The Tampa Bay Buccaneers head north to take on the Detroit Lions Sunday. This week two matchup will be a repeat of the Divisional round loss and should provide some fantastic football. While I still think the Lions are a better team on paper, the Bucs are a lot closer than I think the national media realizes.
They did have an impressive win over a team that will be competing for a playoff spot, it showed flaws that I didn’t realize existed and seems to show a way for the Bucs to win. Easier said then done.
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Like I predicted in my schedule prediction post, the Lions secondary still doesn’t seem all the way there. I know Cooper Kupp is really good, but former Buc Carlton Davis being juked out by former Buc Tyler Johnson should not inspire confidence that the unit is still anything other than Swiss cheese. If Kupp managed to collect 14 catches (which is like the most Matthew Stafford stat ever), imagine what Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin, and Jalen McMillan can do. Baker needs to feed those guys again. I think if anyone will have a good game, it will probably be Godwin again.
Rachaad White and/or Bucky Irving need to get going as well. After watching the way they dispatched the Rams, I want to keep the ball out of Detroit’s hands as much as possible. I want ten minute long drives that lead to points. It will be difficult for sure. The line is better than the Rams (at least when healthy), but the Lions front is really good. Aidan Hutchinson will most likely have a better game this time around, but his impact needs to be minimized.
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On defense, they need to make sure the Lions don’t control the pace. The last thing we need is the Bucs defense to be worn down considering they’re already suffering from attrition. I didn’t realize quite how bad their receiver depth is, but Amon-Ra is still good enough to carry their receiving core. Also, knowing the Bucs, Tom Kennedy will somehow score a TD. And that will be their only TD of the season. If Penei Sewell is playing, they still need to take advantage of him being affected by injury. He will not be 100% if he plays at all.
This will not be a pretty game. If the final score was 13-10, I would not be surprised. These are two teams facing injuries to key positions (although they may still play for the Lions). The Buccaneers will unfortunately be missing Calijah Kancey’s presence in the middle and Antoine Winfield in the secondary. With that said, the Bucs still have the weapons to compete with the Lions. While their RBs aren’t as talented as the Lions, Evans and Godwin are more talented than what the Lions have. However, the Bucs need to win by keeping control of the ball. Take the lead early and force the Lions to keep up through the air because I don’t think they’ll be able to.