By – J.T. Olsen
Bucs Report – Special to Sports Talk Florida
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking to right the ship this weekend against the 2-1 Philadelphia Eagles. This is a playoff rematch between two teams who expect to return to the playoffs this season. Both teams are very talented and among the best in the NFC.
This is an intriguing matchup and there will be a lot to watch for. However, a few things jump out to me that I will be watching for in particular. Here are my Bucs week four bold predictions vs the Eagles.
Mike Evans Double Up
So far, it has been a quiet year for Mike Evans. Through three games he only has 120 yards and 2 touchdowns. After a 17 receiving yard day against the Denver Broncos last Sunday, it has left us all wondering why he isn’t being utilized more.
Part of this is just the attention he draws from a defense. This has helped open up Chris Godwin and has him off to one of the best starts in the NFL. However, at a certain point you can’t let the defense dictate an elite wide receiver like Evans.
I expect the Bucs to make a conscious effort to get Evans the ball this week. His explosive playmaking is a critical part of this offense and we have seen them struggle the last two weeks when he wasn’t featured. So I am predicting that Evans doubles his production for the year, going for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns in this game alone.
Tykee Smith To Make A Splash
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is not off to a great start this year. He has thrown nearly as many interceptions as he has touchdowns and just doesn’t look like the top tier quarterback the Eagles hoped he’d be when they extended him after the Super Bowl a few years ago.
This could be on full display this week as both the Eagles top receivers, AJ Brown and Devonta Smith, are banged up and questionable to play this weekend. This will only put more pressure on Hurts to make things happen.
This could lead to Hurts leaning on guys like tight ends and slot receivers. Both of these positions are guys that rookie nickel back Tykee Smith covers regularly. In this situation, targeting Smith repeatedly could work in the Bucs favor. I am predicting that the rookie safety gets his first interception of the season this weekend.
Race To 20ish
Both the Bucs and the Eagles are dealing with injuries. For the Eagles it’s their star wide receivers and their All Pro right tackle Lane Johnson. For the Bucs….it’s been a lot of people as we saw 30% of their roster appear on the injury report on Wednesday.
Because of this, as well as the early growing pains we have seen from the Bucs offensive line, I believe that points will be at a premium this week. The Bucs will likely key in on the Eagles running game and the Eagles will probably focus on limiting the Bucs through the air. Overall, there’s a real possibility that both offenses struggle in this game.
We saw 20 points win the game two weeks ago when the Bucs won in Detroit and I believe it could be a similar result this week. In fact, there’s a chance that neither team even reaches that number. So in my boldest prediction of the week, I am calling this a race to 20ish. Whatever team hits that 17 or 20 point mark first will be the winner of this game.
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