The Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have key players who may have to push through injuries.
According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown will undergo an MRI on his knee. Fellow wideout DeVonta Smith missed Philadelphia's previous game because of an ankle injury. Quarterback Jalen Hurts suffered a dislocated middle finger on his throwing hand last week.
As for the Buccaneers, quarterback Baker Mayfield played through rib and ankle injuries to help his team clinch the NFC South title in a 9-0 win over the Carolina Panthers last week.
Moton has strong concerns about Mayfield's injuries preventing him from carving up the Eagles' porous pass defense.
"Mayfield may not be able to take full advantage of the Eagles' 31st-ranked pass defense with his nicks and bruises. In the Buccaneers' last two outings, he's thrown for just two touchdowns and two interceptions and recorded a season-low 137 passing yards against the Panthers in Week 18.
"Tampa Bay has allowed an average of 119.5 rushing yards per game over the previous two weeks. Even if Hurts plays through pain in his dislocated finger, he can hand off to running backs D'Andre Swift and Kenneth Gainwell to test the Buccaneers' interior front.
"Philadelphia gets its second victory since December thanks to a physical offensive line and Swift's ability to break off big gains on the ground."
On the other hand, Toporek doesn't see how the Eagles turn it around amid a stretch of poor performances against a Buccaneers defense that can fluster an injury-riddled offense.
"Over the past four weeks, the Eagles have lost to the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants, all of whom missed the playoffs. They turned the ball over nine times during that span, and their defense has collapsed under new play-caller Matt Patricia (surprise, surprise).
"The Giants flummoxed the Eagles with blitzes last week, which the Bucs—who had the NFL's third-highest blitz rate this season—will likely look to emulate Monday.
"A well-coached team would have a clear game plan to counter blitzes, but the Eagles are not a well-coached team at the moment. With Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (finger) and wideouts A.J. Brown (knee) and DeVonta Smith (ankle) all nursing injuries, it's hard to envision the Eagles offense keeping pace in this game, especially with heavy rain in the forecast. I'm expecting the Bucs to win this game outright, so I'm thrilled to be getting 2.5 points here."
Predictions
Davenport: Buccaneers
Gagnon: Buccaneers
Hanford: Buccaneers
Knox: Buccaneers
Moton: Eagles
O'Donnell: Eagles
Sobleski: Buccaneers
Toporek: Buccaneers
ATS Consensus: Buccaneers +2.5
SU Consensus: Buccaneers
Score Prediction: Buccaneers 26, Eagles 24
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