Buccaneers prepare to begin Super Bowl title defense

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers title defense begins this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Bucs and Eagles have a playoff history. Remember 2003 and the NFC title game? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Eagles 27-10 to advance to the franchise’s first Super Bowl where they went on to beat the Oakland Raiders 48-21.

Ronde Barber’s pick-six to seal the game is one of the brightest spots in franchise history.

Tampa Bay has the two seed for the 2021-2022 playoffs and can achieve another franchise first: hosting multiple playoff games at home! If Green Bay loses next week and the Bucs take care of business Sunday against the Eagles, the NFC would have to go through Raymond James. Bucs fans have built a home-field advantage this season! If Green Bay wins next week and the Bucs take care of business against the Eagles, Tampa Bay will still host another home playoff game.

The Bucs and Eagles met earlier this season, and Tampa won the game 28-22. Philadelphia rested starters last week against Dallas and has two players on the injury report. The Bucs could be without defensive leader Lavonte David for this game. Cyril Grayson has been ruled out. Key members of the secondary are questionable, including Sean Murphy-Bunting and Carlton Davis.

The outstanding news is running back Leonard Fournette should be good to go.

The Bucs looked crisp against Carolina last weekend and were executing the offense with efficiency. Congratulations to quarterback Tom Brady for setting a Bucs franchise record with 5,316 yards passing in a season and throwing for 43 passing touchdowns! Hopefully, the momentum the Bucs have generated at the end of the season will continue and result in another Lombardi trophy.

I am curious as to what type of defense Coach Bowles will use against the Eagles run attack. I hope there are a lot of QB pressures and mistakes forced by the Bucs defense. Coach Leftwich has the offense performing very efficiently, and hopefully it goes to another level in these playoffs.

The game will be aired on FOX at 1 PM EST on January 1/16/22.

Bucs fans, we will need you all and the home-field advantage that the fans are creating. Enjoy the game! Go Bucs!