It was an afternoon for revenge. On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came away with a 20-16 victory over the Detroit Lions, winning in a rematch that stemmed from last year's Divisional Round.
Rewinding back, just before that Divisional Round game this past January, the Lions were in the midst of a historic season, having won their first playoff game in decades. The Buccaneers, on the other hand, looked to play spoiler and end Detroit's storied run. It seemed possible at first, considering how Tampa Bay completely annihilated the Philadelphia Eagles during Wild Card weekend. The opposite occurred, however, as the Lions ended the Buccaneers' 2023 season to reach the NFC Championship.
Luckily for Baker Mayfield and Co., it wouldn't be long before an opportunity for retribution opened up. They made the most of it on Sunday, edging out the Lions in what can be labeled as a defensive battle. Both teams held each other scoreless in the fourth quarter, highlighted by Tampa Bay's fourth-down stops in the Lions' late-game drives. During Detroit's final drive, specifically, the Buccaneers' defense forced three straight incompletions to take home the rematch at Ford Field.
Based on how Tampa Bay performed, here are some overreactions that may very well transpire in the coming months.
Overreaction #1
Chris Godwin finishes the season with a new career-high in touchdowns
It's no secret that Chris Godwin is an elite slot receiver. He has consistently tallied 1,000-yard seasons in recent years and is one of two reasons — the other being Mike Evans — why the Buccaneers have one of the most feared pass-catching duos in the entire league. Still, he hasn't gotten the ball a lot in the endzone as of late. In 17 regular-season games last year, Godwin scored just two touchdowns and ran for an additional one. It wasn't much better back in 2022 when he only caught three touchdown passes. Interestingly, Godwin never had a season with double-digit touchdowns yet (career-high nine TDs in 2019)…but that might change this year.
Two games in and the receiver already has two touchdowns to his name. He had one against the Washington Commanders during Week 1 while the other occurred on Sunday versus Detroit. Godwin was arguably the best offensive player for Tampa Bay in Week 2. Besides his endzone catch, the 28-year-old also had 117 receiving yards while tallying 16.7 yards per reception against the Lions. He accounted for more than half of the Buccaneers' total yards on just seven catches. With how things look, Chris Godwin will likely score no less than 10 touchdowns this season.
Overreaction #2
The secondary is severely underrated
Entering the season, many analysts excluded the Tampa Bay secondary from their power rankings' top 10. The Buccaneers' group of defensive backs was generally seen as a middle or an upper middle-of-the-pack kind of unit. They certainly tarnished that narrative on Sunday, showing out despite the absences of cornerbacks Bryce Hall and Josh Hayes, as well as the NFL's top safety, Antoine Winfield Jr (all three are injured). In place of the Winfield, Christian Izien made the most out of his opportunity, putting up nine tackles, two passes defended and a red-zone interception on Jared Goff in the fourth quarter. Cornerback Zyon McCollum also made noise, finishing with six tackles, four passes defended and his first-ever career interception. Jordan Whitehead led the team with 11 combined tackles and a tackle for loss.
While they did give up plenty of receiving yards, the Buccaneers' secondary made sure that none of Jared Goff's targets caught the ball in the endzone, even Amon-Ra St. Brown. Detroit's only TD of the game was a carry by running back David Montgomery. All in all, the Lions were 1-of-7 from the red zone.
Overreaction #3
A fully healthy Buccaneers squad will reach the NFC championship…heck, maybe even the Super Bowl
Defeating a heavyweight such as the Lions is impressive. Doing it with a depleted lineup? Even more so. Besides Winfield Jr, the Buccaneers were also without two other injured starters: defensive tackle Calijah Kancey and right tackle Luke Goedeke.
Kancey's absence was a big reason why the team had no sacks during the game; The thought of that also magnifies what the rest of the defense — especially the secondary — was able to do without an effective rushing unit. As for Goedeke, he was longed for as well, considering how Aidan Hutchinson had a mind-blowing 4.5 sacks on Baker Mayfield.
With all that being said, this Buccaneers team is a gritty one. If they managed to beat the reigning NFC North champs without several key players, imagine what could happen in the long run once the team returns to full strength.
An NFC Championship appearance wouldn't be surprising. A Super Bowl berth? Why not, it's difficult to rule out as well.
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