If you told someone before the season that the Philadelphia Eagles would be making last-minute adjustments to try and stop the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you'd have laughed out of the room.
Monday's matchup is no joke for the Eagles coaching staff, though, who are indeed shuffling around its defensive alignment in the hours leading up to kickoff. If the Bucs aren't going to get respect from pundits and writers watching from afar, it seems they're going to get it from an even better source.
Philly comes into Monday night's matchup a clear favorite, but they're not taking the Bucs lights or chalking their hot start to the season up to dumb luck. Despite a 2-0 record, some have tried to water down the undefeated start to Tampa Bay's season by pointing out how soft its first two games on the schedule ended up being.
Monday night is a true test for Tampa Bay, one in which the team can reintroduce itself to the league and prove that luck had nothing to do with how things have been going. Philly isn't taking any chances, especially with what happened to the Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars who also faced underdogs this week and came away losers.
Eagles move old Buccaneers foe to try and stop Chris Godwin on MNF
According to NFL reporter Jordan Schultz, the Eagles are starting All-Pro cornerback in the nickel corner role tonight, something that appears to be directly linked to containing Chris Godwin.
"Eagles will start All-Pro CB James Bradberry at nickel tonight," Schultz reported on Monday. "Expect to see Bradberry frequently matched up with Tampa’s dynamic slot receiver Chris Godwin."
Bradberry knows the Bucs well from his days with the Carolina Panthers. In fact, the All-Pro has more interceptions against Tampa Bay than he does any other team in the league -- although the bulk of those came while Jameis Winston was still quarterback.
It's a wise move by Philly, as Godwin seems due for a breakout game after Mike Evans feasted in the Bucs first two games of the season. It was expected that the Eagles would try to take Evans out of the equation for the Bucs offense, especially considering how important he's been to getting a rhythm going over the first two weeks.
That seemed to line things up for Godwin to be a main target for Baker Mayfield, a connection we've only seen sparingly so far this year. Godwin has posted over 50 yards in back-to-back games, but he has yet to fully unleash what Bucs fans know he's capable of.
Philly doesn't appear interested in letting that happen on their watch.