Opponent Profile: Lions Hope To Handle Business Against Lowly Tampa
By Chris Morgan
The Detroit Lions got back in the swing of things on Thanksgiving with a solid win over the Chicago Bears, their eighth victory of the season. They have extra time to prepare for next year's game, a home contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On paper, Detroit Lions fans should be excited about this. As the Lions continue their playoff drive, they get a matchup with one of the worst teams in the NFL. Of course, in this league, any team can beat any other team, but as long as the Lions are up to the task, and keep their eyes on the prize, this shouldn't be too much of a challenge.
After their loss on Sunday, the Buccaneers have fallen to 2-10 on the season. They brought on Lovie Smith to be their head coach, and brought in quite a few free agents, and yet they are still awful. Both of their wins have come on the road, however, and several of their losses have been close. They have a bad point differential, but that's really on the strength of two blowout losses, although one of those was to the Atlanta Falcons, and they aren't exactly good.
This team has issues on both sides of the ball. There is nowhere where they are stronger than the Detroit Lions, and that could possibly include special teams, now that the Lions have added Matt Prater as their kicker. The Bucs can't run the ball at all, and even teams that can run the ball don't do it well against the Lions. They will have to try and score with their passing game. They do have a couple good, big wide receiver in Vincent Jackson and rookie Mike Evans, but their quarterback is Josh McCown, and their offensive line is not good. Detroit should be able to get pressure on McCown, and this game could resemble Detroit's game at Chicago, where the Buccaneers have to rely on short, quick passes to get anything done.
The Lions finally got their offense going last week against the Bears, and they have another good matchup for themselves on that side of the ball. The Buccaneers are good at stopping the run, so even if Reggie Bush finally returns to action, it could be a slow day running the ball again, especially if the Lions are missing some of their offensive linemen again.
On the other hand, Matthew Stafford played well on Thanksgiving, and Calvin Johnson had a huge game. If that is a sign of things to come, that's encouraging. A full strength Megatron combined with Golden Tate could have a big day against a Tampa Bay pass defense that has struggled quite a bit, although they did hold Cincinnati in check in a close loss in their last game.
Detroit should win this game. They are at home against one of the league's worst teams. The playoffs are in view. They can't blow this opportunity. All they have to do is take care of business, have their defense play like it has all season, and have the offense click like it did last week. If all that happens, they should run away with a win here.
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Chris Morgan has been a diehard Detroit Lions fan through the good (Barry Sanders) and the bad (Matt Millen) and that love has led him to take jobs writing about sports, including as a fantasy sports "expert." His work can be found on Examiner.com. .