It wasn’t the prettiest win in Buccaneers franchise history, but they all count the same in the record books. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into Detroit and stole a victory from the Lions with a final score of 20-16. This was a game in which the Bucs were more than a touchdown underdog, but found a way to get it done.
There were several reasons for this upset win. Some of them are sustainable for Buccaneers success and some of them not so much. Here are my Bucs takeaways from their win over the Lions.
Young Secondary Coming Out Party
To say it was an impressive day for the secondary would be an understatement. Despite the Lions offense attempting 55 passes, the Bucs only allowed only 307 yards on 61% completions. It was a high volume, but low efficiency day for the Lions passing attack.
Above that, the Bucs didn’t allow a passing touchdown in this game. However, they did force two interceptions and could have potentially had a few more. They made life very difficult for the opposing wide receivers.
All the credit in the world should go to Zyon McCollum, Tykee Smith and Christian Izien. These are all young players who are still trying to establish themselves and prove they can be a dependable part of the Bucs defense moving forward. They passed this test with flying colors.
YES SIR!
One player who jumped off the screen in the game was SirVocea Dennis. The second-year linebacker had a niche role coming into the year as a platoon player who plays in place of starter KJ Britt on passing downs. It has become obvious that Dennis is outgrowing that role quickly.
In this game, Dennis got three more total snaps (44) than Britt did (41). However, Dennis had 4 more solo tackles and 5 more total tackles than Britt. This in addition to Dennis’ coverage ability that originally was the reason for getting him on the field.
It seems like everybody likes K.J. Britt. He is described as a leader and his physical hard nosed style of play is obvious to anyone who watches him. With that said, it might be hard to justify starting him over Dennis before too long. Dennis has been that good.
Offensive Line Growing Pains Were Expected
Through two weeks of the season, the Bucs offensive line has not looked good. The interior offensive line has had their fair share of struggles. This has been both in pass blocking and run blocking.
That’s not to say that they haven’t had good moments. Watching Graham Barton get down field and pave the way for that Baker Mayfield touchdown run was a thing of beauty. However, this group will need to find consistency to reach their full potential.
Keep in mind that both last week and this week the Bucs were facing two of the better defensive tackle duos in the entire NFL. No one expected this young Bucs offensive line to come in and dominate those types of opponents from day one. The struggles were expected and guys like Barton and Cody Mauch will be better having gone against those types of opponents.
Baker Mayfield Pocket Mobility
I have been so impressed with Baker Mayfield during his time in Tampa, Not just because he set career highs in passing yards and touchdowns last season, but how he navigates the pocket. This has been a huge reason for his (and the Bucs) success.
Mayfield has developed a sixth sense for feeling pressure, avoiding it and making plays. We saw him pick up first downs in this game on scrambles and we’ve seen him avoid interior pressure many times over the last 20 games or so. It is an element to his game that not every quarterback has and should not be taken for granted.
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