Eagles-Tampa Bay: Five on the Buccaneers

The only thing more terrific than Tom Brady might be the Bucs' run defense

PHILADELPHIA - The football version of The Rolling Stones headlines Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night as Tom Brady and his star-studded supporting cast invade South Philadelphia with the tagline of reigning Super Bowl champions.

In Brady's first season away from New England, he won his seventh Super Bowl ring and helped Tampa to become the first team to win the Lombardi Trophy at its home stadium, all at the tender age of 43.

Father Time's toughest opponent is again keeping the scythe at bay, ranking first in the NFL in passing yards (1,767) and second in passing touchdowns (15) during a 4-1 start despite turning 44 in August.

Brady is, however, dealing with a thumb injury that he tweaked during a 45-17 rout of Miami in which he threw for 411 yards and 5 TDs.

"It’s sore, but he’ll be fine," Bucs coach Bruce Arians said when discussing Brady on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. "He’s had much worse injuries, that’s for sure."

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The short week as a whole has been a theme for both coaches and the veteran Arians is on the same page as Eagles coach Nick Sirianni.

"I think it’s physical," Arians told SI.com's Eagle Maven when asked what the biggest issue is in playing twice in four days. "You have some guys that might be able to play on Thursday night that could play on a Sunday.

"It’s just getting the rest, the rehydration, and everything. It’s mental week as far as practice. There’s no actual practices, so everything is mental. We changed our schedule a little bit this week to try to help the coaching staff and players get more rest. So far so good, but it’s always a challenge to play on Thursday night."

STRENGTH VS. STRENGTH

You saw what the Eagles' defensive line could do against Carolina and Arians is certainly aware of what Fletcher Cox and Co. bring to the table.

"That might be - it is - the best front four that we’ve faced all season," the Bucs coach said. "They don’t have to do a heck of a lot. Those guys can wreck a game in a heartbeat. So, for us, it’s controlling the line of scrimmage and controlling those guys."

Tampa Bay is well-equipped to deal with the issue unlike Carolina, however.

Since the start of the 2020 season, the Buccaneers rank second in the NFL in sacks allowed per pass attempt (just 3.58 percent) and are tied for No. 1 in most games without allowing a sack (six).

That's a testament to both Brady's quick release and the talent upfront for Tampa, which sports an offensive line with talent on the edges in Donovan Smith and Tristan Wirfs as well as an impressive interior of Ali Marpet, Ryan Jensen, and Alex Cappa.

"Collectively all five guys, they play really good," Cox said. "This probably will be the best group we've seen all year honestly. I mean they're good inside out. All those guys play physical. They want to finish a play and they're blocking to the whistle so obviously, that's the thing we love about it when we're facing a really good group and I think that really gets our guys going."

BALL SECURITY

The Buccaneers' defense has been one of the best in the league in creating turnovers since Todd Bowles took over as the team's defensive coordinator in 2019.

From the start of that season, Tampa Bay ranks fourth in takeaways and first in points off turnovers.

Both teams are positive so far this season with the Bucs at a plus-3 and the Eagles at plus-1.

Sirianni says the first two statistics he looks at after a game are the turnover ratio and explosive plays so Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense will need to play a clean game.

STOP TALKING ABOUT THE RUNNING GAME, AT LEAST FOR A WEEK

One thing the Philadelphia fan base loves to talk about is running the ball.

Andy Reid didn't do it enough and neither did Doug Pederson. Meanwhile. Nick Sirianni is already taking hits for his predilection for abandoning the running game way too quickly. My advice to that groupthink collective is to press pause this week.

Tampa Bay led the NFL in run defense in 2019 and 2020, becoming the first team to accomplish that feat in consecutive seasons since the "Williams Wall" Minnesota Vikings did it for three straight years from 2006-08.

Since Bowles took over in 2019, the Buccaneers lead the NFL in rushing yards-per-attempt allowed and rushing yards-per-game allowed. In case you are wondering it hasn't slowed down in 2021 as Vita Vea, perhaps the best two-gap run-stuffer in the league, and his teammates are allowing a paltry 45.8 rushing yards per game.

HURTS EFFECT

The Bucs are clearly worried about the dual-threat ability of Hurts, who has the unique skill set to make a few big plays each and every week even when things aren't going to plan.

The Eagles' QB didn't play well in Carolina but was still plugging away in the second half when the dam broke on the Panthers in the form of just enough big plays to take advantage of solid defensive effort and a few big special teams plays in the form of Jake Elliott's 58-yard field goal and T.J. Edwards' blocked punt.

"Any time you face a mobile quarterback it places a threat against you because you know he can extend plays with his feet," Vea said. "I played against [Hurts] in college and he hurt us a lot with his mobility and his arm, so it will be a tough challenge this week going against a guy like Jalen Hurts that is really mobile and who also can throw the ball."

PREDICTION: John McMullen (4-1, 4-1 vs. spread) - Bucs 34, Eagles 22

There's quite a bit going for the Eagles on Thursday night, starting with the most obvious: being the home team during a short week.

If you have to play twice in four days eliminating the travel hurdle is big and so is health. Tampa Bay is banged-up with Lavonte David (ankle) expected to miss the game and tight end Rob Gronkowski (ribs) and safety Antonie Winfield (concussion) iffy. Brady (thumb), receiver Chris Godwin (knee/ankle), and edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul (shoulder/hand) are also dinged, but will likely play.

However, in a KISS (not the band but "Keep it Simple Stupid) week, the team with arguably the greatest QB of all-time and a veteran coach in Arians should be much better equipped to handle the scaled-back prep and the bright lights of prime time.

ED KRACZ: (3-2, 3-2 vs spread) - Bucs 35, Eagles 20

This is too big of an ask for a team like the Eagles, young in the skill positions, to match up with a veteran team filled with 30-somethings that know what it's like to play on the sport's biggest stage.

Philly wasn't ready for prime-time game in Dallas and got blown out. This could very well happen again.

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.