There was a time when the Philadelphia Eagles were flying high as the almost certain winners of the NFC East. They had gotten off to a 10-1 record, and had knocked off some of the NFL's best, including the Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.

Then the roof sort of fell in on them.

They lost five of their last six games, and there were ugly defeats at the hands of Dallas (in the rematch) and San Francisco. The defense simply did not defend. And Jalen Hurts had lost a lot of effectiveness. The fumbling and stumbling ended with the Eagles finishing as the runner-up in the NFC East, relegating them to a wild card berth and a road game to start the postseason.

It would not be unfair to call this a damaged team as it comes into Monday's action. And they may have a difficult time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who closed out the season on a bit of a roll to win the NFC South, winning five of six.

And so the stage is set for this contest, which will take place at Raymond James Stadium at 8:15 PM ET.

In the NFL wild card betting odds that have been placed on this game by the folks at BetOnline, the Eagles are laying points on the road:

Philadelphia Eagles -3 (-106)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +3 (-114)

Over 43 Points -110
Under 43 Points -110

The Eagles have some injuries to navigate around as they come into this game. AJ Brown is out of this game with a knee,and that's quite a blow, since he caught 106 passes for 1456 yards. And Jalen Hurts had been a question earlier in the week because of a dislocated thumb he suffered in last week's loss to the Giants. Hurts has since said that he probably should not have gone back in the game after getting injured earlier.

Philadelphia is one of those teams that gets balance in its offense, and running back DeAndre Swift went over the 1000-yard mark this season. Hurts chipped in 605 yards (with 15 scores) and this is what head coach Nick Sirianni has to capitalize on with Brown out of the lineup.

Can they run? Good question. You may know that the Bucs are giving up just 3.8 yards per carry (eighth in the NFL). but it's interesting that the analytics site Pro Football Focus (PFF) has greded them 26th in the league in run defense. And in the Week 3 meeting between these teams, Philly ran all over Tampa Bay for 201 yards. The Eagles' offensive line has been outstanding; they are ranked #1 by PFF in pass blocking and #3 in run blocking.

Their secondary is a different story, admittedly. Philadelphia is next to last in the league in passing yards allowed and in third down conversion percentage. And they are 30th in red zone TD percentage. These things are bad. And there's no indication they've been any better with Matt Patricia making the calls. But there may not be a worse team at running the ball than the Bucs, who have managed just 3.4 yards a carry. So even though Baker Mayfield has had a great comeback year (4044 yards, 28 touchdowns) and Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are a formidable pair on the flanks (2279 yards combined), the fact that the Eagles know what's coming and can overplay that, and have Dariius Slay coming back to action this week, give them a real chance to compete there.

Remember that the Buccaneers didn't exactly beat Murderer's Row down the stretch (beating Carolina twice, Atlanta, Jacksonville) and struggled to nine points against the Panthers last week. Some think Mayfield is affected by an injury. Philadelphia still has more balance, and a group of guys who got them to the Super Bowl last year. And they may have the best special teams in the NFL (1st in DVOA).

So we feel comfortable laying the points.

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