Lions Host Buccaneers in NFC Divisional Round

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit the Detroit Lions Sunday for a spot in the NFC Championship. The Buccaneers, who won the NFC South for a third consecutive year, are seeking their fifth appearance in the NFC Championship in franchise history. Meanwhile, the Lions, who won the NFC North for the first time since 1993, are looking for their second NFC Championship appearance and their first since 1991.

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Bucs Win Big

The Buccaneers are coming off of a commanding 32-9 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at home in the NFC wild-card round. Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield led the way with 337 passing yards and three passing touchdowns. The Bucs also got major contributions from two young pass catchers in second-year tight end Cade Otton and rookie wide receiver Trey Palmer. Otton led the Buccaneers in receiving with eight catches for 89 yards, both career highs. Palmer was able to score a 59-yard touchdown on his only catch of the game.

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Veteran receivers Chris Godwin and David Moore also caught touchdown passes. Moore ripped off a 44-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Godwin scored from 23 yards out to the seal the game with 5:42 left in the fourth quarter. Mike Evans, who led the team with 1,255 receiving yards in the regular season, recorded three catches for 48 yards on seven targets. Second-year running back Rachaad White paced the team’s backfield with 72 rushing yards on 18 carries.

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On defense, the Buccaneers were able to limit the Eagles to just 42 rushing yards. They also held Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts out of the end zone on a “tush push” attempt on a two-point conversion attempt. The Eagles have had a success rate of over 90% on “tush push” attempts over the last two seasons, but it didn’t work Monday. Furthermore, Hurts was forced into a safety after he committed an intentional grounding penalty in his own endzone. Defensive back Jamel Dean led the unit with 10 total tackles, one tackle for loss and one pass break up.

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Lions Outlast the Rams

The Lions grinded out a nail-biting 24-23 win over the Los Angeles Rams at home Sunday. Lions quarterback Jared Goff completed 81% of his passes along with 277 passing yards and a passing touchdown. Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown led the Lions in receiving with seven catches for 110 yards. It was St. Brown’s 10th 100-plus yard receiving game this season. St. Brown iced the game with an 11-yard catch for a first down with under two minutes.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for 367 yards and two touchdowns in his first return to Detroit as an opposing player. Stafford was drafted by the Lions in 2009 and played 12 seasons for the organization before he was traded to the Rams for Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a third-round pick in 2021.

Rams star rookie receiver Puka Nacua torched the Lions secondary with nine catches for 181 yards and a touchdown. However, Stafford and Nacua failed to link up on a crucial third down with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter. The Rams were then forced to punt on what would be their last possession of the game.

It was the first playoff win for Detroit since 1991 when they also made the NFC Championship. They are one of four NFL teams to have never made the Super Bowl.

Start Time

Kickoff in Detroit is at 3 p.m. Sunday at Ford Field.