Bucs’ wild-card rout of Eagles was fueled by surprise stars stepping into spotlight

National Football League

Published Jan. 16, 2024 12:31 p.m. ET

TAMPA, Fla. – Few expected the Buccaneers to win as easily as they did in Monday’s 32-9 wild-card rout of the Eagles, so it’s fitting that surprise stars on both sides of the ball factored heavily into Tampa Bay’s victory.

It started on offense, where the Eagles made it a priority to cover Bucs receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, limiting them to 38 yards on three catches in the first three quarters. What that did was leave Tampa Bay’s secondary options open, and Baker Mayfield was superb in finding tight end Cade Otton and receivers David Moore and Trey Palmer — a combined 11-for-16 for 210 yards and two touchdowns in targeting that unsung trio.

“They were running a couple coverages where they were double-teaming Mike and Chris at the same time, so those guys had a lot of one-on-ones and took advantage of their opportunities … yeah, they played amazing,” Mayfield said. “Pretty simple plays, they did the rest. That’s always good as a quarterback just to be able to give it to them. An easy throw and they do the rest, so happy for those guys.”

Otton set his career highs with eight catches for 89 yards, and Moore and Palmer had the two biggest plays of the game. Moore, who spent the first half of the season on the practice squad and totaled just 94 receiving yards in the regular season, weaved his way through the Eagles defense for a 44-yard touchdown and a 10-0 lead early.

“Staying ready,” said Moore, who turned 29 on Monday and savored his birthday touchdown. “You never know when the time is going to come and whenever it comes, you better be ready. That’s really what we’ve been preaching and having CG (Godwin) in the room helped us out the whole time; keeping us on the field the whole time, pumping us up, it helped us a lot.”

Palmer, a sixth-round rookie from Nebraska, played more than 700 snaps this season as the Bucs’ third receiver, but no play was bigger than Monday, when he broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage late in the third and sped 56 yards for a score to put the Bucs up 25-9.

“I’m just blessed to be in that position, to make that play at that right moment,” Palmer said. “The team needed it and that’s what I did.”

Part of Tampa Bay keeping the Eagles offense in check was Todd Bowles changing the look of his front end and the personnel at safety on the back end. The Bucs opened the game with a six-man front — four down linemen and two outside linebackers — with just three defensive backs on the field, showing a priority to keep the Eagles from running the ball consistently.

Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers crush Jalen Hurts, Eagles

In the teams’ first meeting in Week 3, the Eagles’ dominance was built around their running game, piling up 201 yards on 40 carries, but the Bucs took that away Monday. Philadelphia finished with a season-low 42 rushing yards on just 15 carries — even the team’s famed “Tush Push” was stopped, as the Eagles lined up in the formation on a 2-point conversion from the 1, and the Bucs stopped it to keep their lead at 17-9 in the second quarter.

Hurts, who finished the regular season ranked third among NFL quarterbacks with 605 rushing yards, was limited to passing Monday, getting a single carry for five yards in the third quarter. He hadn’t been limited to just one carry in any game since 2020, and the Eagles secondary kept his passing game in check as well.

In the first meeting in September, the Bucs had safety Ryan Neal play 79 of 80 defensive snaps in the lopsided loss, but he didn’t play a single snap on defense Monday. Instead, the Bucs trusted versatile second-year pro Zyon McCollum, who played every snap in the first meeting at outside corner, filling in for the injured Carlton Davis. With Davis healthy, the Bucs used McCollum and undrafted rookie Christian Izien at safety and nickel, and they played a physical game, with McCollum delivering a hit that knocked Eagles receiver Julio Jones out of the game with a concussion.

“He’s earned his playing time,” Bowles said of McCollum. “Like I said, we can use him anywhere we want.”

The Eagles switched things up at inside linebacker as well, starting backup K.J. Britt ahead of veteran and captain Devin White, preferring him against the run. Britt ended up playing 33 snaps and getting three tackles, with Davis playing 26 and getting two, the rotation working well on a day when the Bucs had sound tackling throughout the game.

“I think we did pretty well,” defensive tackle Vita Vea said. “There was a lot of new stuff that they put on us this week, but we all came together and just stuck with the game plan. We did our jobs; that was the main emphasis this week — to be where you’re supposed to be and do your job. I think we did that in all three phases of the game. I think we did a good job of it, and it turned out well for us.”

Sunday’s divisional-round game at Detroit will bring another difficult opponent that beat the Bucs handily in the regular season. The Lions made easy work of the Bucs in a 20-6 win in October, and it might take another game with unexpected contributions from deep on the roster if Tampa Bay is to flip the scoreboard as the Bucs did Monday night.

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.