The Buccaneers are playing their first regular season game at home in 2018 on Sunday and they're doing it against the defending Super Bowl Champions. Not only did the Philadelphia Eagles take down the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, but they are actually favorites to repeat in 2018. The boils down to them also being favorites in this Sunday's game against the Buccaneers in Tampa. But not by much.
While the experts have seemingly all agreed the Eagles should take the win, consensus picks were split more than last week at this time. SB Nation's experts had three people picking the Buccaneers. No one is really predicting a shootout like we saw last week against the Saints though. The Philadelphia defense, more specifically their front four (or eight given their rotation), will probably be more of a challenge for Ryan Fitzpatrick and his arsenal of receivers. However, Fitzpatrick did say this week that he feels like he's playing the best football of his career. Couple that with players like Vinny Curry, Beau Allen and DeSean Jackson should he play on Sunday, who all have their own strong feelings on beating the Eagles, and Tampa Bay could put together a collective effort to bring the defending champs down to earth.
Below is a look at each expert's pick for this week:
View photos from the Buccaneers' practice Thursday at AdventHealth Training Center.
