Eagles vs. Buccaneers prediction: NFL wild card odds, picks, bets
Who would’ve thought that signing Baker Mayfield as a placeholder quarterback would result in the Buccaneers winning the NFC South for the third consecutive year?
Mayfield might have finally found a home in Tampa Bay, stringing together a career season of 4,044 yards and 28 total touchdowns.
The Buccaneers and Eagles enter Monday’s wild card game heading in opposite trajectories.
(8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Philadelphia lost five of its last six games, while Tampa Bay won five of its last six.
The once big, bad 10-1 Eagles have now been exposed for their defensive weaknesses by Kyler Murray, Tyrod Taylor, Drew Lock, Dak Prescott and Brock Purdy.
Mayfield will get his chance as only a three-point underdog, which is a tough number considering the slew of injury issues he’s been harnessing with his ankle and ribs.
It’s unclear what limitations he’ll be playing with if he does play and I can’t rationalize backing Kyle Trask if anything does go awry before or during play.
Mike Evans has surprisingly clicked with Mayfield to net more total yards than any of his runs with Tom Brady. But the Bucs’ No. 1 pass catcher has cooled down the past couple of weeks; he caught six balls for 92 yards combined against New Orleans and Carolina.
Mayfield’s injury woes have reflected in these results.
The Bucs failed to score a touchdown in their season finale versus the wretched Panthers. They couldn’t muster any offense at all until the fourth quarter the week prior.
Perhaps if Mayfield was healthier, there would be a clearer path to picking a side, but this offense is too fragile right now.
Besides, Mayfield has been an Under machine since the start of last season. He’s 18-9 in that span, including 15-7 in his last 22 starts and three straight to close out the campaign.
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As far as the Birds are concerned, they will be without their No. 1 receiver in A.J. Brown, who is the motor to the offense.
Brown sustained a knee injury in the Week 18 loss to the Giants and it will leave Nick Sirianni’s receiving corps primarily in the hands of DeVonta Smith, who is recovering from an ankle injury, and Dallas Goedert.
And to further muddle things, Jalen Hurts dislocated a finger on his throwing hand last week against Big Blue. We’ll have no idea how this will impact his passing accuracy until he takes the field Monday.
If the Eagles plan to run the ball and turn this game into a rock fight, the Bucs’ front will serve them challenges as a top-five run defense in yards per play. Tampa also ranks No. 3 overall in blitz percentage, which is an area Philadelphia has struggled with throughout the year.
Philadelphia is the third team in NFL history to go 10-1 or better and then lose four of its next five games. There’s no guarantee they can produce amid this down spiral — especially with all of these injury woes.
Teams on extended rest are historically good bets on the Under anyway but, regardless, too much hangs in the balance on both sides to have confidence in any display of consistency.
