Philly Leader

The Eagles' Week 4 matchup will be a road battle against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since the 2023 Wild Card game, where the Buccaneers emerged victorious.

Tampa Bay won the NFC South last season and remains confident in its group this year. The Buccaneers re-signed many key players from their playoff team, including Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Lavonte David, and Antoine Winfield Jr., among others. In a division that is once again open for competition, the reigning champions are prepared to defend their title.

Quick Stats:

- 2023 record: 9-8 (1st in NFC South)

- Key additions: Jordan Whitehead, Bryce Hall

- Key losses: Devin White, Carlton Davis III, Shaq Barrett

- Top draft picks: G Graham Barton (Round 1, Pick 26), OLB Chris Braswell (Round 2, Pick 57), DB Tykee Smith (Round 3, Pick 89), WR Jalen McMillan (Round 3, Pick 92), RB Bucky Irving (Round 4, Pick 125)

As Training Camp continues for both squads, here are some of the top storylines surrounding Tampa Bay as reported by Scott Reynolds of PewterReport.com:

"The biggest thing is they're adjusting to Liam Coen's new offense. He's the new offensive coordinator coming from the Los Angeles Rams organization... and this is an offense that historically has given Todd Bowles defense some problems."

"(Baker) Mayfield has played in this offense for five weeks... so he's hit the ground running and has looked pretty good in camp so far. So I think the expectation for the Bucs' offense this year... is to increase point production from 21 points per game last year to hopefully 24 points or more..."

Regarding their standing within the NFC South and overall competition:

"The Bucs are really pissed off right now... they feel very disrespected. They went through this last year... everybody picks the New Orleans Saints to be crowned NFC South Champions despite... [the] Buccaneers winning [it] in 2021 and 2022..."

"And this year... Kirk Cousins [joins] Atlanta Falcons... but also a team with a new head coach and Offensive Coordinator Zac Robinson... predicted to win NFC South over [the] three-time defending champions."

On defensive performance:

"The Bucs feel they've kind of leveled up in football IQ and gotten faster. They had a lot of players take big steps last year – Calijah Kancey,... Yaya Diaby,... Antoine Winfield Jr.... Lavonte David comes back for another season. So they feel like this is a smart,... athletic defense..."

– Compiled by Liam Wichser