The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 32-9, punching their ticket to a Divisional Round matchup on the road against the Detroit Lions. Baker Mayfield produced a masterful performance on the gridiron, throwing three touchdown passes and Head Coach Todd Bowles devised a scheme that stifled the run and consistently collapsed the pocket around Jalen Hurts from exotic fronts. In the Wild Card matchup at Raymond James Stadium, the Bucs held the Eagles to just 276 yards of offense. The defensive unit did not allow a single third-down conversion attempt and yards after catch by a variety of Bucs' weapons sparked the convincing victory on Monday.
"It says a lot about the growth of our team from where we were in the beginning to the middle toward the end and now, playing with confidence, playing team football, everybody's playing fundamentally sound, technique sound," said Todd Bowles. "We got relatively healthy at the end. That helped out, too, and those guys, they want it. They see it and they're going to compete every week… Coaching staff has been outstanding. Those are the same guys every day, you know? The same guys that we've been going to the playoffs the last four years with, and some new offensive guys that came in and jelled right away. Credit to them. The work that they put in every day, the teaching they constantly do over and over and over and staying with it and seeing the results of it, that's big. I'm proud of them."
Fast Start for the Offense
The Buccaneers scored on each of their first four drives, including three field goals to keep the game in reaching distance for Philadelphia. Baker Mayfield gutted it out dealing with both a ribs injury/ ankle ailment and threw for 337 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions for a 119.8 passer rating. Mayfield was poised, decisive and layered the football to all areas of the field with precision. He delivered tight window throws that only his weapons could snag and laid it on the line with high-effort scrambles to move the chains, when necessary, against advantageous man coverage looks. He threw touchdown passes of 56 yards to Trey Palmer, 44 yards to David Moore and 23 yards to Chris Godwin. The Bucs generated an attack plan to get playmakers in space, whether working Cade Otton down the seam, Rachaad White on a screen, Mike Evans on a dig route or Deven Thompkins on an end-around, it forced the Eagles' secondary to make tackles in the open field. Poor pursuit angles by the second and third level of Philadelphia's defense led to Tampa Bay generating 90 yards after the catch in the first quarter alone.
David Moore provided the Bucs with a 10-0 lead in the first quarter as he weaved through defenders off a crosser to find the end zone. On the scoring play, Avonte Maddox collided with Eli Ricks to free up a lane for Moore to exploit. In the third quarter, Trey Palmer delivered the exclamation mark. Palmer, who ran a 4.33 at the Scouting Combine, quickly accelerated off an out-breaking route, leaving cornerback James Bradberry in the dust. Bradberry missed the tackle and Palmer took off for a 56-yard touchdown to give the Bucs a 25-9 lead. Late in the fourth, Chris Godwin put the nail in the coffin. The Eagles sent an all-out blitz and under duress, Mayfield heaved a pass towards the end zone. Godwin turned around to look for the football as it arrived and he waltzed across the goal line. Missed opportunities and dropped passes early on kept the game close but the Buccaneers did not relent and dictated the pace of the game.
Defensive Third-Down Prowess
The Buccaneers' defensive unit certainly found redemption for their Week Three performance against Philadelphia, in which the crew gave up 201 yards on the ground. This time around, the Bucs' defense imposed their will by challenging the Eagles' receivers and overloading the box. The Bucs held the Eagles to nine points on Monday night, tied for the second-fewest points allowed in a postseason contest in franchise history, trailing only the 2003 Divisional Round victory over the San Francisco 49ers when Tampa Bay won 31-6. Tampa Bay held Philadelphia to 0-for-9 on third down conversion attempts, marking just the third time in club history (since data became available in 1991) that they held an opponent to a third-down conversion percentage of zero, joining Week 16 of the 2011 season against Carolina and Week 15 of the 2007 season against Atlanta.
Tampa Bay outgained Philadelphia 426-276 (+150), posting the largest yardage differential in a playoff game in team history. The Eagles accumulated a season-low 13 first downs and the Bucs held Philadelphia to a season-low 42 rushing yards. Bowles, known for his innovative pressure packages, created fun wrinkles against the Eagles, including five and six-man fronts (one safety aligned deep) which paid dividends. Hurts was heavily blitzed throughout the evening, but the Eagles were not able to adjust or kickstart their trademark vertical beaters.
The defense changed the complexion of the game in the third quarter. Eagles' Jalen Hurts was forced into his own end zone as Calijah Kancey shot past Landon Dickerson like he was fired out of a cannon and forced Hurts into an awaiting Anthony Nelson. Nelson brought down Hurts, who managed to get the ball out, but the play was ruled as intentional grounding. The Bucs were rewarded with a safety, resulting in a 18-9 cushion. Palmer scored two plays later and the Eagles were sent into a downward spiral.
Cornerback Jamel Dean finished with a team-leading and a career-high-tying 10 tackles (one for loss) and one pass defensed. Dean played an integral role in limiting the Eagles on the ground, making timely tackles in space to prevent YAC yards. Vita Vea and rookie Calijah Kancey split a sack, which marked the first career postseason sack for Kancey and improved Vea's career playoff sack total to 2.5. Kancey wreaked havoc at the line of scrimmage, invading the backfield with penetration. Veteran Lavonte David finished with five tackles (two for loss). His two tackles for loss signified a new postseason single-game career high for David, as he set the tone on Monday night with instinctual play and lateral range.
