September 16, 2018
The reigning Super Bowl champs are in Tampa this weekend to take on the Buccaneers in their first true meaningful road game since they faced the New York Giants in Week 15 of 2017, seven games ago.
As usual, the Birds will head into this matchup with more than just a handful of significant absences, though the Bucs have serious injury concerns as well, as they'll be missing both of their starting cornerbacks. You can find the final injury report with analysis here.
As we noted in our five matchups to watch, the biggest threat to the Eagles in this game is the Bucs' duo of field-stretching receivers in DeSean Jackson and Mike Evans. Both receivers make big plays, but they go about it in different ways. Jackson, as you know, wins with speed, while Evans wins with his size and ability to make contested catches.
The Eagles' biggest advantage in this one, as usual, is their stacked defensive line against the Bucs' offensive line. Even in 90-plus degree weather, the Eagles' defensive line should be fresh throughout the contest because of their heavy rotation.
The Eagles opened as 3-point favorites, and mostly stayed there throughout the week, with some sports books moving it to 3.5. Last week, if you'll recall, the line swung drastically in Atlanta's favor leading up to kickoff. Here are our staff writer picks, as well as who other publications are picking.
For the gambling degenerates here are my Week 2 picks. I got off to a fast start Week 1, going 5-0 against the spread, but am down 0-1 already in Week 2 for stupidly hitching my wagon to Joe Flacco and the Ravens.
Here's the full slate of games:
Sunday early games:
Late afternoon games:
Sunday Night Football:
Monday Night Football:
Feel free to discuss the game below.
