The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the defending NFC Champs Philadelphia Eagles 25-11 at Raymond James Stadium on Monday night.

The Bucs fall to 2-1 after two consecutive victories to kick off the season against the Vikings in week 1 and Bears in week 2. The Eagles advance to 3-0 and was headlined by their defense. Two sacks on Baker Mayfield, restricted him to 15/25 for 146 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, while running back Rachaad White only mustered 38 yards on 14 carries, and forced both Mayfield and White into a fumble on the night.

Here were some of my biggest takeaways from Monday night.

1) The Buccaneers were supposed to lose this game.

Tampa fought for it's wins in week one and week two against questionable opponents. The Vikings were involved in more one-score games than any other team - largely due to their suspect defense, and the Bears have question marks on all levels of their team. The Eagles, who I still feel is finding their footing in this young season, were the first time the Bucs were able to see elite-level competition. This leads me into point No. 2...

2) The Eagles are still a top 2 team in the NFC.

Last season, the Eagles won 14 regular season games, was one of three teams with an average game differential over 7.5 points, and went on to represent the NFC in the super bowl. Jalen Hurts was the MVP runner-up behind super bowl champion Patrick Mahomes. Phili returns most of their starters from last season including QB Hurts, receivers A.J Brown and Devante Smith, and one of the best offensive lines including C Jason Kelce, LT Jordan Mailata, LG Landon Dickerson, and RT Lane Johnson. Additionally, the Eagles added running back D'Andre Swift through free agency, Swift has recorded 322 total yards & one TD in his first three games as an Eagle. Similarly to the offense, the Eagles return a bulk of their starters on the defensive end, while also adding rookie Jalen Carter who was selected ninth overall. Head Coach Nick Sirianni credits his teams' 3-0 start despite lacking an overly-convincing win to his players following basic fundamentals. This team is only going to continue to grow and the Eagles have a real shot of playing for another super bowl this season.

3) The Bucs can make the playoffs, and Baker and get them there.

I've been a strong believer that Mayfield was going to be the starting quarterback for the Bucs come week one over Kyle Trask. That prediction held true. I followed that statement by adding the Bucs can choose to enter the third-year man in Trask whenever Baker plays his way out of the job. Despite the loss, Baker has produced two good wins to one loss in a game that they were expected to lose. In fact, it's almost promising that the Bucs could play as poor as they did on the offensive end across the board, and still hold it to a two-score game. I see the winner of the NFC South only needing to win eight to nine games in order to make it out of the division. The Bucs, Saints, and Falcons all stand at2-1 on the year, while the Panthers have essentially excused themselves from the equation with an 0-3 start and little to no life from Frank Reich's squad. The Falcons and Saints already got their first whack at the Panthers, while Tampa remains the only team in the division who ahs not taken on a divisional foe this season. That changes this week with a road gams against New Orleans. If the Bucs win, they propel themselves to the driver seat of the division as I see the Falcons falling in Jacksonville. Being a 3-1 team with two games coming up against the Panthers, two against the Falcons and one against the Texans positions the Bucs in a good spot to reach that 8-game mark. Keep getting the defense healthy, allow the early offensive kinks to work themselves out, and focus on winning the game ahead week-by-week. I think the Bucs are going to be okay.

Check out the podcast version of this blog below.