Buccaneers at Eagles Line

Written by Black Widow

The 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to Philly to take on the 2-1 Eagles who are coming off a bye week. The Bucs are coming off another disappointing loss, 13-16 at the Washington Redskins last week. It was their best effort of the season, but not coming through with a win basically has this team already looking forward to next season. The NFL odds for this one show that the books feel the Eagles will run away with it in a blowout, listing Philadelphia -15.5 over Tampa Bay with a Total Set of 41.5 points.

Donovan McNabb returns from his rib injury to take over the starting reigns from Kevin Kolb. The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for McNabb, who says he still feels pain with he laughs, coughs and sleeps. But Donovan has not been at his best when facing Tampa Bay in the past. He has lost three straight to the Buccaneers, throwing five interceptions to just three touchdowns. Ronde Barber has returned three interceptions for scores in those three games, so he has to be licking his chops at this opportunity to meet again. Brian Westbrook returns this week after sitting out the Eagles’ 34-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs last game with an ankle injury. Michael Vick and company have used this bye week to try and perfect their Wildcat packages. Look for the Eagles to have a few tricks up their sleeves in this one with all the extra practice time.

Though the Bucs’ defense has had success against the Eagles in the past, this year’s version owns the NFC’s worst defense in giving up 393.5 total yards/game. Tampa Bay has already lost to the other three teams in the NFC East, but they have to be encouraged after fighting tough in a 13-16 loss at Washington last week. The defense recorded three sacks and CB Aqib Talib had a breakout game with three interceptions. Safety Tanard Jackson returns from a four-game suspension to make his season debut and help out this secondary. Josh Johnson makes his second straight start for the Bucs, who went 13-of-22 with 106 passing yards and one touchdown to one interception against the Redskins last week. He’ll find yards tough to come by through the air against an Eagles’ pass-defense that is giving up just 156.0 yards/game, good for second-best in the NFL. But Johnson does give the Bucs a dual-threat, rushing for 41 yards on 7 carries last week. He needs a big game if Tampa Bay is to be competitive and cover this spread Sunday.

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