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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin their 2023 playoff journey on the prime time stage, as they will host the Philadelphia Eagles at Raymond James on Monday, January 15. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast by ESPN/ABC.
This marks the second consecutive year that the Bucs will play at home in the Monday Night Football game that caps the NFL's "Super Wild Card Weekend." Last year it was Tampa Bay and Dallas in that slot, with the Cowboys winning to advance to the Divisional Round. The Buccaneers beat the Eagles in the opening round of the 2021 playoffs at Raymond James Stadium but it was an early-afternoon game on Sunday.
Since expanding the playoff field to seven teams in each conference in 2021 and spreading the first round across three days, the game pitting the fourth and fifth seeds in the NFC has been the Monday night selection every time. That allows the NFL to figure out its Divisional Round schedule by Sunday night, since whichever team wins the 4-5 game would have the same second-round matchup.
This information was provided to Tidings Media by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is reprinted with permission.
