Bucs coach Todd Bowles is a Tush Push fan, but don’t call him a ‘hero’

Raymond James Stadium has been a house of horrors for the Eagles over the last several seasons. The Birds suffered their worst loss of the year in Tampa in 2024, and a wild-card round playoff loss there in the 2023 season.

That gives the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a lot of reasons to be confident heading into Sunday’s game. Here’s what they’re saying leading into the matchup …

The Bucs voted to ban the Tush Push at the league meetings in May, but unlike his team owner, coach Todd Bowles is a supporter.

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“I’m a fan of creativity,” said Bowles, who was a four-year starter at defensive back at Temple. “If somebody crafts something and they do it well and it’s within the rules, it’s up to the other side of the ball to stop them. … They have something they do very well. … If everyone else could do it, everybody would be doing it. It’s a challenge for all the defensive coaches to try to stop it, and that would be me included.”

He’s not buying that his support makes him a hero in Philly, though.

“I think the only place I might be a hero at is Ishkabibble’s down on South Street,” Bowles joked.

The Birds have not had much success in Tampa as of late, but during their blowout loss to the Bucs last season, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith were sidelined with injuries. This year, both wide receivers have clean bills of health and should take the field on Sunday.

Bowles called Brown a “big-play receiver. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, and he’s smart. He has very strong hands and you can be draped all over him and he can still make the catch. So, we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka is the latest young star to emerge from Ohio State, and with longtime Bucs staple Mike Evans hurt, Egbuka is likely to be targeted more in the Week 4 matchup.

In college, Egbuka got to face all three of the Eagles’ newest additions in the secondary, Cooper DeJean, Quinyon Mitchell, and Drew Mukuba, and he even trained with Mukuba in the offseason. He’s not expecting that to be much help on Sunday, though.

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“I have a grasp of who they are as players just from my time in college, but not too much looking at that film, just looking at this year and last year to see what they’re good on,” Egbuka said on the Up & Adams show. “Players are constantly developing and changing, especially with the system that they’re in, whether it be new techniques, whatever it may be. I don’t think they’re the same players they were in college.”

The Eagles are traveling to Tampa a day early in an effort to acclimate to the hot, humid conditions in Florida, which have hampered them in the past. Quarterback Baker Mayfield doesn’t think that will help them.

“We’ll have a good game plan, obviously, to try and tire these guys out,” Mayfield said on Rearview with Mark Sanchez. “Advantage for us, we’re in Tampa; the heat. They’re not used to that. I know there’s already been the stories that broke about them coming down to Tampa a day early. I don’t necessarily think that helps them. One day doesn’t get you acclimated to this humidity. I think, honestly, it makes them think about it more when they get down here earlier.”