Divisional Round Discussion

[GreatTimes]

McCollum was delivering hits that were missing all year - I hope it continues and others join in like a landslide.

Was it McCollum who knocked Julio Jones out on his feet? That was one vicious but legal hit.

[mdb1958]

McCollum was delivering hits that were missing all year - I hope it continues and others join in like a landslide.

Was it McCollum who knocked Julio Jones out on his feet? That was one vicious but legal hit.

Yep, Goedert too.

[GreatTimes]

I hope Lions drinking their own kool aid. Bucs coming in angry.

All these showdowns should be better than last week blowout fest.

I think if Baker and the Bucs proved anything this season, it's that they thrive best with an underdog mentality and become complacent when they start reading their own press.

Let us be underdogs going into Detroit. I welcome it, and so should any Bucs fan.

Reading various articles online that have the Bucs being the worst team in the final 8 and Mayfield being the worst QB of the 8. Hope the Bucs read those articles and get fired up about it.

[mdb1958]

I think if Baker and the Bucs proved anything this season, it's that they thrive best with an underdog mentality and become complacent when they start reading their own press.

Let us be underdogs going into Detroit. I welcome it, and so should any Bucs fan.

Reading various articles online that have the Bucs being the worst team in the final 8 and Mayfield being the worst QB of the 8. Hope the Bucs read those articles and get fired up about it.

So #1 offense and #2 defense won't hold up?

Win this one and it's NFC Championship.

[Bootz]

They just hire anyone now a days

[bucarican]

CJ Stroud is him. What he did to us was the sign of a guy that doesn't give an F. I would take that team to Defeat BAL.

I think Allen Finally handles Mahomey because of the Home Field.

49ers at home? No! Love dovey does it!

I will not pick the last game, every time I do it works against me. We will play that team better than most think!

[Babeinbucland]

They just hire anyone now a days

Omg I am laughing so hard - THAT is hilarious and I feel bad for her

[Bootz]

They just hire anyone now a days

Omg I am laughing so hard - THAT is hilarious and I feel bad for her

She also said "if the game is played in Detroit"...You can't make this up. This is lazy reporting at best. A simple Google search would've shown her who the Bucs play and where the Lions play.

Journalism is a lost art apparently. For her, Bowles is trending now on X which means eventually people will see who she is and then her name will be known.

[Jonny]

Omg I am laughing so hard - THAT is hilarious and I feel bad for her

She also said "if the game is played in Detroit"...You can't make this up. This is lazy reporting at best. A simple Google search would've shown her who the Bucs play and where the Lions play.

Journalism is a lost art apparently. For her, Bowles is trending now on X which means eventually people will see who she is and then her name will be known.

I hope this utterly moronic moment of hers turns her into a halfway decent journalist.

[Grahamburn]

Bowles handled it well. He could have gone all Mike Tomlin or just said “you’re a fucking idiot.”

[mdb1958]

What happened to Snake?

[Primeminister]

What happened to Snake?

He got himself suspended. He needed the time off

[13F11B]

So, I was over on the Lions forums (I know the founder... helped him when he was first building the site)... and while Detroit is a VERY solid team I was shocked at how confident fans of a team that until Sunday had not won a playoff game since 1991. There was maybe two people expressing caution. They focused on the 9-0 game the Buccaneers struggled to win against the Panthers and the loss to the Saints for the most part.

[Jonny]

So, I was over on the Lions forums (I know the founder... helped him when he was first building the site)... and while Detroit is a VERY solid team I was shocked at how confident fans of a team that until Sunday had not won a playoff game since 1991. There was maybe two people expressing caution. They focused on the 9-0 game the Buccaneers struggled to win against the Panthers and the loss to the Saints for the most part.

Yep. I understand that the fans being confident has no effect over how the Lions players and coaches treat this game, but I don't remember Bucs fans being as confident during our 2020 run, likely because the dark decade post Gruden taught us humility.

[Grahamburn]

They beat us pretty soundly in week 6 without several key players that they're set to have back in this matchup. That being said the Bucs are a very different team right now too.

If we don't turn it over I think we can hold them to 27 points or less. We've only had 30+ scored on us once all year. Our red zone D has been great all season so hope to hold them to 2 or 3 field goal tries. Our red zone O has not been good so we need to get a turnover or 2 of our own and hit on a deep ball TD or break one from distance for a score.

If we can score 27+ I think we win.

[Phantom]

https://x.com/BucsGameday/status/174765 ... 16535?s=20

Tampa Bay came away with a convincing win over the Eagles this past Monday night to earn the right to face off against the Detroit Lions in the Divisional round of the playoffs. Detroit was in a neck-and-neck battle with the Los Angeles Rams in their Wild Card game before clinching the game for Detroit's first playoff win in what seemed like forever.

With the two now set to face off at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, they have turned their attention to preparation for their opponent, and with it comes quotes from the players and coaches that could make for some interesting headlines.


For Detroit defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson that meant giving the Buccaneers' wide receivers their flowers - even comparing them to the likes of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. However, in the same breath, Gardner-Johnson also decided to take a stab at Bucs' quarterback Baker Mayfield.


“This group probably is one of the better groups we done faced all year, besides that Tampa group,” Gardner-Johnson said. “If you give that Tampa group a good quarterback, that’s a great group. Evans, Godwin, (Russell) Gage, that’s a great group. I played against them for real.”
Bulletin board material. There is nothing like it, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson is no first-timer when it comes to having certain feelings toward the Buccaneers after having faced off against them eight times in his career with the Saints and the Lions.


Stating that the Bucs are missing a quarterback is interesting, especially since Mayfield is having the best season of his career and just became the only QB in Bucs' history to post 300+ passing yards and 3 touchdowns in a playoff game.

Baker and the Bucs' offense are riding high at the moment and Detroit's defense is susceptible to big plays and points. The Bucs and Baker now know how they are viewed by the Lions' players and will likely walk into this one with a chip on their shoulder once again as they look for revenge from their Week six loss to this same Lions' team.

[Backside]

They beat us pretty soundly in week 6 without several key players that they're set to have back in this matchup. That being said the Bucs are a very different team right now too.

If we don't turn it over I think we can hold them to 27 points or less. We've only had 30+ scored on us once all year. Our red zone D has been great all season so hope to hold them to 2 or 3 field goal tries. Our red zone O has not been good so we need to get a turnover or 2 of our own and hit on a deep ball TD or break one from distance for a score.

If we can score 27+ I think we win.

I was at that game with my Lions fan dad... Not great. Baker missed some throws. I do see it being a very different game this time around. If Bowles can dial up pressure on Goff, he historically isn't great (Goff also has very good history against Bowles defense too, so hopefully Todd adds some new wrinkles). Otherwise I think it comes down to the trenches, we seem pretty good at stopping the run, but this will be a huge test.

On offense we just need to fix the drops and stay crisp. Lions D is improving but if we are playing to the level we have seen at our best, we can absolutely score some points. I'm surprised how little chance people seem to be giving the Bucs, to me they feel like a very live underdog. I guess people think the Rams were better than the Bucs anyway, so this is just a formality. But we shall see on Sunday...

Basically a perfect matchup for me. My fiancé and her whole extended family are massive Lion fans, as is my dad. So I've always rooted for them secondarily. Gonna be fun!

Thank you CJ, this is perfect, just what we need.

[Backside]

Russell Gage? Update your rosters bro.

God I hope Mayfield does what Brady never could and destroys that dude.

[Jonny]

They beat us pretty soundly in week 6 without several key players that they're set to have back in this matchup. That being said the Bucs are a very different team right now too.

If we don't turn it over I think we can hold them to 27 points or less. We've only had 30+ scored on us once all year. Our red zone D has been great all season so hope to hold them to 2 or 3 field goal tries. Our red zone O has not been good so we need to get a turnover or 2 of our own and hit on a deep ball TD or break one from distance for a score.

If we can score 27+ I think we win.

I was at that game with my Lions fan dad... Not great. Baker missed some throws. I do see it being a very different game this time around. If Bowles can dial up pressure on Goff, he historically isn't great (Goff also has very good history against Bowles defense too, so hopefully Todd adds some new wrinkles). Otherwise I think it comes down to the trenches, we seem pretty good at stopping the run, but this will be a huge test.

On offense we just need to fix the drops and stay crisp. Lions D is improving but if we are playing to the level we have seen at our best, we can absolutely score some points. I'm surprised how little chance people seem to be giving the Bucs, to me they feel like a very live underdog. I guess people think the Rams were better than the Bucs anyway, so this is just a formality. But we shall see on Sunday...

Basically a perfect matchup for me. My fiancé and her whole extended family are massive Lion fans, as is my dad. So I've always rooted for them secondarily. Gonna be fun!

Thank you CJ, this is perfect, just what we need.

Gardner-Johnson has been bad omen for Bucs for a while, even more so than Lattimore imo. He was particularly nasty during those ugly 2021 losses against Saints. That comment of his is by design, sort of like what Cam Jordan trash talk. I would love it if we owned his MF-ing soul by burning him multiple times.

[Four Verticals]

They just hire anyone now a days

Has she or the outfit she was working for been ID'd?

[Bootz]

Baker had the perfect response to CJ

[Buc2]

They just hire anyone now a days

I admire the restraint of everyone present in that room for not breaking out into uncontrollable laughter at that question.

[Bootz]

[Babeinbucland]

lol someone sent this to me from the game and I just couldn’t resist meme’ing this guy. Feel free to send it to any egglet friends you know

[Bootz]

[Noles1724]

[Miller4Prez64]

That and nobody giving us any credit for last night. It's all what the Eagles didn't do.

It's kind of comical..I could be wrong, but I think the only mention of the bucs is the vid title.

Sports media caters to what the casual audience cares about. The casual audience could care less about the Bucs (unless we have someone like Brady). This is pretty much the way the national media covered this team before Tom showed up and I think Bucs fans have just forgotten lol.

Fwiw, I 100% prefer the hot take artists keep quiet about us. I prefer the lack of attention to them over analyzing our team for clicks any day.

[Babeinbucland]

That was really educational for me

[BucsNBills]

Our best fit. Nice!

[Grahamburn]

@ Simms getting distracted by the 6 foot blonde walking by at about the 3:00 minute mark.

[Buc2]

It's kind of comical..I could be wrong, but I think the only mention of the bucs is the vid title.

Sports media caters to what the casual audience cares about. The casual audience could care less about the Bucs (unless we have someone like Brady). This is pretty much the way the national media covered this team before Tom showed up and I think Bucs fans have just forgotten lol.

Fwiw, I 100% prefer the hot take artists keep quiet about us. I prefer the lack of attention to them over analyzing our team for clicks any day.

I gave it 4 minutes and had heard enough.

[Noles1724]

just rewatched the wk 6 game.. couple of takeaways.

Izien looked like a rookie.. drifted out of passing lanes on zone coverage, when he blitzed it looked like he was looking to run into an opponent and not so much attach the backfield/qb.

Neal is just god awful. I put the TDs squarely on him.. one was a 3rd and 11 (i think) that he simply lost the edge and St. Brown got the TD. The other TD on a deep pass with shitty coverage.

Did Neal see a snap during the Philly gm? I'm not finding anything to suggest he did, but maybe I'm just looking at stats registered and not snaps. That said, I wouldn't be shocked if he got a few reps and did nothing.

I should probably know this but what happened to Vaughn? I don't even see him on the practice squad.

Hoping the trend of Neal not seeing the field continues.. less is more with that guy.

[Grahamburn]

just rewatched the wk 6 game.. couple of takeaways.

Izien looked like a rookie.. drifted out of passing lanes on zone coverage, when he blitzed it looked like he was looking to run into an opponent and not so much attach the backfield/qb.

Neal is just god awful. I put the TDs squarely on him.. one was a 3rd and 11 (i think) that he simply lost the edge and St. Brown got the TD. The other TD on a deep pass with shitty coverage.

Did Neal see a snap during the Philly gm? I'm not finding anything to suggest he did, but maybe I'm just looking at stats registered and not snaps. That said, I wouldn't be shocked if he got a few reps and did nothing.

I should probably know this but what happened to Vaughn? I don't even see him on the practice squad.

Hoping the trend of Neal not seeing the field continues.. less is more with that guy.

Great point(s). Neal got torched in that game. With both Davis and Dean healthy McCollum has been playing the slot and safety.

I don’t think Neal has seen the field in a while? They were using Merriweather some.

But, really liked the MCCollum lineup they deployed against the Eagles.

Maybe he’s our 2020 SMB for this postseason?

[kaimaru]

just rewatched the wk 6 game.. couple of takeaways.

Izien looked like a rookie.. drifted out of passing lanes on zone coverage, when he blitzed it looked like he was looking to run into an opponent and not so much attach the backfield/qb.

Neal is just god awful. I put the TDs squarely on him.. one was a 3rd and 11 (i think) that he simply lost the edge and St. Brown got the TD. The other TD on a deep pass with shitty coverage.

Did Neal see a snap during the Philly gm? I'm not finding anything to suggest he did, but maybe I'm just looking at stats registered and not snaps. That said, I wouldn't be shocked if he got a few reps and did nothing.

I should probably know this but what happened to Vaughn? I don't even see him on the practice squad.

Hoping the trend of Neal not seeing the field continues.. less is more with that guy.

Neal only played on ST

[Pirate Life]

Last game Neal was a huge liability, Kancey was playing his first game back from injury and neither Diaby or Britt played much outside of special teams.

Baker was shakey, missed Palmer a couple of times when he was wide open and the tipped ball that ended up as an INT would have been a TD to Evans most likely. He was well, well behind Detroit's defense.

Detroit also was missing several players that game due to injury. Don't think we can use that game as representative of how this one will go.