Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Philadelphia Eagles Prediction & Betting Tips - NFL

Prediction published on 13/01/2024, 20:15  by Matthew Newman | Modified on 14/01/2024 at 14:50 in NFL Predictions

The 11-6 Philadelphia Eagles are on the road at the 9-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the final game of wildcard weekend, this one early on Tuesday morning. The Buccaneers won the worst division in football but by virtue of topping the NFC South, they are the home team here against a team who were only second-best in their division. They were only 4-4 at home but they actually finished the season with some purpose, 5-1 in their final six games. The most impressive of those wins was a 34-20 success at the Green Bay Packers, which was a strong performance. There has been an excellent connection between Baker Mayfield in his first season as the Bucs quarterback with wide receiver Mike Evans. This has been the tenth season that Evans has spent in Tampa and it was the fifth time that he has 12 or more receiving touchdowns in a season. Running back Rachaad White ended the season 10 yards short of 1,000 for the season. In just his second NFL campaign, he really carried the load to great effect in the closing weeks.

It has been an awful end to the season for the Eagles. The beaten Super Bowl finalists from last year started well, going 10-1 through their first 11 games. They went 1-5 since then and lost the NFC East title to the Dallas Cowboys. In those defeats, they were beaten by the 4-13 Arizona Cardinals and the 6-11 New York Giants. In four of those five losses, they scored 19 points or less, something they need to remedy. They can take some confidence after a Monday Night Football win over the Bucs back in September in this stadium. Naturally, they were playing an awful lot better at that point than they have been of late but it is the one form line that we have to go on. They will have to play better on the offensive side of the ball than they have been of late. 10 of the 15 interceptions that Jalen Hurts threw this season were on the road and only eight of the 23 touchdowns he threw. A passer rating of 102.4 at home fell off a cliff to 77.5 on the road and with everything going through him, that has to be a concern.