Buccaneers Coach Todd Bowles 'We've Got To Stop' Eagles QB Sneak
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 2-0, and that's one or two wins more than most expected them to have coming into Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Which is great, since that two-win buffer provides some cushion if the Buccaneers were to lose this home game they're 4.5-point underdogs coming into.
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"There's going to be challenges every week for us - they're going to be bigger as the weeks go on," coach Todd Bowles said. "We're looking to get better as a team, now matter who we're playing...[With Philadelphia], this is not the end of the world if we lost or if we won. We're trying to win it."
Bowles' point - we think - is that one loss, if that happens, isn't enough to erase the good the Bucs have done and won't prevent them from doing more good down the road.
Still, a Tampa Bay win over the Eagles on primetime would certainly provide a confidence boost to a roster already playing with a good amount of it.
To do that the Buccaneers will need to contain a mobile quarterback in Philadelphia's Jalen Hurts who has proven to be more effective in escaping pressure than Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields who the defense just bottled up one week ago.
That might be a good warmup, but as coach Bowles points out, the two are very different players and present different challenges.
For example, outside of just his scrambling ability, Hurts and his offensive line led by veteran center Jason Kelce are incredibly successful in short and goal-to-go scenarios with an almost unstoppable quarterback sneak design.
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"We've got to stop it," Bowles said when asked if the play should be looked at by the league as some have suggested. "The play is legal - we've got to stop it as a defense. They do a good job of executing it as an offense."
Whether it's stopping a running quarterback, a QB sneak, or the plethora of weapons the Eagles have at their disposal it's clear the Bucs have their work cut out for them, and a golden opportunity to convert critics to believers on a large scale and really turn the NFC on its head.
Stick with BucsGameday and the Locked On Bucs podcast for more coverage, news and analysis throughout the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2023 season.
