by Carter Brantley
My, oh my, what a difference a week can make.
After a disappointing outcome in last week’s matchup against the lowly Denver Broncos (who put up an abysmal offensive performance against the New York Jets Sunday afternoon even in a win), the Bucs came out firing on all cylinders, smoking the Eagles 33-16 at Raymond James Stadium.
Baker Mayfield had one of his best games as a Buc, picking apart the Eagles defense and making smart, calm decisions, avoiding the silly mistakes and taking the bad sacks he was unable to avoid last week.
Mayfield totaled 347 yards on 30/47 and mixed in a couple TDs through the air for the afternoon, having a truly great game despite the weirdly bitter comments from Tom Brady, who made his first appearance at Raymond James as an announcer since beginning the gig this season.
Rachaad White and Bucky Irving had a wonderful complementary game, with them splitting time in the backfield and packing some nice punch for this offense both in the air and on the ground, as they combined for over 100 all-purpose yards on the afternoon.
Mike Evans also had himself quite a bounceback after being a nonfactor against lockdown corner Patrick Surtain, as he hauled in 8 receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown.
But the most impressive part of the Bucs’ Sunday afternoon might have been the defense, as the pass rush woke up, bringing Eagles star QB Jalen Hurts down 6 times times, with the steady veteran linebacker Lavonte David being responsible for a couple and one of them even being a huge forced fumble that set up a Bucs field goal.
Speaking of that kick, Chas McLaughlin was responsible for that 52-yarder, and he did so with a new long snapper and new holder, as starting punter Jake Camarda was benched for Trenton Gil and long snapper Zach Triner was brought back after being replaced by Evan Deckers before the season.
So for as bad as the Bucs can look, this is as good as they’ve looked all year.
They were able to move the ball efficiently, avoiding the big negative plays that plagued them so much and stalled so many of their drives last week, and took advantage of a banged up Eagles offense by getting after Hurts and making for a miserable trip for many Eagles fans.
The Bucs have their first divisional matchup of the season on Thursday against the Atlanta Falcons, who took down the New Orleans Saints 26-24 in a nail bitter.
Fire those cannons, the Bucs were absolutely cooking.