It should be quite a battle for the Detroit Lions in Week 7. And they will be short-handed in the secondary. But here is the biggest matchup the Lions must exploit to beat the Buccaneers.
Let’s get real right off the bat. The Buccaneers are going to score points against the injury-riddled and shaky Lions' secondary. So the first point of emphasis will be on putting points on the board.
Second, the Lions made a tactical mistake against the Chiefs. They played like they were scared of the Chiefs’ offense, eating clock and playing not to lose. This week, they need to hit it hard and strike for big plays at every opportunity.
Lions need to use WR Jameson Williams often
One reason the Lions should be able to get Williams loose is that the Buccaneers should ride Amon-Ra St. Brown hard. This will open windows of opportunity for Williams.
Williams has endured a disappointing season. The Lions expected him to be a breakout player, but he hasn’t gotten into a groove. But there are signs of hope, according to The Athletic.
“Jameson Williams has been frustrating, and we keep looking for signs of hope. Here’s some,” Jake Ciely wrote. “Williams sees a 13.3% point boost in team target percentage (TmTGT%) when Jared Goff is pressured (26.8% to 13.5%). That’s the fourth-highest gap in the league. The Buccaneers pressure the QB at the sixth-highest rate (41.5%). Conversely, Amon-Ra St. Brown sees a 17.8% boost when the pocket is clean (second most).”
However, others have soured on him, according to fantasylife.com.
“Williams can pop off for a big play at any time, but the floor is low as shown in several games,” Adam Ronis wrote. “Even playing the matchups hasn’t worked. Benching Williams makes sense until he is more involved in the offense.”
Will this be the week for WR Jameson Williams?
Maybe that happens this week. Head coach Dan Campbell saw what happened against the Chiefs when his team couldn’t hit big plays. They scored 17 points and lost, which he didn’t like at all, according to Yahoo.com.
“I'm disappointed,” Campbell said. “It's been a long time since we've watched someone kneel (the ball) three times at the end of a game that isn't even close. We were down two scores, and we got worked pretty good. So yeah, it is really disappointing.
“I felt like this was the kind of game where we needed at least that many and we couldn’t. Defensively, we had some opportunities that we have to capitalize on — we didn't get any takeaways — but, really, the offense needed to show up there.”
QB Jared Goff said the Lions need to work on mental game
Goff said the team had the right mentality, but didn’t produce.
“Our mentality was to score on every drive, and when we had long drives, we needed to finish them with touchdowns,” Goff said. “We didn't do that and they did.”
Campbell said the offense needs to find a better gear, according to The Athletic.
“You feel like the offense is going to need to carry more of this load,” Campbell said. “That’s the way I felt, knowing where we were going into [the Chiefs] game defensively. With that, they have to be able to do more for us, and we just weren’t able to put up points. That’s the bottom line.”
Still, the Lions can and should learn from the game against the Chiefs, according to mlive.com.
“I go back to this, maybe we needed this,” Campbell told MLive after the team’s loss in Kansas City. “Maybe we needed to get kicked around a little bit, because that’s what happened.
“Well, you don’t ever want things to happen. Nobody wants to lose. We certainly don’t want to lose. But it puts a little extra sense of urgency on you. It puts a little bit of that bad taste. It sometimes gives you that extra kick to get things back to where they need to be. Maybe you didn’t quite see it, or maybe it’s — look, the other thing is that’s a really good team, man. You’ve got to be on point when you play really good teams.”
