According to Associateed Press sports writer Fred Goodell notes, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers insist they aren't listening to "noise" outside their locker rooms.

Unbeaten NFC rivals meet in prime time Monday night, each sporting 2-0 records that have spawned questions about realistic expectations for the season.

With Mayfield playing turnover-free ball, the Bucs defeated the Vikings on the road and then handed the struggling Bears their 12th consecutive loss last week.

The "outside" chatter about the Bucs in the aftermath of Brady's retirement has mostly painted a picture of gloom and doom for the season.

Mayfield is with his fourth team in two years and coming off a season in which he lost eight of 10 starts with the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams.

The No. 1 overall pick from the 2018 draft is accustomed to being second-guessed. He said the Bucs didn't allow negative prognostications to bother them in the offseason, so there's no need to listen to what's being said now that they've won two games.

"That's been the narrative, but we've known the whole time what we have in this locker room and the team that we're trying to build, where we're trying to head," Mayfield said. "The important part now is not letting the outside noise affect us in the building. We didn't let it affect us before, why let it do it now?"

The Bucs embrace the challenge of facing the defending NFC champions. Coach Todd Bowles, though, stopped short of calling it a litmus test for his team.

"We look at every week like that. The fact that they're 2-0 and went to the Super Bowl doesn't bother us. We're trying to go 3-0," Bowles said.

"There's going to be challenges every week for us. They're going to be bigger as the weeks go on," the Bucs coach added. "We're looking to get better as a team, no matter who we're playing."

For teams that have never been paired in the same division, the Eagles and Bucs have developed quite a rivalry.

Tampa Bay leads the all-time series 11-10, including a 3-2 edge in the postseason. In the most recent matchup, Brady led the Bucs to a 31-15 win in a NFC wild-card game at home in January 2022. Three months earlier, Tampa Bay won a prime-time, regular-season matchup 28-22 in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, Mike Evans is coming off a monster six-catch, 171-yard performance against the Bears, and now faces a banged-up Eagles secondary that just lost slot corner Avonte Maddox for the year with a torn pec. Mario Goodrich got his first action as a pro in his place.

ESPN.com's Tim McManus suggests it's a safe bet the Bucs will line Evans up inside to try to take advantage of Maddox's absence.

The Eagles currently rank 31st in the league in pass defense, allowing 326 yards per game.

As for the rushing attack. ... As NFL Network's Michael F. Florio notes, Rachaad White was able to take advantage of the Bucs matchup in Week 2, but he's very volume dependent -- a side effect of posting only a single run for 10-plus yards, after having a league-low six percent of carries hit that mark last year.

Now he faces the Eagles, who've allowed just 82 rushing yards to backs this season. They've also allowed 2.9 yards per carry -- and just 2.2 on inside carries.

Also, did we mention the pass defense?