The clash between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles was the only battle between two undefeated teams in the Week Four NFL slate. Following a 31-25 down-to-the-wire victory, Philadelphia improves to 4-0 on the year, while the Bucs fell to 3-1. Tampa Bay remains in first place in the NFC South division and after a slow start, Baker Mayfield and the offense found their rhythm as the signal-caller connected with Emeka Egbuka for a 77-yard touchdown, followed by a 72-yard score to Bucky Irving. The Bucs fought their way back from an early 21-3 deficit and the defense did now allow the Eagles to complete a single pass in the second half on Sunday.
Offensive Outlook
The Bucs had the game's first offensive possession but were forced to punt after gaining a single first down. Bucky Irving made a nice cut inside off a counter with Cade Otton pulling for a gain of 15 for that one first down. The Eagles' broke through the line and Cameron Latu blocked Riley Dixon's punt sending the ball bouncing out to the left following an off-target snap. Sydney Brown scooped it up on a bounce and ran untouched 36 yards to the end zone for a 7-0 lead two minutes into the first quarter. That play shifted the momentum and seemed to suck the life out of the stadium. Early on, the Eagles were effective at rotating safeties and disguising shell coverage, while swarming in coverage.
Baker Mayfield hit Egbuka on the first long score on a one-play drive that cut the Eagles' lead down to 11 points with eight minutes still to play in the third quarter. On a naked bootleg, Mayfield threaded the needle and connected with Egbuka on the clear-out route for a 77-yard touchdown. He split the safeties to inject life into the offense. Then after a Saquon Barkley touchdown on a counter sweep, Mayfield struck again. He had another explosive play following a scramble. He threw down the sideline to Irving, who caught on the run and then raced untouched to the end zone for a 72-yard score. K Chase McLaughlin, who bashed a team-record 65-yard field goal just before halftime, hit from deep again, a 58-yarder that pulled the Bucs to within eight points with a little over 12 minutes left in regulation.
"Our guys are going to fight and Lavonte [David] hit on it postgame with everybody and I could not have said it better myself," described Mayfield. "This group is too damn good to start slow and until we take accountability to that, it should piss us off. Even though it's Week Four, it should piss us off."
Defensive Rundown
Following the blocked punt, the Eagles followed up with 73 and 67-yard touchdown drives, both culminating in short touchdown passes from Jalen Hurts to Dallas Goedert. On the first, out of a diamond formation, Hurts flipped the ball to Goedert, who walked in for the touchdown to put the Eagles in the driver's seat. On the second, after Hurts escaped the pocket and found DeVonta Smith downfield on a hitch route, he flipped a shovel pass to Goedert inside for the score. The Eagles scored on three of their four first-half possessions while the Bucs posted just two field goals on six possessions. In the second half, the defense forced six punts on eight possessions, but a pair of turnovers dashed the home team's comeback bid.
Overall, Vita Vea recorded three tackles (two for loss), 2.0 sacks and two quarterback hits on the day. It marked Vea's fifth career game with at least 2.0 sacks, and his first since Week Nine of the 2024 season at Kansas City. With his two sacks on the day, he increased his career total to 32.5, with 29.5 coming since the start of the 2019 season – most among all nose tackles in the NFL over that span. On the second sack, Zyon McCollum provided great coverage on A.J. Brown and Benjamin Morrison blanketed Smith to help out the pass rush. Hurts was unable to pull the trigger and Vea took advantage with a nine-yard sack.
Tykee Smith led the Bucs with nine tackles, and also recorded two passes defensed. It marked Smith's third career game with multiple passes defensed – tied for the most among safeties from the 2024 draft class, and tied for fifth-most among all defenders from the 2024 draft class. Smith has been Tampa Bay's leading tackler (or tied with others for the lead) in three of the team's four games this season.
