3 ways Buccaneers can pull off upset over Eagles in Wild Card
By Josh Hill
Exploit weak receiver depth with A.J. Brown out
Tampa Bay has a golden opportunity to exploit Philadelphia's offensive weakness on Monday thanks to the loss of A.J. Brown. The Eagles top receiver was ruled out earlier in the weekend after suffering a knee injury in last Sunday's loss to the Giants and it takes one of the biggest pieces off the board for Philly.
Things haven't gone as well as they did last year, but it's still hard to overstate just how important Brown is to the Eagles offensive attack. Philly's EPA with Brown in the lineup is 117.69, but it plummets to 2.40 without him -- that's a substantial dropoff in expected points.
It's more than just what Brown brings to the offense as the top receiver, as he helped cover for some depth issues that now move to the forefront. With Brown out, the Eagles will rely on Quez Watkins, Olamide Zaccheaus, and Julio Jones to compliment DeVonta Smith in the receiving corp.
One area for concern is Dallas Goedert, as he figures to get more looks with Brown out. That's potentially bad news for the Bucs, who have been pretty rough in coverage against tight ends this season. Tampa Bay has given up the third-most catches and yards to tight ends and the sixth-most touchdowns to boot. D'Andre Swift will see more action in the passing game too, which could get tricky, but the loss of Brown significantly changes how the Eagles offense will operate and how Tampa Bay can defend it.