The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been counted out for much of the last year. The team turned into an afterthought when Tom Brady retired and the Buccaneers replaced him with Baker Mayfield. The biggest dead cap number in NFL history and a struggling stretch during the middle of head coach Todd Bowles’s second season only gave the doubters more ammunition. The noise and lack of faith from the outside didn’t stop the Buccaneers from pulling together to qualify for the postseason for the fourth consecutive year. Instead, it provided fuel for a team that is at its best when there is grit and chippiness involved. That was evident on Monday night as Tampa Bay shut down the Philadelphia Eagles in a revenge game. Despite entering the contest as an underdog, the Buccaneers dominated on both sides of the ball, and the game was already decided in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The victory gives Tampa Bay the opportunity to match up with another franchise that defeated them earlier in the year as they hit the road to face the Detroit Lions.
Early betting lines have the Buccaneers as nearly a touchdown underdog (+6.5) to the Lions. That’s a label that head coach Todd Bowles, outside linebacker Shaq Barrett, and the rest of the team have no trouble embracing as they continue their playoff run.
We knew that in the summer, so it doesn’t surprise us all,” Bowles said on Tuesday. “We don’t even worry about it anymore. We kind of laugh when we see it. We get ready to play, we line up, and we get ready to play on Sunday.” “The underdog role doesn’t bother us. We know our capabilities in the locker room, no matter what is projected or what people would think is going to happen in the game,” Barrett added. “We always come in thinking we’ve got a great chance of winning the game. So, people saw us as the underdog tonight, and we know they’ll see us as the underdog going into Detroit, but we know we’ve got to keep doing the same stuff.”
The Buccaneers have flown under the radar for most of the year and that’s an aspect they are using to their advantage. After scoring a season-low six points in a loss to the Lions in October, the team is hoping to return the favor at Ford Field. “It’s been embraced really good with a lot of guys. We don’t expect anything, we don’t expect any compliments,” Bowles said. “We don’t expect anybody to give us anything. We are going to go out there and earn everything we want to get.” Quarterback Baker Mayfield became the first signal-caller in franchise history to record over 300 passing yards and three touchdowns in the win over the Eagles. That’s the version of Mayfield the Buccaneers need if they are going to have a legitimate shot of dispatching Detroit. The Lions are in a rhythm and present one of the toughest environments to play in across the league.
“It’s going to be huge finishing plays up there. It’s going to be loud. We know it’s going to be loud. They’re going to be hyped up and they should be,” Bowles said. “They’re in [the] playoffs. Dan [Campbell] has them playing good football right now, so finishing and not trying to let the crowd get into it too long is going to be important for us.” Tampa Bay’s quest for a third title continues on Sunday, January 21. The Buccaneers and Lions are scheduled to kick off at 3:00 p.m. from Detroit with the contest being televised on NBC.
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