Week Three of this year’s NFL season officially concluded Monday night, and if you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan it was a great Monday night. Going into this evening’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and following the debacle that was this past Sunday, the Eagles remained just one of three undefeated teams in the NFL. It became relatively clear early on in this week’s Monday Night Football matchup that that wasn’t set to change either as Philadelphia started the game hot and proceeded to keep their foot on the gas to pick up a 25-11 win against the Buccaneers and extend their record to 3-0. Let’s take a look at how this matchup panned out, and why Philadelphia continues to sit amongst the top of the league and remains one of Vegas’ favorites to win this year’s Super Bowl.
Photo Courtesy of Bleeding Green Nation
The first quarter was relatively quiet on both sides of the football, with the Eagles scoring the only points of the quarter on a 36 yard field goal courtesy of Jake Elliot. Tampa Bay would go on to tie it up halfway through the second quarter with a field goal of their own, but it also appears that was the exact moment Philadelphia decided to kick it into overdrive. The Eagles would go on to score 23 unanswered points after this, beginning with a 34 yard touchdown pass when Jalen Hurts connected with wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus and then followed up by another field goal from Jake Elliot to extend their lead to 13-3 going into halftime. About five minutes into the third quarter, Hurts once again led the team down the field and took it into the endzone himself this time for a rushing touchdown; then in about the same amount of time, the Eagles defense pinned the Buccaneers up against their own endzone and recorded a safety to extend Philadelphia’s lead to 22-3 at the end of the third quarter. The Eagles would then score their final points of the night on another Jake Elliot field goal, making him 3/3 on the night; the Buccaneers responded a few minutes later when Baker Mayfield connected with Mike Evans for their only touchdown of the night and their first points since that second quarter field goal, but by this point Philadelphia had pretty much secured themselves the win. Hurts completed 16 passes for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns, one passing and one rushing, while Mayfield completed just 10 passes for a lackluster 87 yards, and Philadelphia’s stud running back D’Andre Swift averaged 9.2 yards per carry on 13 carries for 119 yards while Tampa Bay’s Rachaad White picked up just 22 yards on 11 carries. In total, the Eagles put up 472 yards of total offense to just 172 yards from Tampa Bay. Simply put, this was a dominant team win for the Eagles and just puts them one step closer to hopefully reaching the Super Bowl for the second year in a row.
Photo Courtesy of Sporting News
The Eagles have been one of the best teams in football for a few years now, winning their first ever Super Bowl back in 2018 and making a run at a second title last year before falling short to the Kansas City Chiefs in a true nail-biter. They were pegged as one of the favorites to win this year’s Super Bowl again entering this season, and they’re putting the league on notice early that they are here to play. While their most challenging matchups of the season are still yet to come, spectators shouldn’t be surprised if the Eagles remain one of the few undefeated teams in the NFL until they are faced with a real challenge. Until that day comes though, Eagles fans can rejoice in the fact that the Birds are back and they look as good as they ever have.
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