While the main story of Sunday’s game will be how cool the Buccaneers look in their throwback creamsicle jerseys, there actually should be a fun, competitive football game that takes place at Raymond James Stadium.
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The Lions have been a bit up and down on the defensive side of the ball to start the year, with a stellar job against Kansas City to start the year and a nice job of limiting the Falcons to 6 points in a Week 3 victory.
But they’ve also had an eye-poppingly bad performance against the Seahawks (37 points in an OT loss) and gave up 24 points last week to the struggling Carolina Panthers.
Both the Lions and the Bucs have a single loss on the season, making this a bit of a measurement game for both sides.
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The Bucs’ lone loss to the Eagles is rough, but also not entirely unexpected. The Eagles are still undefeated and the NFC defending champs, and the Lions lost a heartbreaker to the aforementioned Seahawks.
All of that is to say, this, again, this should be a quality game that could really go either way.
Detroit has an explosive high-flying offense that’s getting back former first rounder Jameson Williams. The speedy receiver out of Alabama was serving a 4-game suspension following his violation of the NFL’s gambling policy, which was reduced from an original 6-game suspension for the violation.
Williams got his feet wet last week against the Panthers, with a couple catches for a couple yards, but expect him to hit the ground running against a Bucs secondary that has historically struggled against speed merchants like Williams (see: Tyreek Hill’s 200-yard first-half performance in 2020).
Obviously, Williams is not Hill, and has yet to really break through in the NFL. Add in a couple questionables in star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and running back and rookie first round pick Jahmyr Gibbs, and the Bucs should have at least a relatively easier time to slow down this Lions offense.
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On the defensive side of the ball the Lions’ struggles have been well documented and shown, with a shoddy secondary and inconsistent pass rush. If the Buccaneers can continue their relatively turnoverless ways, expect this game to be a bit high scoring, with the Bucs securing a home victory 31-23 against the visiting Lions.
And if not, at least the uniforms look cool.
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This article originally appeared on CLTAMPA.COM and is used with permission.
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