After A Season that Gave Us Everything — How About One More Request?
Last season — the Philadelphia Eagles gave us everything that one could possibly dream of. It began with sky-high expectations and ended with the realization that no other NFL team was even close to our Eagles. It wasn’t that the playoff games were never in doubt — they weren’t even close.
Would it be self-serving of me to make just one more request?
I guess in some ways that we should be thanking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After their handling of Philadelphia 33–16 in week four in Tampa — our Eagles never looked back.
Nick Sirianni may have transformed the Eagles into a championship contender year after year — but Todd Bowles’ Buccaneers seem to have the Eagles number. In fact — Sirianni has only beaten the Buccaneers once. In fact — the Eagles are 0–7 in the last decade against Tampa Bay. And the Eagles are only 7–5 at Raymond James Stadium All-Time.
Much like the Eagles in the early 1930s— Tampa Bay started their football existence nearly as obsolete as the “Bucco Bruce” on the side of their helmets. And for much of this NFC Central/NFC East rivalry like during the beginning of the Andy Reid Era — the Eagles dominated the Buccaneers.
But Tampa Bay has also ripped our hearts to shreds. During the 1979 Playoffs — with Dick Vermeil’s Eagles ascending with aspirations to break a nearly twenty year without a playoff win in Philadelphia— Tampa Bay would thwart the Eagles during the NFC Divisional Playoff Round. That horrific image of those of us who were there in the 2003 NFC Championship Game — and had to endure to Ronde Barber running down the sideline to cap a 27–10 Tampa Bay victory that turned the lights off at Veteran’s Stadium.
Or who can forget the national media capturing the indelible image of an emotionally overcome Jason Kelce at the end of a 32–9 loss to the Buccaneers to end the 2024 season? Or two years earlier — when Tom Brady and the Buccaneers ended Nick Sirianni’s first NFL post-season campaign as a Head Coach in 2022.
I will make one more request — Tampa Bay will be on the 2025 Eagles schedule. Don’t just beat them for old time’s sake — run up the score — if for nothing else.
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