense when pressured.
David Canales will make Rachaad White a featured receiver
White’s play improved down the stretch, and from Weeks 9-18, the former Arizona State star logged eight touchdowns (one TD from Weeks 1-8) while registering 685 rushing yards and 316 receiving yards.
A true dual-threat running back gives Philadelphia problems, and Tampa will look to incorporate White into each facet of the offense.
Contain D'Andre Swift
The Buccaneers finished with a top-10 run defense in 2023, landing fifth in yards per game (95.3) and eighth in yards per attempt (3.8).
The Week 3 loss to Philadelphia on a Monday night still stings after the Eagles rushed for 201 yards and averaged over 5.0 yards per carry.
Nick Sirianni’s team dominated the time of possession battle 38:55-21:05, and D’Andre Swift logged 130 yards in the win, his last 100-yard rushing performance of the year.
Corraling Swift gives the Buccaneers an advantage on Monday night.
David Canales will feature air attack
In the first matchup, Baker Mayfield was 15-25 passing, for 146 yards, one touchdown and one interception in just his third game with Tampa.
That won’t be the case on Wild Card Monday.
The Eagles are expecting to get Darius Slay (knee) back for this game, but the Buccaneers are going to attack early and often with their own dynamic duo at wide receiver.
Mike Evans just made his fifth Pro Bowl and had his 10th consecutive 1,000 yards season to start his career, with 13 touchdown receptions. And Godwin is still a dangerous No. 2 option, picking up another 1,000-yard season.
In the first matchup between these two teams, Evans and Godwin saw a combined 15 targets and had 8 catches for 92 yards and a touchdown.
Tampa is going to move Evans and Godwin around, and don’t be surprise if the bulk of those targets come when they’re matchup in the slot against Bradley Roby if Avonte Maddox is forced to play safety.
