2025 Sport Preview: Eagles-Buccaneers, Week 4 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Senior Author/Editor
Over the previous 5 seasons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles have mixed for 9 playoff appearances, six division titles and two Tremendous Bowl championships. Now these two established NFC contenders are assembly in Week 4 of the 2025 season and it is an early battle for convention supremacy, because the video games is the one assembly of undefeated groups on the league schedule.
The Buccaneers beat the Eagles in Week 4 of final season, however Philadelphia has since received 19 of its final 20 video games, together with Tremendous Bowl LIX. The Bucs have opened their quest for a document fifth straight NFC South title by successful every of their first three video games with last-minute scores, an unprecedented feat, however they view the Eagles’ go to as a very thrilling problem.
“I imply, they received the Tremendous Bowl,” stated Head Coach Todd Bowles. “They have a number of expertise. Final yr, I feel that they had a pair guys out – we did too – however they weren’t at full power [and] we weren’t at full power. They play with a number of confidence, they’re expert at each place on either side of the soccer, and so they perceive the best way to win. That is large on this league, should you perceive the best way to win and also you anticipate to win. They do an excellent job at that. [Head Coach Nick] Sirianni has completed an excellent job getting these guys ready each week.”
The Buccaneers’ most up-to-date victory, a 29-27 Week Three thriller in opposition to the New York Jets, might have turned on Jamel Dean’s 55-yard pick-six simply earlier than halftime. It was Tampa Bay’s first defensive landing in virtually a calendar yr and the group’s first takeaway of the 2025 season. If the Eagles and Buccaneers each carry their “A” video games and lock up in a decent battle, turnovers may very well be the distinction once more in Week 4. Each groups are tied for fifth within the NFL with a plus-two turnover ratio; the Bucs have two takeaways and no giveaways whereas the Eagles have three and one.
“It has been large,” stated quarterback Baker Mayfield of the Buccaneers’ turnover avoidance. “Clearly, [in] these tight ball video games turnovers actually matter. Our protection final week, getting two of them was large — that was the distinction within the recreation. We’ve to proceed to handle the ball. A pair fumbles from me, actually must tighten that up, clearly we’ve got been fortunate [the defense] has not gotten them. [We have to] proceed to handle the ball within the air and [have] our runners shield the ball as effectively.”
In fact, that is not simple to do in opposition to an Eagles’ protection that’s brimming with expertise at each degree. Along with the highly effective defensive sort out duo of Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis and the all-around playmaker in the course of the sphere in linebacker Zack Baun, Philadelphia has a ball-hawking secondary that reloaded in final yr’s draft with cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. Second-round rookie security Andrew Mukuba has already emerged as a playmaker and has been a powerful complement to regular veteran Reed Blankenship.
“I feel it begins with Reed,” stated Mayfield. “He’s simply in a position to get these guys lined up. He’s a veteran participant, [he] acknowledges patterns and ideas actually shortly. He is ready to benefit from that and play aggressively. Quinyon, a younger participant — younger nook — who’s coming into his personal and clearly with Cooper in there, versatile man. [He’s] a man they will put at nook, security, nickel, type of line him up wherever. They’ve completed a very good job selecting up nice expertise and simply additionally how they play collectively. You possibly can inform they perceive their scheme; they’re taking part in on the identical wavelength.”
That is the fourth time within the final 5 seasons that the Eagles have visited Tampa within the first half of the season. The Buccaneers received final yr in Week 4 and in 2021 in Week Six. The Eagles received in Week Three in 2023. One other opening-month battle this season means one other recreation performed within the smothering warmth and humidity of a Tampa September. The Buccaneers hope they’re higher suited to carry as much as that kind of setting, however Bowles is aware of the benefit might swing primarily based on which group can preserve its offense on the sphere the longest.
“I do not know if it is a bonus,” stated Bowles of the Bucs’ coaching within the Florida warmth. “You get mentally more durable – no totally different than taking part in within the chilly. For those who’re taking part in in 10-degree climate, you have to mentally put together your self for 3 or 4 hours. Whenever you’re taking part in within the warmth, you have to mentally put together your self for 3 or 4 hours. I do not know if it is a bonus or drawback, and whoever holds the ball longer, the opposite group might be going to battle.”
Whether or not it is the warmth, the roster expertise or how the ball bounces, one group goes to emerge from Sunday’s contest at Raymond James Stadium with an undefeated document and a transparent declare to being one of many NFC’s prime Tremendous Bowl contenders. Rookie cornerback Benjamin Morrison, who might be taking part in in simply his third NFL recreation, is wanting ahead to the problem.
“It’s cool,” stated Morrison. “It’s a massive recreation. I feel that’s the reason we play soccer, for the video games like this. They’re a [very] gifted group, so I’m simply excited to see how we measure up — it’s a good take a look at. Coach Bowles retains speaking about how it isn’t about them, it’s about us, and this recreation is not going to win or lose a Tremendous Bowl, however it can put us in an excellent place.”
GAME AND BROADCAST DETAILS
Philadelphia Eagles (3-0) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-0)
Sunday, September 28, 1:00 p.m. ET
Raymond James Stadium (capability: 65,844)
Tampa, Florida
Tv: FOX
TV Broadcast Staff: Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play), Tom Brady (analyst), Erin Andrews (reporter), Tom Rinaldi (reporter)
Radio: 98Rock (WXTB, 97.9 FM), Flagship Station
Radio Broadcast Staff: Gene Deckerhoff (play-by-play), Dave Moore (analyst), T.J. Rives (reporter)
Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente
Spanish Radio Broadcast Staff: Carlos Bohorquez (play-by-play), Martin Gramática (analyst), Santiago Gramática (reporter)
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Coming to the sport or having fun with pregame festivities? Take a look at our Buccaneers Gameday Page for the whole lot you might want to find out about preparing for the sport, Tailgate Packages, Bucs Seashore and extra!
TICKETING INFORMATION
The 2025 season is underway and there are a restricted variety of Single Sport Tickets on sale now! Go to Buccaneers.com to buy tickets.
ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES
The Eagles occupy a outstanding spot in Buccaneers franchise historical past. Tampa Bay has met Philadelphia six occasions within the postseason, double the quantity in opposition to every other franchise, and that features the primary playoff recreation in Bucs historical past and the primary convention championship recreation in group annals, as effectively.
Within the common season, the Buccaneers and Eagles have performed to a 9-9 tie in 18 conferences, with the Bucs night issues up only a yr in the past with a 33-16 win over the eventual Tremendous Bowl champions in Week 4. The Bucs dominated the sport and completed with a complete yardage fringe of 445-227, as Baker Mayfield threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns. The Bucs’ protection sacked Jalen Hurts six occasions, two by Lavonte David, and held him to 158 passing yards and 20 dashing yards.
Previous to that, the final Bucs-Eagles get-together was within the postseason. After successful the NFC South for a 3rd consecutive time in 2023, the Buccaneers opened their playoff run with a house recreation in opposition to the Eagles within the Wild Card spherical. The house group received handily, dashing out to a fast 13-0 lead and cruising to a 32-9 last. Mayfield threw for 337 yards, three touchdowns and a 119.8 passer score, finishing passes to 9 totally different gamers. The Bucs’ protection restricted the Eagles to 276 whole yards and did not permit a single third-down conversion in 9 makes an attempt.
The Bucs are 4-2 in opposition to Philadelphia within the playoffs, having additionally defeated the Eagles within the first spherical of the playoffs in 2021 by a 31-15 margin. That one wasn’t as shut because the rating signifies, because the Bucs constructed a 31-0 lead in that recreation on the power of Tom Brady landing passes to Mike Evans and Rob Gronkowski. The Bucs’ protection held quarterback Jalen Hurts to 38 dashing yards and one landing move whereas intercepting him twice.
Philadelphia’s most up-to-date win within the head-to-head sequence occurred in prime time through the 2023 season. Taking part in on the Monday Night time Soccer stage, the Buccaneers intercepted Hurts twice however allowed 201 dashing yards, together with 130 by D’Andre Swift. Tampa Bay’s offense might muster simply 174 yards in a 25-11 defeat. The Bucs had tied up the regular-season sequence in 2021 with a 28-22 win at Philadelphia in Week Six, as Leonard Fournette ran for 2 touchdowns in that recreation, balancing out the 2 occasions Hurts ran it in. The Bucs constructed a 28-7 after which held on for the victory.
Two weeks into the 2018 season, the Eagles got here to Raymond James Stadium after beating Tom Brady’s Patriots, 41-33, in an exhilarating Tremendous Bowl LII shootout the earlier February. The Buccaneers had completed that very same 2017 season with a 5-11 document, although that they had appeared spectacular in a 2018 opening-week, 48-40 win in New Orleans. The Buccaneers beat the Eagles, 27-21, with Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing 4 landing passes, together with a 75-yarder to former Eagle DeSean Jackson on the primary play of the sport. It will be the Eagles that went again to the playoffs that season, although, incomes a Wild Card berth whereas the Bucs slumped to 5-11 and initiated a training change.
A lot of Tampa Bay’s finest moments of their head-to-head historical past with the Eagles have occurred in Philadelphia. There’s the 2002 NFC Championship Sport, after all, however the 2003 Monday Night time Soccer season opener was a very satisfying win, as effectively. The Buccaneers had been there in Philadelphia in 1999 when Donovan McNabb made his NFL debut, and so they did not precisely deal with him effectively. Tampa Bay began its 1995 marketing campaign by sacking Randall Cunningham 5 occasions and successful handily at Philadelphia; that was Warren Sapp’s NFL debut and he had a type of 5 sacks. Even the Bucs’ most up-to-date journey to Philly, in 2015, was notable: On the time, the Bucs’ 45-17 win over the Eagles was their highest-scoring street recreation ever.
The Bucs’ greatest spotlight of their sequence with the Eagles is certainly that aforementioned 2002 NFCC Sport. The Buccaneers had seen their playoff desires die at Veterans Stadium every of the earlier two winters and had even misplaced of their private home of horrors earlier in that ’02 marketing campaign. However the Bucs confirmed up able to battle and overcome an extended game-opening kickoff and a Philly landing only a minute into the sport. Joe Jurevicius’s unforgettable 71-yard catch-and-run started the turnaround, and the Bucs stymied McNabb for many of the evening with two sacks, two pressured fumbles and an interception off the prolific quarterback. Down 20-10, the Eagles mounted a late rally behind McNabb’s improvisational massive performs and had been closing in on the top zone with 5 minutes left. That is when Ronde Barber made maybe the one biggest play in group annals, intercepting a brief move and returning it 92 yards for the game-sealing landing.
4 seasons later, Barber terrorized McNabb once more with a pair of pick-sixes in a 23-21 win at Raymond James Stadium in 2006, the sport that famously ended on Matt Bryant’s 62-yard subject objective. Till Mike Edwards pulled off the feat in Week Two of this season in opposition to Atlanta, Barber had been the one participant in group historical past to have two interception-return touchdowns in the identical recreation.
Tampa Bay’s very first playoff recreation additionally featured the Eagles. After successful the NFC Central in 1979, simply the franchise’s fourth season of existence, the Bucs bought a house recreation to start out the playoffs and beat Philadelphia, 24-17. Ricky Bell set still-standing group data for carries (38) and dashing yards (142) in a playoff recreation.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
SENIOR COACHING STAFFS
Tampa Bay:
Philadelphia:
KEY 2025 ROSTER ADDITIONS
Buccaneers:
Eagles:
ADDITIONAL 2025 CHANGES/DEVELOPMENTS OF NOTE
Buccaneers:
Eagles:
INJURY REPORT
Key:
DNP: Didn’t take part in observe
LP: Restricted participation in observe
FP: Full participation in observe
NL: Not listed
Buccaneers:
Eagles:
WEATHER FORECAST
Largely sunny, remoted thunderstorms later within the afternoon. Excessive of 91, low of 75, 33% probability of rain, 69% humidity, winds out of the N at 7 mph.
GAME REFEREE
Head referee: Alan Eck (tenth season, third as referee)
BETTING LINE
INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS
Buccaneers-
Factors Scored: Ok Chase McLaughlin, 24
Touchdowns: WR Emeka Egbuka, 3
Passing Yards: QB Baker Mayfield, 615
Passer Ranking: QB Baker Mayfield, 99.5
Speeding Yards: RB Bucky Irving, 174
Receptions: WR Emeka Egbuka/WR Mike Evans/RB Bucky Irving, 14
Receiving Yards: WR Emeka Egbuka, 181
Interceptions: CB Jamel Dean, 1
Sacks: Lavonte David, 1.5
Tackles: CB Zyon McCollum/S Tykee Smith, 24
Eagles-
Factors Scored: QB Jalen Hurts, 24
Touchdowns: QB Jalen Hurts, 4
Passing Yards: QB Jalen Hurts, 479
Passer Ranking: QB Jalen Hurts, 100.5
Speeding Yards: RB Saquon Barkley, 194
Receptions: WR DeVonta Smith, 15
Receiving Yards: WR A.J. Brown, 144
Interceptions: LB Zack Baun/S Andrew Mukuba, 1
Sacks: DT Jordan Davis/DE Moro Ojomo, 1.0
Tackles: LB Zack Baun, 22
TEAM STAT RANKINGS
Buccaneers-
Scoring Offense: t-Twelfth (24.0 ppg)
Whole Offense: fifteenth (322.3 ypg)
Speeding Offense: Seventh (130.7 ypg)
Passing Offense: twenty second (191.7 ypg)
First Downs Per Sport: tenth (20.0)
Third-Down Pct.: thirteenth (41.5%)
Sacks Per Cross Try Allowed: fifteenth (6.06%)
Purple Zone TD Pct.: forty fourth (44.4%)
Scoring Protection: seventeenth (22.0 ppg)
Whole Protection: t-Eleventh (297.0 ypg)
Speeding Protection: sixth (84.0 ypg)
Passing Protection: tenth (213.0 ypg)
First Downs Allowed Per Sport: t-14th (18.7)
Third-Down Pct. Allowed: 4th (31.4%)
Sacks Per Cross Try: 14th (7.84%)
Purple Zone TD Pct. Allowed: t-Fifth (42.9%)
Turnover Margin: t-Fifth (+2)
Eagles-
Scoring Offense: eighth (25.7 ppg)
Whole Offense: twenty seventh (268.7 ypg)
Speeding Offense: thirteenth (122.0 ypg)
Passing Offense: twenty ninth (146.7 ypg)
First Downs Per Sport: t-Nineteenth (18.3)
Third-Down Pct.: Seventh (43.9%)
Sacks Per Cross Try Allowed: twenty fourth (9.09%)
Purple Zone TD Pct.: 1st (100.0)
Scoring Protection: fifteenth (21.0 ppg)
Whole Protection: 18th (319.0 ypg)
Speeding Protection: twenty fifth (133.3 ypg)
Passing Protection: Eleventh (185.7 ypg)
First Downs Allowed Per Sport: t-Twentieth (20.3)
Third-Down Pct. Allowed: t-Twenty first (42.4%)
Sacks Per Cross Try: thirtieth (3.09%)
Purple Zone TD Pct. Allowed: t-Seventh (44.4%)
Turnover Margin: t-Fifth (+2)
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
NOTABLY QUOTABLE
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Week 4
September 28
1:00 PM ET
Week 6
October 12
1:00 PM ET
Week 10
November 9
1:00 PM ET
Week 13
November 30
1:00 PM ET
Week 14
December 7
1:00 PM ET
Week 15
December 11
8:15 PM ET
Week 18
January 4
Time TBD
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