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PLAYOFFS!!!! We have arrived! We are the 5^th seed, and barring something weird happening, we’ll have to win four games on the road, to become Super Bowl Champions. Excellent. Now that we know what needs to be done, we can set about doing it. And I for one, can’t wait.

This week we start with a Buccaneers team that we’ve already beaten, in their home, earlier this year. Every major contributor to that win, will be available for this one.

Keep in mind, for that game QB Jalen Hurts wasn’t great (1 TD, 2 Int), WR A.J. Brown didn’t score, WR Devonta Smith had 28 total yards, OLB Haason Reddick didn’t log a single stat. Yet, we still won by double digits. So we can beat this team. Expect to beat this team.

A win will almost certainly make us the lowest surviving seed, which would mean facing the top seed, next week. The top seed of course, is the San Francisco 49ers. (Incidentally, it is that match-up, which I’ve been looking forward to. Since April.)

A loss would end our season.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics would give our Eagles the best chance to win this game. So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week versus: The Buccaneers.

1) Run To Set-up the Pass: Last week Jalen hurts his passing hand by dislocating the middle finger. He tried to gut it out and play, but he was ultimately pulled. By all accounts he isn’t really throwing a ball this week, as he wisely is letting his hand heal as much as possible.

Earlier this year, we murdered the Bucs by running RB D’Andre Swift (18 – 130 – 8.1 – 0 – 0). They’ll be keen on not let that happen again. So expect them to load the box to take away our run game. We need to run the ball early, to convince them to get that box loaded ASAP. That should make life easier for Hurts to find passing windows.

2) Get the Ball Out Quickly: The ball needs a place to go quickly. Putting a ton of long passes on Hurts’ finger, is unwise. Letting him hold the ball until an opponent can hit his hand, to try and cause a fumble, is unwise. Setting him up for a sack fumble, is unwise.

Give him some short routes, especially over the middle, where he can take advantage of a blitzer. The Buccaneers like to blitz S Antoine Winfield Jr., and they need to be made to pay for that.

3) Challenge the Throws: If our Defense is going to keep letting receivers get into routes without even an attempt at a re-direct; then our Corners and Safeties have to mirror the routes and challenge the throws. Receivers cannot keep being allowed to catch balls, with five yards of space around them in every direction.

4) Box the MLB: The Eagles like to drop our MLB (the role switches) into shallow zone, which opens up a gap for opposing RB’s, when our Defensive Line doesn’t make the tackle. It’s been getting us gouged vs the run for weeks, and it needs to stop, now. With our MLB dropping into coverage, it lets opponents double our DT’s much easier.

On any other team, the MLB is one of the key players in the box, and it forces teams to account for him in their blocking schemes. We’ve been letting team off the hook with this. It’s time to play our MLB in the box, to maximize our DT’s and get a handle on the run again.

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If the Eagles do these Four Things, then we’ll be virtually impossible to beat. That being said…

Let me ask. You ever bury a loved one? Did you do it while they were alive? Probably not. As long as my Eagles are alive, I’m not going to bury them. I’m going to root for them. That doesn’t mean I won’t critique here and there, but as long as their season is alive, I’m not inviting doom and gloom. I’m one of the fans they can COUNT ON.

As a die-hard Eagles fan, I can’t wait for this game to be over. Mostly, because I’m expecting a win. However, no matter how the final score plays out, we’ll see the speculation about what’s wrong with this team, begin to fuck RIGHT OFF.

A win will cause the drama surrounding the team to be downplayed; and a loss will invite an autopsy, which will lead to answers, and then an excising of the issue. (Or issues.) Either way, come Tuesday morning, people will be talking much differently about this team. Come Tuesday morning the one question you won’t hear is: Can they be fixed?

And I for one, can’t wait.

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WARNING: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know FOOTBALL and that’s it. If you use Four Things as a gambling tool, then you are a fool trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

Check back in a couple of days for Four Things Reviewed, and we’ll discuss how this game went.