Birds face huge challenge against champs
PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles step up in class Thursday night against Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lincoln Financial Field (8:20, Fox TV, WIP 94.1-FM, Amazon Prime).
Considering the opponent and the stage, it’s an opportunity for the Eagles (2-3) and quarterback Jalen Hurts to make a national statement and see where they rate in the conference.
Head coach Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers (4-1) are 7-point favorites.
It’s also a chance to gauge how much veterans like Fletcher Cox have left in the tank. If Cox can collapse the pocket the way the Los Angeles Rams’ Aaron Donald did against Brady, the Eagles will make the quarterback look like he’s 44 years old. Brady has thrown just one of his 15 touchdown passes on the road this season, that coming in the loss to Donald and the Rams.
“It’s always a challenge playing against him,” said Cox, who snapped a six-game drought with a sack last week. “For us up front I think it’s just being patient and getting him to those second-and-long, third-and-long situations where the route has to go down the field. He’s really good at taking the checkdown and getting the ball to who’s open. As long as everybody rallies to the ball and gets the guy down with the ball, we’ll be OK.”
In Thursday night football games, simplicity rules.
The Eagles and the Bucs basically have spent the past three days healing. There isn’t time to install a lot of new plays.
The Eagles have won six straight Thursday night outings, although that was entirely with other coaching staffs. While Nick Sirianni has prepared for and coached in Thursday night games, this is the first time he’s overseen the entire operation.
“You want to play the same way, every single time,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “And that’s been our message from the beginning. That’s been our message this week, as well. Just play within yourself, know your role, play within yourself and good things will happen.”
On Sunday, the Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak thanks to contributions on offense, defense and special teams. Hurts scored two TDs, Darius Slay intercepted two passes and T.J. Edwards, the NFC special teams player of the week, blocked a Carolina Panthers punt to set up the winning score.
The Buccaneers annihilated the Miami Dolphins, 45-17 last week with Brady throwing five TD passes despite bruising the thumb on his throwing hand. He did it without Rob Gronkowski (ribs), who will sit this game out as well.
Brady is 5-2 against the Eagles including the playoffs. He’s 2-0 against the Birds at Lincoln Financial Field, which will be rocking as the Eagles are honoring Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan, the offensive tackles on the 2004 Super Bowl beaten by Brady when he was with the New England Patriots.
While Cox maintains he hasn’t watched film of the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII win over Brady because the Bucs play a different offense, rest assured his fiery teammates won’t forget the way that game ended, the Birds celebrating their first world championship since 1960.
Brandon Graham, out with a torn Achilles tendon, jarred the ball loose from Brady late in the game. Derek Barnett, expected to play Thursday despite a sore knee, recovered it.
Brady obviously has more healthy firepower now, a cast of weapons that includes Mike Evans, Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin. Leonard Fournette (6-0, 228) is a pretty good running back behind one of the better lines the Eagles will see this season.
On the defensive side, the Bucs will be without linebacker Lavonte David and cornerback Antoine Winfield Jr. The secondary is piecemeal now with 33-year-old Richard Sherman back in circulation.
But the Buccaneers always have a challenging game plan hatched by defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who interviewed for the head coaching job that went to Sirianni.
“They do a lot of exotic stuff,” Eagles running back Miles Sanders said. “Not really exotic, but they do a lot of different stuff bringing blitzes from different areas and then having different people drop. They’re bringing the same amount of people. It’s just coming from different ways, so we’ve got to be locked in on and that and figure who’s coming and who’s not.”
That won’t make it easy for Hurts. Nor will the defensive line with Vita Vea (6-4, 347), the enormous nose tackle. Though the Bucs are last in the NFL in passing defense, they’re first against the run.
For the second straight game the Eagles will start the same personnel on the offensive line. Lane Johnson (personal reasons) is out for the third straight week.
“They have a great defensive coordinator in Todd Bowles and they have great defensive players,” Eagles center Jason Kelce said of the Bucs. “Their front seven is about as good as you’re going to see. Big, strong, explosive, linebackers that can run.”
From Hurts to Cox, from Sirianni to defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, coming off his best plan, the Eagles have a chance to stand up and be noticed in prime time.
“We know we’re going against a really good football team,” Cox said. “They won a Super Bowl last year. I’m looking forward to going against them. I know we have the team to compete against anybody. We’ve just got to go out and play our game and have fun doing it.”
Eagles checklist
Offense: Bucs
Defense: Eagles
Special teams: Eagles
Coaching: Bucs
Intangibles: Eagles
Summary: It’s best to catch Tom Brady before he has time to get the swelling out of his throwing thumb and the rest of his 44-year-old bod. He’s always feared what the Eagles do best — bring the heat on the inside pass rush. If the Eagles limit their no-talent mistakes and Fletcher Cox comes to play it will be interesting.
Make it Bucs 30, Eagles 23.