The Eagles are trying to rebound after a last-second loss to the Saints in New Orleans.  The Bucs are trying to build off of last week’s stunning win over the Bengals.

The Eagles will come out throwing the ball against the Bucs.  The Bucs haven’t mounted much of a pass rush this season which could be deadly for them against the Eagles.  If McNabb has time to survey the field, he will torch the Bucs secondary.  McNabb loves to spread the ball around, using short passes to TE LJ Smith (24 rec, 335 yards) and RB Brian Westbrook (23 rec, 220 yards).  Soon as you sneak up, McNabb will throw deep to his WRs.  Reggie Brown is having a great season (21 rec, 412 yards) and could be big trouble for the Bucs secondary.  Look for the Eagles to run the ball a bit more than usual if they get the lead, due to the Bucs soft run defense that allows 141.2 yards rushing and 4.7 yards per carry.

For the Bucs on offense, it will be a day of running the ball and throwing it short.  Cadillac Williams (312 yards rushing) needs to follow up last week’s big game with another good effort against an Eagles defense that allows 103.5 yards rushing per game and 3.6 yards per carry.  Look for Bruce Gradkowski to throw alot of short passes to his TEs and WRs, because he probably won’t have alot of time.  The Eagles are an aggressive blitzing unit that has racked up 23 sacks so far this season.  The Bucs want to control the clock and keep the ball away from the Eagles offense and it can be done as long as they stay mistake free.  The Eagles do allow 20.7 points per game and 341.2 yards per game.

I see the Eagles just having too much fire-power for the Bucs to handle.

Brian Kelly is doubtful for this week’s game against the Eagles.  Kelly has a case of turf toe that may need corrected through surgery.  With that in mind the Bucs signed CB Phillip Buchanon who had just been released by the Houston Texans.

The Bucs traded Anthony McFarland to the Colts for a second round pick in the 2007 draft.  McFarland hasn’t played to well this season and may be starting to slide at 29 years of age.  The fact that the Bucs got a 2nd round pick for him shows how desperate the Indianapolis Colts are to fix their run defense.

The Bucs defense hasn’t played well this season, but two of the older guys are doing there part.  CB Ronde Barber has 43 tackles so far this season, but no interceptions.  Teams aren’t throwing the ball against the Bucs, because the Bucs have been soft against the run.  LB Derrick Brooks is playing hard and he already has 38 tackles and an interception.  Some of the other defenders should look up to these two guys because of the effort they are putting out.

Young Qb Bruce Gradkowski led the team on a drive at the end of the game that culminated with an 8 yard TD pass to Michael Clayton to win the game with 35 seconds left.  What was impressive about that was how Gradkowski led the team down the field after being shut down for 3.5 quarters.  Gradkowski completed 25 of 44 passes for 184 yards with 2 TDs and an interception.  Gradkowski also carried the ball 4 times for 19 yards (4.8 ypc).  Cadillac Williams had a solid game carrying the ball 19 times for 94 yards (4.9 ypc).  Joey Galloway caught 7 passes for 67 yards.  Michael Clayton is developing good chemistry with Gradkowski as he caught 6 passes for 55 yards, including the game-winning TD.  TE Alex Smith caught 3 passes for 10 yards and a TD.

The Bucs played solid team defense against the Bengals.  DE Ellis Wyms had 4 tackles and 2 sacks.  The Bucs defense got tough against the run, holding the Bengals to 53 yards on 20 carries (2.7 ypc).  The pass defense had some trouble with the Bengals passing game as the Bengals completed 24 of 37 passes for 252 net yards passing.

The Bucs got a huge victory…..what a game!