My goodness, what happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 3? They went from looking like a legitimate challenger for the NFC South, even as the New Orleans Saints led the league in points scored in Week 2, to the type of team that gave the Broncos of Denver their first – and perhaps only – victory of the year. .
Did their game simply fail? Or did they simply fall into the trap of overlooking a Broncos team that few people thought could secure victory and therefore abandoned them? Well, in Barkler Mayfield’s opinion, Tampa Bay I just didn’t prepare properly for the match.as he explained to reporters after the match.
“There are a few things we need to look at the tape and correct,” Mayfield said via The AP. “It’s a good lesson for our team as a whole. You have to prepare like you’re playing a playoff game every week, or it can happen. It’s a good lesson for young people who haven’t seen it before about what to prepare for, how thorough we need to be.
Fortunately for Tampa Bay fans, it’s clear that the Buccaneers won’t overlook the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4 as they are one of the best teams in the NFC, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the results will be very different, because Nick Sirianni’s team has a few tricks up its sleeve that could make the afternoon uncomfortable.
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1. Saquon Barkley goes wild in the Buccaneers defense
On paper, Todd Bowles has a chance to really make the Eagles offense one-dimensional in Week 4, as Jalen Hurts will be without three of his top four wide receivers and forced to rely on a hodgepodge of Exterior options highlighted by the Jahan Commercial Addition. Dotson, sixth-round pick Johnny Wilson and Parris Campbell, who is technically still on the practice squad. Show unique coverage on the outside, stack the box to eliminate short passes and runs between the tackles, and see if the $225 million quarterback can truly live up to his contract pedigree.
And yet, no matter how hard teams tried in 2024, no one was able to slow Saquon Barkley on his quest for greatness in South Philadelphia, with his low point coming in Week 2, when he just ran 95 meters in the Eagles’ loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Facing a Buccaneers team that has allowed 413 rushing yards so far this seasona mark that ranks 25th in the NFL, the Buccaneers have been regularly gashed on the field in 2024 although they have largely avoided facing a true elite rusher so far this season, the most close taking place during week 2 via the double of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. Even with an elite tackle like Vita Vea, who has played for Bowles for years now, the Buccaneers have allowed the second-most rushing yards of any team in the NFL and have struggled to make their opponents one-dimensional , with each game featuring at least 130 rushing yards allowed.
So what happens when you pit an unstoppable force like Barkley against a highly mobile object like the Buccaneers defense? You get another 100-yard game from the Penn State product, with former teammate Chris Godwin watching in horror as one of the NFL’s premier running backs work.
2. Baker Mayfield is sacked once, maybe less
Through the first three games of the 2024 NFL season, Mayfield has been sacked 13 times. Now granted, he has been able to largely overcome this unfortunate reality to remain one of the best passers in the NFL, posting a 2-1 record while completing 74.4 percent of his passes with a touchdown/touchdown ratio. interception 6:2, but when Considering he was sacked on 13.68 percent of his pass attempts, it’s hard to get into a truly consistent rhythm.
Fortunately for Mayfield, the Eagles are one of the NFL’s least efficient passing teams, with just four sacks on the season split between Zach Baun (two), Milton Williams (one), and “Big” Jordan Davis (one) from the front tackle position. Granted, the Eagles were pressured, at least somewhat, particularly in Week 3 when Vic Fangio moved to a five-man front, but that has been the exception, not the rule, as in general, the Philly’s pass rush has been anemic, allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete a high percentage of their passes and separating the short to intermediate portions of the field generally lightly covered in a “Fangio defense”.
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Bad news for the Birds? You bet, but this is good news for the Bucs, as Mayfield should have the chance to operate from a clean pocket for much of the game, facing light boxes as Fangio tries to limit the deep passes with his two deep safety looks, and I hope that’s good news for the Bucs. deliver another elite performance as a passer, as, after throwing for 280 yards in Week 1, he was held below 150 in Weeks 2 and 3. If Mayfield is able to beat Hurts on the final stat line, it’s not a lock but it’s very possible, it won’t necessarily guarantee the Buccaneers a win, but it will certainly improve their chances, because the more teams put pressure on the Eagles defense, the more they generally give up yards in the air.
3. The Buccaneers fall to 2-2.
After scoring just seven points in Week 3, some wondered if the Buccaneers were fool’s gold until Week 2, with strong performances against the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions having more to do with luck and positional advantages than with being a better team overall. . They only scored seven points against one of the worst teams in the NFL, and Mayfield was somehow outplayed by Bo Nix, who has looked unplayable at times this season.
Could the Buccaneers put it all together in Week 4, defeat the Eagles and once again look like serious challengers for the NFC South? Sure, but they could also fail once again and leave more questions than answers about their entire season. If Barkley can dominate on the field despite a brutal receiving corps around him, it’s a safe bet that the Eagles will leave September with a 3-1 record while Bowles’ defense evens things up at 2-2.
