Tampa, Florida – In a spectacular showdown at Raymond James Stadium on Monday night, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers secured their spot in the Super Bowl by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 32-9 in the Wild-Card round. The victory ensures a fresh representative from the NFC in the upcoming Super Bowl.
Tampa, Florida – In a spectacular showdown at Raymond James Stadium on Monday night, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers secured their spot in the Super Bowl by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 32-9 in the Wild-Card round. The victory ensures a fresh representative from the NFC in the upcoming Super Bowl.
In a historic playoff game for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, quarterback Tom Brady, alongside his stellar teammate Mike Evans, achieved a remarkable feat by surpassing 300 passing yards in a single quarter. Brady’s exceptional performance, making him the sole quarterback in Buccaneers’ history to accomplish this feat, highlights the team’s prowess and determination.
Let’s take a closer look at the top stories from Monday’s matchup between these two teams:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
In his third career playoff game and first with the Bucs, quarterback Baker Mayfield threw three touchdown passes of 56, 44, and 23 yards. Meanwhile, Coach Todd Bowles’ defense, led by outside linebacker Anthony Nelson, put on an impressive show securing the third quarter with strong defensive plays.
This matchup was a rematch from three weeks ago when the Eagles handed the Bucs their first loss of the season. However, this time, the Bucs were dominant on both sides of the field, securing a victory at home after winning the NFC South in the regular season and locking in the number 4 seed.
Despite battling injuries to both ribs and ankles, Mayfield completed 22 out of 36 passes for 337 yards without any interceptions. The defense held the Eagles to 275 yards, sacked quarterback Jalen Hurts three times, and limited the Eagles to only 41 rushing yards, as the Bucs had already outscored them with 201 yards.
Key Trend: Going off-field. The Eagles struggled on third down, going 0-for-9 on the third and 0-for-2 on the fourth. Despite a 55-yard pass from Devonta Smith, setting up a 5-yard touchdown pass by Hurts, linebacker J.K. Britt thwarted the quarterback on a 2-point conversion attempt from the 1-yard line after an offside penalty on Jason McClellan.
Breakout Performance: With 5:59 left in the first quarter and at the third and 7th positions, Mayfield connected with David Moore for a 44-yard touchdown on a crossing route. This marked Moore’s second catch of the half, concluding the play with two catches for 66 yards. Despite ending the regular season with only 94 yards, Moore’s 52-yard touchdown reception sealed the victory against the Green Bay Packers in Week 15.
Concerning Trend: More aggressive than the past two weeks, the assault seemed somewhat uncoordinated. However, they were troubled by drops, with three in the first half alone – tight end Cade Otton with three, wide receiver Mike Evans with one, and running back Chez Adams and Rachad White each with one.
Philadelphia Eagles
**The Eagles’ downfall is complete, and now comes the challenging part: figuring out how to move forward as an organization. After Monday’s Wild-Card playoff loss to the Bucs, the issues that troubled the Eagles, such as poor tackling, defensive lapses in the middle of the field, and inconsistent offensive output, resurfaced.
They slipped behind the 9-8 Bucs, ending the season with six losses in seven games after a promising 10-1 start.
Coming back to the Super Bowl is no easy feat – no NFC team has bounced back from a loss in the Super Bowl in a year since the 1974 Minnesota Vikings. However, the way this team has dramatically fallen, it calls for introspection and a reset from CEO Jeffrey Lurie and the Eagles brass.
They’ll need to decide whether the finger-pointing that began after the losses was a natural byproduct of disappointment in a talented locker room or something deeper. Lurie has to determine if Coach Nick Sirianni is the right person to bring the group back to the top and if quarterback Jalen Hurts is the MVP-caliber leader needed.
An important offseason is now underway for the Eagles.
Decisive Play: Towards the end of the third quarter, facing their own goal line and going against the third and sixth players, Hurts ventured into the end zone, and linebacker Anthony Nelson brought him down. Although Hurts threw the ball away in the final second, a flag was thrown for intentional grounding, resulting in a safety. This extended the Bucs’ lead to 18-9, and Tampa sealed the victory by scoring a touchdown on the ensuing possession.
Breakthrough Moment in the Game Plan: The coaching staff’s message entering the game was a desire to play with physicality and trust in the team’s strengths and aggressive offensive and defensive lines. Left tackle Jordan Mailata referred to running the ball as “crucial” and a key to winning the game. However, after starting the game with a two-run advantage, Philadelphia ran it only three times for a total of 17 yards in the remaining time of the first half. It was their second-lowest attempt in any part of the season. The Eagles had 201 rushing yards against the Buccaneers in their third-week matchup.
Encouraging Trend: DeVonta Smith becomes the first player in Eagles history to record 100 receiving yards in back-to-back playoff games (Smith had 100 receiving yards in Super Bowl LVII). With Smith joining Keith Jackson and Fred Barnett, the Eagles have three players in franchise history to achieve multiple 100-yard games in the postseason. His 55-yard catch at the end of the second quarter set up the Eagles’ only touchdown of the first half.
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