After being cooked at home by the Denver Broncos last week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers desperately need a bounce-back game. The schedule is tightening over the next few weeks, with matchups against top teams in the NFC capped off by a Monday Night Football showdown against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
The gauntlet starts on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, a team champing at the bit to get some revenge on Tampa Bay. The Bucs have beaten the Eagles in back-to-back playoff games, losing to them only in the regular season.
It's the same exact scene of the crime too, as this will be the fourth game in a row played between the two teams at Raymond James Stadium. Getting a third win won't be easy, but Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni might have made it a little easier.
Nick Sirianni might have spilled the beans on Eagles' gameplan for Buccaneers in Week 4
While speaking with the media, Sirianni essentially showed his cards and revealed part of his plan on how to attack the Buccaneers defense on Sunday afternoon.
"I really have a lot of faith in that wide receiver room," Sirianni says. "We have Johnny , we have Parris , we have Jahan . I know Jahan hasn’t had a ton of catches, but I think he’s been playing efficient football. And sometimes it’s just a matter of seeing it, and then going out there and planning some more things for him and doing some more things to get the ball in his hands."
Usually you'd be able to dismiss this as subterfuge, but with Sirianni you never know. He's a Reddit commentor in a coach's body, something we've seen on display more than a few times throughout his career in Philly.
Lest we forget the Super Bowl where Jalen Hurts had to calm him down from trash talking the Chiefs -- during the game and not before the Eagles lost. Or how about his infamous taunt of Chiefs fans after winning a game in Arrowhead last season, only to not even make it out of the Wild Card round.
The jury is still out on whether Sirianni is a good head coach, something evident by the fact that every time the Eagles are down in a game the subject of Bill Belichick replacing him comes up. So while this might not seem like much, let's not put it apst him to have spilled the beans on Philly's gameplan.
It's not a bad one, either. Tampa Bay's secondary has been shaky this season and will be missing Antoine Winfield Jr. for a third straight week. Attacking Jamel Dean has often proven to be a successful strategy too, and as Sirianni pointed out the Eagles have a vast array of receivers who could pop off and hurt the Bucs.
What makes this seem like it's not a slip-up is how far off from the startegy everyone is assuming the Eagles would use it is. If Calijah Kancey and Vita Vea are out again, it would seem likely that the Philly might just feed the offense through Saquon Barkley and let him run all over Tampa Bay's depleted defensive front.
Tampa Bay can't afford to have the same sort of game it did last week, which already seems like it won't be the case. Luke Goedeke is expected to return to the lineup and there's hope that Kancey will be healthy enough to play as well. The pressure is on for the Bucs, no matter what Siriannu says, and it's going to come down to more than coach speak to get things back on track.
More Tampa Bay Buccaneers news and rumors