It’s the battle of the banged-up on Monday Night Football. The Bucs and Lions are both facing their fair share of injuries coming into their primetime matchup. Tampa Bay is missing several starters on offense, while Detroit’s secondary is the walking wounded. Both teams will be looking to take advantage of each other’s absences on Monday.
This will be the fourth time these two teams have met in the past three seasons. Detroit holds the edge with two wins in 2023, including a playoff win, while the Bucs went into Motown last year and upset the Lions in Week 3. The Buccaneers will be able to even things up and secure what could be a very important tie-breaker when it comes to playoff seeding down the line if they follow these keys to cannon fire.
The Bucs’ red zone defense has not been good this season. In fact, they are ranked 28th in the league, allowing touchdowns 68.7% of the time. Not good.
One of the reasons the Buccaneers had so much success last year in Detroit was the fact that they were able to hold the Lions to just one of seven attempts in the red zone. They’ll need to hold strong down in their own territory once again this year if they want to come out of the Motor City with a win.
Even with a new offensive coordinator, the Lions have been one of the best teams in the league when in the red zone. Detroit is averaging 31.8 points per game and is ranked third in red zone offense, scoring touchdowns 74.1% of the time. Stopping them on third down, where they’re around the middle of the pack in the league, will be crucial to preventing trips in the red zone in the first place.
The Bucs are relatively healthy on defense, and the returns of Zyon McCollum and Benjamin Morrison should go a long way to helping slow down an explosive Lions offense.
We’ve seen the impact Aidan Hutchinson can have on a game before. Look no further than last season when he tallied 4.5 sacks against the Buccaneers in Detroit. Unfortunately, like last season, Hutchinson will be matched up with a Bucs backup tackle, as Luke Goedeke was banged up when these two teams faced each other in 2024 and will miss Monday’s game as well.
Last season, it was Justin Skule, who was abused by the Lions’ premier edge rusher. Charlie Heck will be faced with the task this season, although he is sure to receive help. Expect a heavy dose of Cade Otton and Payne Durham lining up next to him to try to mitigate Hutchinson’s impact on the game. Baker Mayfield has been incredible this season, getting out of tight spaces, but we’ve seen Hutchinson blow up game plans before.
If the Bucs are going to win this game, they will need to contain him and not let him become the determining factor.
The Lions’ secondary is severely depleted, and that’s being generous. Injuries have ravaged the unit.
Cornerbacks Terrion Arnold, Ennis Rakestraw, D.J. Reed and Avonte Maddox, as well as safety Kerby Joseph, have all been ruled out for Monday night’s contest. In addition, safety Brian Branch was suspended by the league for his actions following their loss to the Chiefs last Sunday. With so many players in the secondary down for Detroit, the Bucs are surely going to want to try to take advantage through the air.
However, they will also need to establish a ground game to try to help mitigate the pressure Detroit’s front will bring to Baker Mayfield. The Bucs’ ground game bounced back last week, and they will need Rachaad White and Sean Tucker to churn out the tough yards so the Lions’ pass rush won’t be able to just pin their ears back and get after Mayfield all game.
The potential returns of Mike Evans and Emeka Egbuka should help open things underneath in the run game to allow the Bucs to have a more balanced offense, while still taking their shots down the field.
READ MORE: Buccaneers get major boost with key defender back at practice
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