INTRO: It’s a battle of undefeated teams when the 3-0 Bucs host the 3-0 Eagles on Sunday in a Week 4 matchup for a second straight year. Tampa Bay has clobbered Philadelphia the last two times these teams have met at Raymond James Stadium, including last year’s 33-16 win, but will have to try to beat the Eagles without Mike Evans. Winning without Evans has been tough to do, but what does Josh Grizzard have up his sleeve?

Find out in this week’s SR’s FAB 5 column. Enjoy!

FAB 1. Can The Bucs Win Without Mike Evans?

The Bucs will try to do something they haven’t done since 2022 on Sunday when the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles come to town.

Win without Mike Evans.

Tampa Bay is 0-5 in games in which Evans has missed either due to injury or suspension (the Packers game in Week 3 in 2022 after fighting Marshon Lattimore the week prior) dating back to the 2022 season, and the team is just 1-7 without Evans since 2019. Of course that includes a 0-3 record last year when Evans re-injured his hamstring in a Monday Night Football game versus Baltimore and missed nearly a month’s worth of action.

In fact, the Bucs are just 3-9 all-time in the 12 games that Evans has missed in his illustrious 12-year career.

Bucs’ Results Without Mike Evans

2014 – Week 5 at Saints – 37-31 OT – Loss
2015 – Week 1 vs. Titans – 42-14 – Loss
2017 – Week 10 vs Jets – 15-10 – Win
2019 – Week 15 at Lions – 38-17 – Win
2019 – Week 16 vs Texans – 23-20 – Loss
2019 – Week 17 vs. Falcons – 28-22 OT – Loss
2021 – Week 15 vs. Panthers – 32-6 – Win
2022 – Week 3 vs. Packers – 14-12 – Loss
2022 – Week 18 at Falcons – 30-17 – Loss
2024 – Week 8 vs. Falcons – 31-26 – Loss
2024 – Week 9 at Chiefs – 30-24 OT – Loss
2024 – Week 10 vs. 49ers – 23-20 – Loss

It should be noted that Tampa Bay has only suffered two blowout losses, which came on opening day in 2015 when Evans missed Week 1 with a hamstring injury and in the 2022 season finale when the Bucs rested their starters after clinching the division. In the nine losses without Evans, six of those have come in games that have been decided by a touchdown or less.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

With Evans expected to miss multiple games, the Bucs just happen to be entering the toughest stretch of their schedule. After playing the 3-0 Eagles on Sunday, Tampa Bay travels to Seattle to play the 3-1 Seahawks in a throwback game, then return home to face the 3-0 49ers followed by a game at Detroit on Monday Night Football versus the 2-1 Lions.

Avoiding an 0-4 slump off another hot start for the third year in a row is the mission at hand. With history not on the Bucs’ side without their star receiver.

“Obviously, Mike is a guy that completely changes how teams play us,” Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “He draws a lot of attention, so in the midst of a game, [I] did not see them adjust and adapt that much when it came to Emeka [Egbuka], but we will see. Everybody [has] to step up – one person is not going to fill Mike’s shoes, so everybody has to step up and do their role at a very high level and execute against a good ball club.”

Perhaps the return of Chris Godwin Jr. to the lineup along with rookie sensation Emeka Egbuka and Sterling Shepard – both of whom are playing really good football – will help. Godwin had a full practice on Wednesday, but then didn’t practice on Thursday, which adds some intrigue into whether his return to action for the first time in the 2025 season will happen this Sunday against Philadelphia or next Sunday at Seattle.

The Bucs have proven they can win without Godwin, going 3-0 this year without him, and the team is 16-8 without him overall in the regular season. But maybe his return along with Egbuka and Shepard will be enough to finally register a win without Evans.

Bucs WRs Mike Evans and Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I mean, it hurts,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said about Evans. “Anytime your stars go out, it’s going to hurt – it’s no different than Tristan [Wirfs] and Chris when they were out, and they’re just coming back. He’s a big part of our offense and, actually, everything goes through him. So, we’ve got to adjust, and we’ve been adjusting all year, and we’ll adjust this week.”

One of the adjustments that Egbuka will face is possibly facing double coverage throughout an entire game for the first time as an NFL player. Egbuka leads the team with 14 catches for 181 yards (12.9 avg.) and three touchdowns and will likely be the top priority in the Bucs’ passing game to stop for Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

“I think [Egbuka] started worrying about that after the first game, but we can’t tell how people are going to play us,” Bowles said. “We’re going to have to adjust on the run and anticipate some things, see them for the first time, and have plays to counter that.”

It’s been one thing for offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard to overcome not having Wirfs, Godwin and Jalen McMillan at the start of the season. But now he has to deal with not having the Bucs’ future Hall of Fame wide receiver for the next couple of weeks. Grizzard will attempt to do something that his predecessor Liam Coen couldn’t do last year.

Win without Mike Evans.

FAB 2. How The Bucs Can Score Points – And Win – Without Mike Evans

The Bucs won’t have Mike Evans against the Eagles and the Seahawks and possibly against the 49ers. So how will offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard keep the offense averaging just over 21 points per game (not including Jamel Dean’s touchdown last week) – or even increase Tampa Bay’s scoring?

The bright spot for Grizzard is that he was on the staff last year that had to help navigate not just the loss of Evans for three games, but also Chris Godwin Jr. for the final 11 games of the year, including the playoff loss to Washington. He and former offensive coordinator Liam Coen came up with a plan each week to have the Bucs offense continue to be productive without the future Hall of Famer.

Tampa Bay scored 24 points in the first game without Evans – and Godwin – last year in a 31-26 loss to Atlanta (the Bucs defense scored a safety). The next week, the team scored 24 points in an overtime loss at Kansas City. And then the Bucs scored 20 points versus the 49ers before the bye week.

Here’s how it was done last year and how the loss of Evans in the passing game can be mitigated once again.

Run Pony, Run

Through the first five weeks of the season in 2024, Liam Coen deployed the Pony package, which is a 21 personnel grouping featuring both running backs Bucky Irving and Rachaad White, for 20 plays. That two-back offense features one tight end and two wide receivers.

Bucs RBs Rachaad White and Bucky Irving – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Last year through Week 5, Baker Mayfield was 8-of-9 for 94 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 10.4 yards per pass and 9.6 yards per drop back after accounting for a sack in Pony. On running plays, Irving and White combined to carry the ball 10 times for 119 yards while averaging 11.9 yards per carry. And three of the Bucs’ longest runs of the year up to that point, runs of 56, 32 and 31 yards, came out of this personnel grouping.

Josh Grizzard has only deployed the Pony package six times so far this year because of the reshuffled offensive line, which has forced the Bucs to play multiple reserve O-linemen. But Tristan Wirfs’ expected return to the lineup against the Eagles could allow Grizzard to open up the playbook some more and include more than just two plays out of Pony per game on average.

Deploying Cade Otton As A Receiver

Tight end Cade Otton has just three catches for 25 yards through the first three games of the season, and he’s only been targeted seven times. In fact, no other Bucs tight end even has a target so far. Otton had a similarly slow start to the 2024 season with just eight catches for 52 yards through Week 3 last year.

Then he erupted against the Eagles in Week 4 with six catches for 52 yards on nine targets. And that was with both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Jr. in the lineup for that game.

Bucs TE Cade Otton – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Otton had two more relatively pedestrian outings until the Baltimore game where Evans reinjured his hamstring in the first half and was out for the rest of the game. The team’s starting tight end wound up with a career night with 10 catches for 100 yards in the loss to the Ravens.

Then in the next two games against Atlanta and Kansas City, Otton went crazy as a receiver. He hauled in nine receptions on 10 targets for 81 yards and two touchdowns versus the Falcons, then caught eight of 11 targets for 77 yards and a touchdown against the Chiefs.

Otton has been held back in the receiving game due to the need for his help blocking with both Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke out of the lineup. Wirfs’ return should mean that he will be freed up to run routes in the passing game and not just stay in to help pass protect.

“A lot of the things that Cade has been doing have been in that wing alignment, helping out the offensive line,” Josh Grizzard said. “We know that his time will come – the ball will find him. It’s just a hats off to him that he might not have the targets he’s had up to this point last year or even through the middle of the season, but [it’s] typical Cade – not complaining about it. Whatever it takes to win – 3-0, move on to the next one. [We’ll] see how much we can get him the ball this week.”

Lean On Rookie WRs, The Return Of Chris Godwin Jr.

The Bucs’ wide receiving corps was depleted of star power with the loss of both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Jr. from Weeks 8-10. Tampa Bay even had to play Week 9 at Kansas City without Jalen McMillan, who was out due to a hamstring. The Bucs battled the Chiefs and took them to overtime at Arrowhead Stadium with Sterling Shepard, Trey Palmer, Ryan Miller and Rakim Jarrett at wide receiver.

This year, the Bucs have a pair of talented rookies to lean on in Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson, but given Egbuka’s hot start, he’s more like a veteran right now than he is a rookie. Egbuka is leading the team with 14 catches for 181 yards (12.9 avg.) and three touchdowns and is not only playing better than McMillan was as a rookie, he’s playing like a legit No. 1 wide receiver.

Bucs WRs Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The elusive Johnson has yet to catch a pass in the NFL, but that could change as early as Sunday against the Eagles. He has more talent than Palmer, Jarrett and Miller, and figures to be WR3 or WR4 behind Egbuka, Shepard and possibly Chris Godwin Jr. if he plays against Philadelphia. Of course Tampa Bay still has Miller, who already has a touchdown this season, for depth as well.

If Godwin returns to action versus Philadelphia – or at Seattle at the very least – that gives the Bucs three starting-caliber wide receivers at Baker Mayfield’s disposal. That’s a far cry from what he had to work with last year.

FAB 3. Jacob Parrish Is Becoming A Playmaker For Bucs Defense

After three years of playing safeties at the nickelback position in Tampa Bay, head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht went out and drafted a true cornerback to play in the slot this year with third-round pick Jacob Parrish. Antoine Winfield Jr. (2022), Christian Izien (2023) and Tykee Smith (2024) played nickel over the past three seasons with mixed results.

The last time the Bucs had a true cornerback playing in the slot, it worked out well as Sean Murphy-Bunting helped the team win Super Bowl LV in 2020 and then post a franchise-record 13 wins in 2021. Parrish showed off tremendous cover skills as mostly an outside cornerback as a three-year starter at Kansas State. The fact that he’s 5-foot-10, 198 pounds and runs a 4.35 in the 40-yard dash makes him an ideal candidate for the slot, where toughness and top-end athleticism and agility are a necessary combination.

Bucs CB Jacob Parrish – Photo by: USA Today

Parrish wound up starting as a true freshman at K-State due to his poise and high football I.Q., and helped the Wildcats win a Big XII championship in 2022, defeating previously unbeaten TCU. The next year, he led the team with four interceptions.

Parrish proved to be a playmaker the moment he stepped onto the field during the team’s rookie mini-camp, recording a pick-six just moments into his first Bucs practice. Ever since the OTAs he has been the team’s starting nickelback and has had an impressive start to his rookie season.

“Very impressed,” Winfield said when asked about Parrish playing so well as a rookie. “I [saw] it during training camp when he came in, flying around and making plays right away. He has only progressed throughout, so he has been doing well.”

Veteran Bucs receiver Sterling Shepard has marveled at how poised and comfortable Parrish has looked at the start of the season.

“I told him during the end of camp that from Day 1 until now that he’s grown light years,” Shepard said. “He just had to get used to the speed of the game and that’s usually the thing for rookies. They need to get the speed of the game down and build up their confidence. From when we started camp to when we ended camp, he’s been on fire. And it’s leaked over into the regular season, as it should’ve. I’ve been really impressed with the way that he’s playing.”

Parrish has 11 tackles, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup through his first three games as a Buccaneer, and also recorded his first career sack on a nickel blitz in Sunday’s 29-27 win over the New York Jets.

Bucs NCB Jacob Parrish and Jets QB Tyrod Taylor – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“It was really a surreal feeling,” Parrish said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a sack before. I was just trying to get there in a hurry, and I was happy to get my first sack.”

Shepard noticed early on how tough Parrish was in training camp.

“He’s not afraid to blitz, and that’s what you want out of nickel – someone who is physical that can also give you the coverage aspect,” Shepard said. “He’s able to do both and when it gets to the point of contact he’s not afraid to stick his nose in there.”

Parrish rarely blitzed at K-State because he played mostly outside. So when he arrived in Tampa Bay and found out that Bowles likes to blitz out of the slot so much it was a pleasant surprise.

“I was really excited,” Parrish said. “I feel like I have good speed and I can get to the quarterback quickly, knowing that he blitzes a lot out of the slot. It’s great.”

Bucs CB Jacob Parrish – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Parrish nearly had two sacks in the game, but missed Tyrod Taylor on the second one. Yet he’s thankful he did because Taylor wound up throwing late to Garrett Wilson and Jamel Dean stepped in front of the pass and picked it off and raced 55 yards for a touchdown right before halftime.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Parrish said. “I’m glad I missed it because it led to Dean getting that pick-six. I was very excited about that play. Dean’s a very good player.”

Now that Parrish has his first career sack, he’s looking forward to his first career interception.

“It’s going to be amazing,” Parrish said. “I should’ve had one against Houston if I could’ve jumped a little higher. I’m just waiting for that play to come, and when it comes, I’m going to make it.”

FAB 4. Next Man Up: “Dirty Dan” Feeney

It’s been “next man up” a lot in Tampa Bay this year – more than Todd Bowles would like for sure.

The Bucs have had to rely on so many backup players at the start of this season that I’m going to profile a few of the team’s key reserves in each SR’s FAB 5 column over the coming weeks. Today I’m going to profile new guard Dan Feeney, who is listed as the backup at right guard behind Elijah Klein now that Cody Mauch is on injured reserve.

Klein struggled in his first career start at left guard versus the Jets, getting flagged twice for holding. Could the Bucs start the 31-year old Feeney, who was signed off the Bills practice squad and has 65 career starts with most of them coming at guard? Maybe. Tampa Bay has been known to throw a few curveball lineups out this year when it comes to the offensive line.

But whether he starts or platoons with Klein at right guard, Feeney is the next man up at guard due to his experience. And he’ll have to rely on that experience after just spending a week and a half in Tampa Bay.

Bucs G Dan Feeney – Photo by: USA Today

“It’s definitely been a little hectic the last week, but it’s a good change,” Feeney said. “I mean getting scooped off the practice squad there was always an absolute blessing, so I’m so thankful for that. And luckily, I’ve been in a system similar to this before so some of the words have a good carryover, so learning it is a little bit quicker than going to a new team with the offense I don’t really know anything about. So on that end, it’s been good. But you know, changing locations is always a little bit hectic with logistics. My girlfriend, she’s been fantastic with me, helping me out on that end.”

Feeney spent his first four seasons with the Chargers playing guard and center before playing with the Jets for two seasons in 2021 and 2022. Then it was off to Chicago for the 2023 season and then the 2024 season with the Vikings. This offseason he was with the Dolphins before being signed to the Bills practice squad.

With temperatures expected to be around 90 degrees at kickoff on Sunday versus Philadelphia with a “feels like” temp of around 120 degrees, Feeney will have to get quickly acclimated to the heat and humidity in Tampa.

“I’ve had a camp down here before with Miami, so I know the heat and have practiced in it,” Feeney said. “I live down in Fort Lauderdale so I train in the summer in the heat and then I went up to Buffalo and it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s only 60 degrees!’ The heat is tough for anybody, but for guys up north to come down here where it’s 20-30 degrees hotter, it’s tough for teams to come down here.”

The scouting report for the 6-foot-4, 310-pound Feeney, who is an Irish tough guy from Chicago, is that he’s smart and physical.

And he has a glorious mullet.

Bucs G Dan Feeney – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Baker Mayfield went so far as to run his hands through Feeney’s mullet prior to kickoff of last week’s game against the Jets.

“Yeah, Baker was giving me some love about it,” Feeney said. “Trends, they fade and then they’ll come back. The mullet actually started in 2020 during COVID. I was out in California and couldn’t get a haircut, so I grew it out. I was locked in my house and had long hair and one of my buddies always did like a training camp mullet, and so I did one too. It kind of just stuck, and I’ve got the mustache. I’ve kind of been riding it ever since.”

I asked Feeney where he got his “Dirty Dan” nickname from and he actually didn’t even know.

“I think Baker started that,” Mayfield said. “Baker saw me the other day – saw that I was kind of grimy with the mustache and the mullet, and said, ‘You look like a Dirty Dan.'”

Actually, Feeney has a reputation around the league and a nickname he didn’t know he even had. One Bucs source texted me last week that the team signed “Dirty Dan” Feeney, so that nickname is known in league circles.

“I like it!” Feeney said upon learning that. “That’s good to know.”

FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• Bucs right tackle Luke Goedeke was seen in the locker room standing on his injured left foot. Goedeke still wears a medical boot, and uses a scooter to get around One Buccaneer Place so he can let his injured foot heal without putting more pressure on it. But the fact that Goedeke can stand on both feet and walk a bit without a limp is a good sign.

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Goedeke is on injured reserve, which means he will miss a minimum of four games, but the chances of him returning for the Week 7 matchup against the Lions in Detroit on Monday Night Football look promising. Goedeke missed the Week 2 game against the Lions last year and Pro Bowl defensive end Aidan Hutchison recorded three of his four sacks against Goedeke’s replacement, Justin Skule.

• Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is 4-1 against Jalen Hurts and the Eagles dating back to his time as Bruce Arians’ defensive coordinator when Hurts first played against Tampa Bay during the 2021 season. In those five games Hurts has thrown five interceptions and just five touchdowns, plus he’s been sacked 14 times, including one for a safety.

Bucs ILB Lavonte David, OLB Yaya Diaby and Eagles QB Jalen Hurts – Photo by: USA Today

Hurts was sacked six times last year, and nearly half of all of the sacks against Hurts by the Bucs have come on blitzes with Lavonte David’s three sacks of the Eagles QB leading the way. David is the leading sacker this year with 1.5 sacks, and three defensive backs each have a sack in safeties Antoine Winfield Jr., Tykee Smith and Jacob Parrish.

• I was honored to be summoned to the office of Bucs chief operating officer Brian Ford this week to receive a No. 30 Bucs jersey to commemorate my 30th year of covering the team. I greatly appreciate the gesture by Ford, the Glazers and the Buccaneers to recognize my three decades of Bucs coverage with Pewter Report (formerly Buccaneer Magazine).

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds with Bucs COO Brian Ford – Photo by: Nelson Luis/Buccaneers

I couldn’t do it without the help of Pewter Report owner and president Hugh MacArthur, who has become a dear friend over the last two decades we’ve worked together. And the help of director of photography Cliff Welch and so many talented writers, including our current superhero squad of Matt Matera, Adam Slivon, Bailey Adams and Josh Queipo – not to mention some all-time greats like the late ginger badass Mark Cook, Jim Flynn, Charlie Campbell, Trevor Sikkema and Jon Ledyard, among others – as well as Pewter Report’s support staff past and present with Kim Roper and Alison Pendrick.

No tribute would be complete without recognizing my amazing wife Ashley, and our four kids, whose love and support has been vital to my success and the success of Pewter Report, as well as YOU, the loyal Bucs fans who read our content and support our efforts at Pewter Report and watch our Pewter Report podcasts and videos on PewterReportTV, our YouTube channel. Thank you!