What A Difference 3/4 a Season Can Make
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports
It’s amazing what can happen over a 14-game stretch in the National Football League.
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced off with the Philadelphia Eagles in the third week of the regular season, the Eagles were jumping out to an undefeated 3-0 start, and the Buccaneers were on the verge of losing four of their next five games.
But, now, as the first round of the NFC playoffs is set to begin, the Buccaneers and the Eagles are on two different trajectories.
The Buccaneers have won five of their last six games, including capturing the NFC South title with a shutout 9-0 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Their lone loss came against division rival New Orleans in Week 17.
After starting the season with a 10-1 record, the Eagles have lost five of their last six. They captured a 33-25 victory over the New York Giants in Week 16 before losing to the G-Men in their regular season finale 27-10.
Now here they are again.
“I don’t think it compares at all. It’s about the same for the most part. It doesn’t compare because we played [the Philadelphia Eagles] so early in the year,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles said about playing a second for the second time in the playoffs. “We were still growing, [and] I’m sure they were still growing. You know, playoff time is different, it’s one and done, everybody is nicked up, everybody is hurt, it’s just a matter of who makes the most mistakes.”
Both teams have come a long way since their Week 3 matchup where a balanced Eagles offense put up 27 points in a 17-point victory. During that matchup, it was a mixture of Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown and running back Deandre Swift. Brown caught nine passes for 131 yards while Swift rushed 16 times for 130 yards.
Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield only threw for 146 yards as the offense mustered just 41 rushing yards.
Now, the Buccaneers offense has been leaning on a hobbled Mayfield, who has passed for 10 touchdowns in the past five games and lit up Green Bay for 381 yards and four touchdowns. Despite showing their ability to move the ball through the air in the latter part of the season, Bowles isn’t fully committed to attacking the Eagles in one specific way.
“We’ll do whatever we have to do to win a ballgame,” Bowles said. “As long as we have one more point than they have, that’s what we are looking for right now. We want to have consistency all the way around, but the object is to win the game by any means necessary.”
Tampa Bay’s offense has also been up and down during the season. But despite suffering a bad stretch early in the season, they’ve found a way to get the job done. Now, Bowles is just looking for a little more consistency.
“It’s an offense as a whole. It’s not one guy that’s going to win or lose a game,” Bowles said. “You [have] to operate as a unit. [There are] 11 guys over there, as well as the coaches, so it’s not just Baker being up and down – it’s the offense clicking and then not clicking. We just [have] to be consistent.”
As for the Eagles, a lot has changed since they were mowing over their competition earlier this year as they haven’t been the team that made a run to the Super Bowl a year ago. During the last six weeks, The Eagles have allowed their opponents to tally more than 290 yards in every game. The San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants all tallied more than 400 total yards of offense. Philadelphia’s two most recent losses — which came against the Giants and the Cardinals — were the most telling as they had a combined 10 wins this season.
Despite their falters as of late, Bowles said they have to remain focused.
“Well, I haven’t [delved] deep into them yet, but obviously they’re a talented team,” he said. “They’ve had some injuries over the past few weeks, as well. [I] can’t really put a finger on it until I watch more film, but again they still won double-digit games. They’re a very talented team. They went to the Super Bowl last year. They’re going to be a tough team to beat.”
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