The Eagles will officially play the defending Super Bowl champs, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in the Wild Card Round at a yet to be determined time and date after TB knocked off the Carolina Panther in the NFL’s final day of the regular season. The game will be at James Raymond Stadium, in Tampa.
It will be the second matchup between these two teams this season, with the first having come back on Oct. 14 – which resulted in a 28-22 Eagles loss.It’s certainly not the worst matchup Philadelphia could have gotten – the Rams, despising losing to the 49ers, would have presented a difficult matchup on both offense and defense. TB comes in having struggled the past two previous games, and are losing quite a few weapons.
Among their key skill players out include Chris Godwin and Leonard Fournette, while Shaq Barrett, Ronald Jones, and Jason Pierre-Paul have also been hampered by injuries. Cyril Grayson, who was primed to take over for Godwin, also left Sunday’s game with an injury.
However, Tom Brady will still be an issue. After all, it is playoff Brady we’re talking about. The future Hall-of-Famer has a 113.2 passing rating and five touchdowns in two playoff games vs. the Birds (1-1) while carrying a overall 5-1 record against them in his career.
Against the Buccaneers in the playoffs, the Eagles are 2-2 all-time. With the Eagles heading into the playoffs once again the underdogs — they’re -7 according to Draft Kings — it may be time to break out your dog masks. The Eagles will have a tough time, but then again, has it ever been easy?
