In Week 4 of the NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles will face a familiar foe in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who they have faced five times since the 2021 season, four of which were losses. Here is what to look for in their Sunday matchup.

1) The Bucs' outstanding receivers are depleted

The Bucs already had one of the best wide receiver duos in the NFL in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and then they added Emeka Egbuka in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. If the season ended today (it doesn't) Egbuka would probably be the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. In three games he has 14 catches for 181 yards, and 3 TDs.

However, the Bucs are very banged up at receiver. 

• Evans injured his hamstring in the Bucs' Week 3 win over the Jets, and is going to be out multiple weeks, according to several media reports. In the Eagles' loss to the Bucs last season, Evans had 8 catches for 94 yards and a TD. He'll be out, it appears.

• Godwin suffered an ankle injury that required surgery and cost him the last half of the 2024 season. He had a great start to the 2024 season, making 50 catches for 576 yards and five TDs in the Bucs' first seven games before he went down. He also missed the first three games of the 2025 season but has a "strong chance" of making his 2025 debut against the Eagles, per ESPN. Godwin had 6 catches for 69 yards in the Bucs' win over the Eagles last year.

• Egbuka played through a groin injury Week 3, but his snap percentage was down. He played 93% of the Bucs' offensive snaps in Weeks 1 and 2, but only 64% of the snaps in Week 3.

• WR4 Jalen McMillan is also sidelined with a neck injury suffered during a Bucs preseason game. McMillan had 37 catches for 461 yards and 8 TDs as a rookie for the Bucs in 2024.

So, the Cliff's Notes version: Evans and McMillan out, Godwin and Egbuka likely not 100%, assuming they play.

The other receivers on the Bucs' roster are Sterling Shepard, Ryan Miller, Kameron Johnson, and Tez Johnson.

The Eagles' secondary struggled against the Cowboys Week 1, but bounced back against a depleted Chiefs receiving corps Week 2. In Week 3 against the Rams, they gave up a deep ball to Davante Adams and 12 receptions to Puca Nacua, but they also held Matthew Stafford to under 200 yards passing. 

They will catch another break with a depleted Bucs receiving corps Week 4, though it's also worth noting that the Eagles have a pair of banged up corners in Adoree' Jackson and Jakorian Bennett, who are both likely to appear on the injury report this week.

2) Their offensive line is depleted, too. AKA, where might the Eagles go #Feastin'? 🍗

Alright, I'm going to try to walk you through the various iterations of the Bucs' offensive line. Hang in there, I promise we'll get through this together. 

If everyone were healthy, Tampa's offensive line would look like this:

Wirfs started training camp on the PUP list after having surgery on his right knee. Rather than have swing tackle Charlie Heck fill in directly for Wirfs, they moved Barton from C to LT, and Bredeson from LG to C. At LG, they inserted Michael Jordan, a guy they had originally signed to their practice squad after 53-man cutdowns. (Jordan has since been benched.)

During their Week 2 win over the Texans, Goedeke injured his foot, and Heck filled in at RT. Goedeke was subsequently placed on IR. He won't play on Sunday.

Later in the week it was revealed that Mauch's season is over with a knee injury suffered Week 2, meaning that the Bucs would be without both starting OTs (Wirfs and Goedeke) and Mauch Week 3 against the Jets. Here's what their lineup looked like Week 3:

In other words, the Bucs had zero spots along their offensive line that were manned by the player the team intended when forming the roster.

On Saturday, ESPN reported that Wirfs has a "strong chance" of playing against the Eagles Week 4. If so, my guess is that the Bucs' offensive line will look like this:

But, really, who knows? At a minimum, the Bucs will be without Goedeke and Mauch, so the right side of their line will compromised against the Eagles' pass rush.

#FeastinMeter: 6/10 turkey legs 🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗

3) The Bucs have tried to run it, but have needed Baker Mayfield scrambles and magic

In 2024, the Bucs finished fourth in the NFL in rushing, at 149.2 rushing yards per game. They were third in yards per rush, at 5.2. They have not been as effective this season so far, at least with their running backs, as lead back Bucky Irving is averaging 3.1 yards per carry on just under 19 carries per game.

Their biggest threat on the ground this season has been Baker Mayfield, on scrambles. He has taken off running 12 times this season for 112 yards, or 9.7 yards per carry. The Eagles allowed 60 rushing yards on Patrick Mahomes scrambles in the first half of their Week 2 win over the Chiefs, but cleaned that up in the second half.

The Eagles have struggled stopping the run so far this season. As noted in ESPN's power rankings Tuesday morning: 

The Eagles are last in the league with a 45.1% success rate against the run this season. They are yielding a first down or a touchdown on over 34% of the opponent's attempts, which also is a league low, and they are 25th in rushing yards allowed (133.3 per game). 

The Bucs are 3-0 because they have gotten game-winning drives from Mayfield late in games:

• Week 1 final drive, in 1:18: 4/5, 63 yards, TD.

• Week 2 final drive, in 2:04: 8/10, 78 yards, capped by a Rachaad White rushing TD.

• Week 3 final drive, in 1:49: 2/4, 48 yards, set up the walk-off field goal with no time left.

"The quarterback is playing really good," Vic Fangio said on Tuesday. "He's a scrambler. He scrambled, I think, 11 times this year for close to 120 yards already, so that's always an issue. I've always liked Mayfield. I think he's a good quarterback. Why these teams that had him didn’t keep him, I don't know. But GMs make mistakes, just like coaches do. I've always liked Mayfield."

4) The Eagles haven't really been able to run it either, and the Bucs prioritize run defense

Saquon Barkley hasn't had much room to run so far this season. A comparison between his first three games heading into the team's Week 4 matchup in Tampa last year, and this year:

"I think when you look at the run game the last three weeks, we've just got to continue to work through it as a staff to try to find ways to create more space for him in the run game and take advantage of what people are giving us," Kevin Patullo said of the run game struggles. Thanks Kev.

The Bucs' defense has always hung its hat on stopping the run. Their run defense rankings since Bowles became the defensive coordinator in 2019:

• 2019: 1
• 2020: 1
• 2021: 3
• 2022: 15
• 2023: 5
• 2024: 4

We should also mention that the Bucs are a rare team that has been able to stop the Tush Push, with big Vita Vea on the interior.

5) As always, can Jalen Hurts solve Todd Bowles?

From a 60,000-foot view, there's little mystery as to what Todd Bowles is going to try to do to the Eagles defensively. He is going to blitz Jalen Hurts, early and often. It usually works, at least for the Bucs.

Hurts has been blitzed quite a bit already this season. 

"I think the first half of the season always, people have all offseason to game plan you," Patullo said. "So they're looking for ways to stop you. We've played all these teams multiple times, they know us really, really well and so they're just looking for stuff. They're wanting to try new things and seeing what they can do against us. 

"I think that's a little piece of it, and I think just by nature, if you look around the league, I think pressure's up a little bit in general. I watched a little of the game last night and listened to some on the radio as I drove home, so you can see and just hear what's happening around the league. I think that's a little bit of a trend and it'll probably continue."

The Eagles were without A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in their loss in Tampa last year. Parris Campbell, Johnny Wilson, and John Ross (!) combined for 92 snaps in that game. The Eagles were also without Brown in their embarrassing playoff loss to the Bucs following the 2023 season.

Brown and Smith are both healthy. If the Bucs blitz heavily on Sunday, the Eagles will be better equipped to make them pay on the back end than they were in the last two matchups.

BONUS: The Bucs' kicker has stunk so far this season

In his first three games, Bucs K Chase McLaughlin has misses from 38 and 44 yards, and he had a third field goal blocked. He also missed a PAT. The Bucs also had one of their punts blocked against the Texans. They've had protection issues on special teams.

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