Todd Bowles, the head coach, changed his strategy to halt the run after Tampa Bay’s Week 3 loss to Philadelphia.Consider this the beginning of the Bucs’ tour of retribution.
This is a different team for the rematch. In fact, the NFC South champs might need to get revenge on the Lions and 49ers in addition to the Eagles if they want to go farther in the postseason.
Coach Todd Bowles realized he needed to return to the lab and create a better formula after his team was destroyed 25-11 by Philadelphia in Week 3. This was especially true for the defense.
In the game, the Eagles ran 40 times for 201 yards, eating up significant amounts of yardage and clock time.
Bowles made the risky decision to field a six-man front in the wild-card game on Monday night in an attempt to halt the run. When Philadelphia deployed two-tight-end groupings, he also utilized K.J. Britt as an inside linebacker. In the end, Britt took part in more snaps than Devin White.
From a game plan perspective, it was entirely different from the first time we faced them, according to Bowles’ statement on Tuesday. starting with the base and moving on to further packages. The boys have improved their communication. They had gained more experience during the games, so we could do more. We made some adjustments to the initial attempt. It wasn’t well prepared by us.
“I can’t speak for them, but it enabled us to justify some of the initial sacrifices we made. It wasn’t mentioned in the strategy. We examined it, discussed it, and made comparisons with the passing game. There are some things we could get away with, in my opinion. We made some adjustments and added some new elements. The players played it well, with the exception of the opening play, which was a D’Andre Swift 9-yard run.
The Eagles were limited to a season-low 42 yards of rushes by the Bucs. Furthermore, Jalen Hurts, the quarterback, did not harm the Bucs with his legs. It wasn’t until the third quarter that he attempted his first and only rush, scrambling for five yards.
They split the snaps the most evenly this season, with Britt playing 33 and White 26. Britt has one pass defensed and three tackles in the end. White was involved in two tackles.
“Britt was part of that package, and they gained a lot more from it than they did with their 12 players (two tight ends and one running back),” Bowles remarked. We probably have K.J. as our best downhill thumper, so having him there was a great idea. As previously said, K.J. is a talented football player. We believe that three linebackers will start for us. He plays a major role in it. He deserves to be allowed to play. He led our squad and performed admirably.
Against an Eagles secondary that has allowed some huge plays over the previous six games, the Bucs came out firing on offense.
Baker Mayfield, the quarterback, completed 337 yards of passing with three touchdowns, two of which went to Trey Palmer for 56 yards and David Moore for 44 yards. Furthermore, tight end Cade Otton caught eight passes for 89 yards, a career-high.
According to Bowles, “we stayed in assault mode most of the time.” “The third quarter saw a little bit of a lull, but we were still attacking with both the run and pass games. That was wonderful to witness because we haven’t had that operating fairly sequentially at the same time.
“Our receivers, Palmer, Moore, and Cade Otton, performed exceptionally well. They had excellent catch-and-run plays when they were defending Chris Godwin and Mike Evans.
