“They Have The Formula To Beat The Bucs”
January 11th, 2022
Don’t think LeSean “Shady” McCoy is a real insider when it comes to the Buccaneers?
Consider that during the latest I Am Athlete show, Buccaneers savior linebacker Devin White called McCoy (who had forgotten to shut off his cell) and co-host Chad Johnson insisted he take the call on the air.
McCoy spent last season with the Bucs and also logged six years with the Eagles, so Joe was very interested to hear Shady this morning on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
Believe it or not, he was saying the Eagles are well-positioned to win on Sunday in Round 1 of the playoffs.
“So they have the formula to beat the Bucs, keep Tom Brady off the field,” Shady said of the Eagles’ approach to their league-leading ground game. “They spread you out, make the box light … three wide-receiver sets.”
Shady likes the bruising ability of running back Jordan Howard (4.7 yards per carry) complemented by the run-pass option game of quarterback Jalen Hurts. Shady didn’t mention top-dog Eagles RB Miles Sanders, but he might return Sunday after breaking his hand in Week 16.
Interestingly, Shady is unimpressed by the Bucs run defense unless they get guys like Lavonte David and Shaq Barrett back healthy. He did not mention White at all, despite the recent phone call and their apparent close relationship.
Tyler Johnson and Scotty Miller are underestimated in the Bucs offense, per Shady, and he’s definitely not worried about the Bucs putting up points.
Shady didn’t pick the Eagles to win, but he said with the Eagles running well and now playing to Hurts’ strength with a short passing attack, Sunday’s game “will be a lot closer than people think.”
January 11th, 2022 at 2:51 pm
Wow, nearly word for word what I’ve been saying for over a week now, this is not a good match-up for THIS Bucs team missing all those LBs. I do not think this will be easy, but I do expect the Bucs to win a close one.
Then again, on Sunday afternoons, at home, the Bucs are unstoppable and roll over teams while putting up bigly numbers, so hopefully they make me look stupid and destroy the Eagles.
January 11th, 2022 at 2:58 pm
Devin White better come to play. Dude has been invisible the last 3 games.
January 11th, 2022 at 2:58 pm
@“They Have The Formula To Beat The Bucs”
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everybody does…Sean Payton will give it to you for FREE.
Can they execute “the formula”???
Everything depends on OL…from now on OL is the most important group.
January 11th, 2022 at 2:59 pm
Jalen Hurts will get Hurts real bad if they continue running him with an RPO offense. History says mobile QBs don’t last long. I’m not sayin it’ll happen on Sunday, but you live by the sword, you die by the sword.
If the Bucs hold the Eagles to sub 24 points, the Bucs will outscore them.
It will be a close game if Jalen Hurts plays the entire game, Lavonte isn’t back to at least 90%, or Devin White disappears. Todd Bowles has to have a full-time spy on Jalen Hurts. I would like to see Joe Tryon-Shoyinka used in that roll.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:04 pm
JTS needs to tackle better, but he is fast enough to spy Hurts. Not sure if he’s smart enough though. JTS kind of looks like a bimbo.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:06 pm
Pack the box. Make Hurts beat you with throws.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:07 pm
last Sunday, several times they gave Tom 5 sec, if they can increase that just by 1-2 sec, we can score more than 30 points.
That put our chances to win to 90%.
Just 1-2 second.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:08 pm
If we can’t beat a high school qb…
January 11th, 2022 at 3:10 pm
Pretty much what I said earlier as well. Phili is the best running team in the NFL, and they use the ground assault to set up their passing game. They will spread out receivers to lighten the box, and they will run outside the tackles to exploit any Buc weakness. The Buc run defense had best bring their “A Game” because Phili is a far more credible running threat than Carolina. The key will be how healthy and effective JPP and Shaq will be when (hopefully not “if”) they return to service on Sunday. I’m not expecting LVD.
If the run defense fails, you’ll see some serious problems with the Buc D getting winded, and the Buc passing attack will lose the rhythm to be effective.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:14 pm
Jalen Hurts will do well for 5-6 years, then fade into obscurity, like most running quarterbacks
January 11th, 2022 at 3:15 pm
Devin White is like a chicken with his head cut off without Lavonte. LD is the general that elevates the play of 2nd level of our defense.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:16 pm
Bucs need a good, well-executed TD drive on their 1st possession. O-Line has to dominate and the Defense has to bend but not break AND cause one critical turnover. Brady and Company will do the rest in this Home Playoff game.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:22 pm
LOL, we are 6 and 1 at home, and we already beat these guys. Yes, it will be a closer game then Carolina, but in the end we will still win.
Indy was a great running team too, and we shut them down.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:22 pm
The key to this game is a fast start. We can’t wait until the two minute warning to start playing again. If we score points early we can force the eagles out of the running game. “Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth “ we need to punch the eagles in the mouth.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:37 pm
Every team has a “formula”…….but for it to be a winning formula their opponent has to fail at theirs.
I suspect somehow we will outscore the Eagles.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:43 pm
Guess what? … The Bucs also have the formula to beat the Eagles.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:48 pm
Agree with Conte;; Starting Fast is our key…..Keep them on their back foot
January 11th, 2022 at 3:54 pm
Everyone has a formula tell you get hit in the mouth
January 11th, 2022 at 3:54 pm
Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa Says:
January 11th, 2022 at 3:22 pm
LOL, we are 6 and 1 at home, and we already beat these guys.
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But we didn’t beat ‘these’ guys, at the time, they were stupidly trying to keep Hurts in the pocket. After that Bucs game, or maybe a game or two later, they finally seemed to understand that Hurts is best when he’s running – and they sort of shifted their offense around. This isn’t the same team and I don’t think you can take a lot from that first game.
January 11th, 2022 at 3:55 pm
The only one true formula to beat the bucs is have my daughter watch the game.
She thinks it’s funny. NOT!
January 11th, 2022 at 3:59 pm
I agree with McCoy that our run defense is not impressive unless we get our LBs back. Lucky for us we are getting Shaq and JPP back. Just have them 2 guys should take away the edge and a struggle for Philly.
Bucs gameplan, go up 2 scores and force them to pass. We do that we will roll em.
January 11th, 2022 at 4:00 pm
Agree with Rod – This is a very different Eagles team – Living in PHL being a diehard Bucs fans has all my friends coming out of the woodwork – There is a puncher’s chance with this Eagles team I feel – I’m anxious to see JPP and Shaq contain the edges as the perimeter has been wide open – RPO will exploit as needed – We know the O will put up points but can we stop the Eagles from scoring? Early prediction: Bucs 27 Eagles 21
January 11th, 2022 at 4:12 pm
Not discounting the Eagles but with all the above they only had 9 wins.
January 11th, 2022 at 4:16 pm
I also think that think the vets paced themselves for the playoffs, I think we come out with our hair on fire
January 11th, 2022 at 4:23 pm
I would force the Iggles to win on Hurt’s reading defenses and arm.
I don’t think he can.
January 11th, 2022 at 4:25 pm
I really have a hard time believing we can beat any good teams right now. We’ve struggled against very average teams… and our defense is very vulnerable. We gotta have David and Barrett back or we’ll be lucky to get past round 1.
January 11th, 2022 at 4:41 pm
I was buying some of his points until he said “he’s not worried about the Bucs putting up points”.
If he did his homework he’d know the Bucs score more points than the Eagles and that the Eagles give up more points than the Bucs.
Anyone who is critical of the Buc defense isn’t far off what you see on the field. The thing that I would expect is that if the Eagles play to their strengths and do run the ball on the Bucs, they may find success playing keep-away from Brady but they won’t run it in when the field gets tighter in the red zone.
The Bucs only gave up 11 rushing touchdowns all year! Teams passed for 26 TDs vs the Bucs. I wouldn’t expect the Eagles to be that successful in the Red Zone if they try and run it in. Only the Broncos and Patriots have allowed less rushing TDs than the Bucs so if they keep Brady off the field but only get field goals then the Bucs can take advantage of an Eagles passing defense that is lower tier in sacks and gave up more passing touchdowns than the Bucs.
The issue with the Bucs is you never know what side of the ball they will perform or not perform on but you do know that they know how to win. The Eagles played more inferior opponents and had an 8 loss season and the Eagles are a more one-dimensional team than the Bucs are.
January 11th, 2022 at 4:44 pm
Nobody is saying it but I believe Devin White is playing hurt. He simply is not the guy we saw in action the 1st half of this season. Hope David get back because White tends to get more fired up and play harder when David is on the field for some reason. The Eagles will flash. But I got us beatin’em down.
January 11th, 2022 at 5:08 pm
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. I think Mile Tyson said that.
January 11th, 2022 at 5:10 pm
Its the playoffs. The Eagles earned the right to the show, and will play tough. This game does not boil down to scheme. Can Jalen Hurts beat Tom Brady at his crib in the playoffs? Hell no.
January 11th, 2022 at 5:15 pm
Shady … “So they have the formula to beat the Bucs, keep Tom Brady off the field.”
Duh. Why didn’t the other 30 NL teams ever think of that?
In looking at our game against the Eagles this year, Bucs had 73 plays to the Eagles 47 plays. Bucs held the ball for 40 mins to 20 mins for the Eagles. Strikes me that the Eagles’ defense didn’t do a sterling job of keeping Tom Brady off the field. Seems like it was the other way around?
January 11th, 2022 at 5:32 pm
Cheat the safeties up and go for it. Not sure how good Eagles receivers are but Bucs DB’s have issues.
January 11th, 2022 at 5:33 pm
Mike Johnson … Seriously doubt that LVD will be back on the field for the Eagles’ game (I suspect that word of his return would’ve leaked out by now).
Bucs just activated Shaq though off of IR, although somehow I doubt that we should expect him to be on the field for say 80% of he def snaps. Same thing with JPP; suspect that Todd Bowles will use them both very judiciously.
Anything’s possible in the playoffs IMO; yes, even Philly winning. Their defense has been playing some excellent ball in the 5 games prior to the Dallas game (that one didn’t really count IMO because they used a bunch of subs … and got 51 pts laid on them). But in the 5 games prior to that, the Eagles’ defense only gave up 74 pts total (less than 15 PPG) & won 4 out of 5 of those games.
In that stretch they played the Giants twice. Lost to them the 1st time 13-7, but whooped them the 2nd time 34-10. Same primary game plan it looks like. The difference? Eagles had FOUR giveaways the 1st game (to 0 for the Giants) versus ZERO giveaways the 2nd game (to 2 for the Giants). IMO that’s the key to beating ANY team in the playoffs: take the ball away from them, but don’t let them do that to you. Winning the TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL is HUGE in the playoffs (last year Bucs were PLUS 5 in the playoffs and did a great job capitalizing on each & every takeaway).
January 11th, 2022 at 5:40 pm
Whitehead at the line – 1st time we played carolina and cam.
Hurst has better arm of course but neither the most accurate
January 11th, 2022 at 5:49 pm
Phili only beat one winning team all season.
But on that note, we lost to some pretty miserable teams this season. The common denominator? Time of Possession.
Lost to New Orleans (first game):
Time of Possession, New Orleans 33:16
Time of Possession, Tampa Bay 26:44
Lost to Washington:
Time of Possession, Washington 39:08
Time of Possession, Tampa Bay 20:52
The second loss to New Orleans had a negligible TOP difference. The difference was dropped balls, questionable preparation, poor execution, and injuries.
That’s the Phili formula to win: Time of Possession
January 11th, 2022 at 5:57 pm
If you let Jalen Hurts beat you in the playoffs, you are not a Superbowl team anyway.
I expect the Eagles to come out hot, but the 2nd half of the game will be much like the 1st half was when played them earlier in the year and we pull away for the victory…. and like I said, if we can’t get past Hurts and the Eagles then the entire season was a bigger facade than we thought.
January 11th, 2022 at 6:21 pm
It’s a god-damned highschool offense for medicated Pete’s sake. They’re 24th in the league against the run. If Brady has more than 30 passes in this game, it’ll be close.
January 11th, 2022 at 6:54 pm
From weather channel:
A steady rain in the morning. Showers continuing in the afternoon. High 67F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Hope that changes….
January 11th, 2022 at 6:56 pm
Devin White looks like a lost little puppy out there without Lavonte David. He thinks he’s way better then he actually is.
January 11th, 2022 at 7:08 pm
Everytime I come on the site and see this headline it bothers me. You should change the title Joe. Sorry I’m a little superstitious and don’t like seeing anything negative about my Bucs before the game. Go Bucs!
January 11th, 2022 at 7:10 pm
Jmarkbuc – at 1p, chance of rain is at 47% and drops for the rest of the day.
The total estimated rain for the day is only 0.26-inches, so that means they’re calling for mostly light rain, not a wash out.
Still early in the week, and they almost always overestimate rain chances this far out. Probably won’t know for sure until Thursday afternoon, once you get inside of 3-days, the models get a lot better.
January 11th, 2022 at 7:13 pm
These games are almost always closer than they should be. Todd has the ability to frustrate the Eagles offense but it will require him trusting his secondary and playing tight. The Eagles will want to spread us out and then ground and pound. The thing is Jalen isn’t really scaring too many defenses throwing the ball. The defense to play against the Eagles is not rocket science. We blow the Eagles plan to kill clock and control the clock by scoring early and often. The Eagles problem will be dealing with our offense. It’s cute if you can keep our offense off the field for a little while but our defense will hopefully be very close to full force and we are aware of the Eagles plans. I don’t want to get cocky but I’m very confident that we take care of business.
January 11th, 2022 at 7:17 pm
Devin White runs his mouth too much for me to feel bad for him and his struggles. When The BUCS win, DW shows his tail off pumping up himself. As it turns, he is really average with high potential. Mason Foster was better than him
January 11th, 2022 at 7:18 pm
I am in the belly of the former beast here listening to iggle radio. You have to understand the mindset of the eagle fan. Before Thanksgiving they wanted to fire the coach. Booed constantly their team first half of the season. Doomsday. There is no middle ground with these fans. It is either we suck. OR you suck. Was at the shutdown of the VET, and the opening of the LINC> please God play that Ronde INT on a loop from 11 to 1 pm, you will have 20K eagle fans there boys. Stop selling your tickets Buc fans.
Right now they got their swag back. And you know what? I agree that the RPO attack and their multi headed running game is a threat. Devin White seems to have been abducted by aliens. Hopefully, 54 is back and settles him down, but the Jet game he was chasing the cheese all over the place with a rookie QB. D needs to get it’s head straight. Coaches need to earn their money this week. Eagles playing with house money. Put the hammer down Bucs!
January 11th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
I’ll be at the game as long as I’m not still testing positive for Covid! Go Bucs!
January 11th, 2022 at 7:31 pm
Might be a muddy one. Chance of rain up to 80% Sunday.
January 11th, 2022 at 7:31 pm
We have to do something with our first two possessions.. it’s that simple. Back to back three and outs kill us.
January 11th, 2022 at 7:42 pm
People bashing White are just your typical run of the mill morons, the same people writing of the Panthers game at the 7-min mark of the 1st quarter, saying the Bucs were going to lose. They’re literally stupid and don’t understand what they’re watching.
White is the ONLY healthy LB. Offenses can scheme to take out defenders, and they’re targeting Minter and Gill and just avoiding and doubling White. The fact you dopes don’t realize that, you look at the box score and yell bust, just shows what low football IQ dummies you are.
January 11th, 2022 at 8:12 pm
@RodMunch
You may be right that the Eagles we beat are not the same team we are gonna play Sunday.
I will not be surprised to find our stadium full of Eagles Fans.
It is winter up there, and their team is in the playoffs.
Every true Eagles Fan hates Tampa for eliminating them in the NFC Championship Game at home in the very last game in their old stadium called The Vet.
January 11th, 2022 at 8:24 pm
Great friend of mine suggested we make Ronde Barber Honorary Capt for the coin toss!
January 11th, 2022 at 8:34 pm
Buc luck
Didn’t Ira suggest that Sunday night?
I say Put 20. 55. 99 and TB12 out there for the coin toss.
January 11th, 2022 at 8:52 pm
Rod Munch sorry bro but your way off on this one. This hasent been a thing with White where he arent been playing good since the other LBers went out. It has been all year long and some of us have been commenting about it.
To be fair after he got injured his 2nd game back(sorry dont remember which game) he looked like that guy we got in our last playoff run…….Aside from that he has had a few flashes and otherwise nothing special.
I do remember Joe made a good point that his earlier struggles could have been due to our depleted secondary and White needing to play his position different…….and his struggles lately could certainly be because of all the LBs missing……….Which sounds great to me. We have the team back healthy this Sunday so that means we can expect him to play like an #5 draft choice.
January 11th, 2022 at 8:53 pm
I predict that Derrick Brooks will predict a Eagles win.
January 11th, 2022 at 9:02 pm
Eagles beat only one team with a winning record the saints. They lost to every team in the playoffs. Enough said.
January 11th, 2022 at 9:29 pm
The Eagles are barely better than Carolina and Darnold is still a better qb than Hurtz. They got us good in the beginning but once Tom & Co. figured it out they took them behind the woodshed. Same thing will happen with Phillthy. Hopefully they’ll figure it out much sooner
January 11th, 2022 at 10:08 pm
Shady and Munch … disagree. A LOT
With Shaq & JPP coming back the run defense is going to be just fine. Whitehead is going to be down in the box all day.
That should help free up White a little bit.
They don’t usually play defense like this but I would love to see Davis on Smith all day and let the other DBs play tight underneath with Winfield helping over top.
Not having LVD hurts but it really should be no problem holding them to 20 or less.
The offense will have no problem putting up over 30
January 11th, 2022 at 10:10 pm
I understand voting for LVD but give me the pass rush all day every day.
SHAQ!!!
Godwin would be nice but there’s no doubt in my mind that the O can put up
30 points on every team in the playoffs without him, so give me the pass rush
January 11th, 2022 at 10:11 pm
A dogfight is what I expect from start to finish. We have to keep them from dominating us in one category which is time of
possession. We won’t win if Brady and our offenses don’t get enough chances to build a lead.
This is a bottom line analysis if you will. I think their coaches know this and our coaches know this. I have faith that our guys will execute our plans and we will overcome the Eagles.
Go Bucs! C’mon fans fill our stadium with the color red!
January 11th, 2022 at 10:26 pm
Jimbo. Agree, thats what you should expect in a playoff game. Dont care who the Eagles played. They are in the playoffs, theyll be motivated.
That said in that first game Brady was eating them alive in the 1st half. If he can read their defense and knows what they are doing we will get ahead real quick. I know they came back on us last time but Im gonna doubt Hurts can throw his team back into it in a playoff game.
Especially against the GRAVEDIGGERS!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
January 11th, 2022 at 11:22 pm
David Says:
January 11th, 2022 at 10:08 pm
Shady and Munch … disagree. A LOT
With Shaq & JPP coming back the run defense is going to be just fine.
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Yeah, but Shady is saying he doesn’t like the rush defense IF they aren’t back. That’s what I was also saying.
Also, when healthy, this still wasn’t an elite rush defense this year, they were good, but not shutting down everyone like last year. Maybe, hopefully, they get Shaq and JPP back and they get hot like they did last year in the playoffs, but people are just dismissing the Eagles, when they shouldn’t. The Panthers on Sunday in the first half showed you the script of how to beat the Bucs, just play keep away. The Eagles will be better able to do that than the Panthers.
I’m still saying I think the Bucs will win, but it might be an ugly, tough, frustrating game. Hopefully I’m wrong and the Bucs win by 40, I’ll gladly take being called a dumba– for doubting them if the Bucs can do that.
January 11th, 2022 at 11:24 pm
Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa Says:
Every true Eagles Fan hates Tampa for eliminating them in the NFC Championship Game at home in the very last game in their old stadium called The Vet.
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I know Eagles fans and they try to downplay that, where as I literally bring it up every single time there is even a remote reason to do so.
Even though the Bucs won 2 SB since that day, I still enjoy that win more than any other win in team history.
January 11th, 2022 at 11:28 pm
JimmyJack – White is not playing at an all-pro level this year, but you guys are acting like he fell off a cliff and is hurting the team.
When White has had the chance, he’s been a disrupter. But this isn’t the same defense as last year, mainly because of having so many injuries. White’s lack of production is mostly on Bowles dropping him into coverage so often – and early in the season it was because the backup corners were so awful, teams weren’t taking 7-step drops, they were just throw everything quick, which meant White wasn’t going to get there, in particular since Bowles, for whatever dumb reason, loves delayed blitzing with White, which rarely works.
Hopefully, if the Bucs get to the 2nd round, and we get David back, and everyone else is healthy, maybe, finally then, you can unleash White the way we used him last year and let him cause chaos. Personally I’d do that and burn any play that has White in coverage, but Bowles did improve the defense dramatically after going to a lot more zone, and that just takes White’s production away.
January 11th, 2022 at 11:50 pm
Rod Munch you first sentance pretty much sums it up. White aint playing at a all-pro level. Sorry, thats just the expectation.
I get it he was in coverage more. As a third year player he should be getting better in that area.
Your last point doesnt make sense. You will burn any play that has him in coverage? Are you taking him off the field or are you making him a DL?…….Or was that a typo? Last I checked every LB on this team plays some coverage, hell I dven seen Bowles drop back his NT into coverage.
January 12th, 2022 at 1:24 am
Well at least if it rains it’s not sleet and freezing rain, it’s Tampa Rain.
Run the ball effectively Bucs — do that and everything else (time of possession, well rested defense, physically dominate them bastages) takes care of itself.
January 12th, 2022 at 4:52 am
All Brady haters get your heads out of your asses. Eagles will get beat and Bucs will move on
January 12th, 2022 at 5:48 am
Several Observations on White that he can correct. In the last game I watched
he just chose the wrong route to the QB and was easily pushed out of the play.
The other thing that might help is keeping his feet on the ground unless he is trying to block the pass, he has missed tackles and sacks when he launches at the QB.
January 12th, 2022 at 7:21 am
This game won’t be that close, Buccaneers 42 eagles 23!!!!!
January 12th, 2022 at 7:21 am
No AB on the pool ? Lol
January 12th, 2022 at 8:21 am
This game is not about the Eagles. Bucs will get the win and march on.
January 12th, 2022 at 1:00 pm
It’s great that JPP and Barrett are coming back, but we need LD if only to keep DWhite focused. LD makes DW better and we need DW to spy on Hurts like Brooks spied Vick. Our front 7 will decide this game, with a little help from Brady and company.