Detroit Lions get Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers in second-round NFL playoff game
The Detroit Lions’ only chance to go to the NFC championship game is with Baker and the Bucs.With a 32-9 wild-card victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday, driven by Baker Mayfield, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers advanced to meet the Lions in a divisional playoff game on Sunday at Ford Field.
\The No. 3 seed in the NFC, the Lions, defeated the Bucs 20-6 in Tampa earlier this season, thanks to a career-high 353 yards of passing by quarterback Jared Goff.
With a 9-8 record, Tampa Bay won the NFC South and secured the fourth seed in the NFC. With one of the NFL’s most formidable defenses (19.1 points per game), the Bucs won five of their final six games to secure a postseason spot.
SHAWN WINDSOR: Lions supporters have previously experienced neglect. They yelled at Jared Goff because of this.
The Lions defeated the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 last Sunday to win their first postseason game in thirty-two years. The Green Bay Packers’ shock of the Dallas Cowboys, the No. 2 seed, won them a second home playoff game.
In the other NFC divisional game on Saturday, the 49ers will play the Packers.
In the Super Bowl era, the Lions have only made it to the NFC championship game once, which they lost to Washington in the 1991 campaign.
Amon-Ra and Goff During the first Lions-Bucs game of Week 6, St. Brown had a great day. Jameson Williams and St. Brown each received touchdown throws from Goff that were 27 and 45 yards long. St. Brown finished with 12 receptions for 124 yards.
Despite missing multiple downfield passes to open receivers and going 19 of 37 for 206 yards passing in that game, Tampa’s defense limited the Lions to 40 yards rushing, which was a season low.
MORE FROM BIRKETT: Dan Campbell trusted Jared Goff to perform when the Lions’ season was on the line, and he did.
When mocking Mayfield last week, Lions safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson compared the Bucs’ Mike Evans and Chris Godwin receiving tandem to the Rams’ Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. The Bucs boast one of the top receiving tandems in the NFL.
Aside from the Tampa squad, this group is arguably one of the better groups we have faced this year, Gardner-Johnson remarked. Tampa is a fantastic team if you give them a good quarterback. What a fantastic group Evans, Godwin, and Russell Gage are. I actually competed against them.
Nacua, whom Gardner-Johnson likened to Godwin, caught nine passes for 181 yards and a touchdown on Sunday. This is the fourth week in a row that the Lions have given up a receiver with 100 yards or more.
In Week 18, Justin Jefferson, a receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, had 12 receptions for 192 yards and a touchdown against the Lions. In Week 17, CeeDee Lamb, a receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, had 13 receptions for 227 yards and a touchdown. In Week 16, Jefferson had six receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown.
The Lions’ coach, Dan Campbell, stated on Monday that his team needs to improve its pass defense if it hopes to advance this week. In Week 6, Williams and Godwin combined for 10 receptions and 126 yards of receiving.
We made some tweaks that benefited us in that area in the second half (against the Rams), but we need to play a specific way, Campbell remarked.
The solution to all of this is that we must play as a team in the end. There are three stages to it. In the end, that’s the solution to everything.
When it comes to defense, there are three stages, and the other two must take the initiative. The defense kept them out of the end zone, which is similar to how the offense prevented us from scoring in the second half.
We simply look for ways to get through all three stages. We must keep gaining the upper hand over the opposition and work from there.
