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Detroit Lions to face Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers in second round of NFL playofs
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- Detroit Lions to face Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers in second round of NFL playofs
Baker and the Bucs are the only thing standing between the Detroit Lions and a spot in the NFC championship game.
Baker Mayfield led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 32-9 wild-card win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday, setting up a showdown with the Lions in a divisional playoff game at 3 p.m. Sunday at Ford Field.
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The Lions, the No. 3 seed in the NFC, beat the Bucs in Tampa earlier this season , 20-6, behind a season-high 353 yards passing from Jared Goff .
Tampa won the NFC South with a 9-8 record to earn the four seed in the NFC. The Bucs won five of their final six games to make the playoffs and had one of the stingiest defenses in the NFL (19.1 ppg).
SHAWN WINDSOR: Lions fans have been neglected before. It's why they cheered Jared Goff so loudly.
Detroit Lions linebacker Julian Okwara (99) tackles Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
The Lions won their first playoff game in 32 years last week, beating the Los Angeles Rams , 24-23. They earned a second home playoff game by virtue of the Green Bay Packers upset of the No. 2 seed the Dallas Cowboys .
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The San Francisco 49ers host the Packers on Saturday in the other NFC divisional game.
The Lions have reached the NFC title game just once in the Super Bowl era, when they lost to Washington in the 1991 season.
Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown had big days in the first Lions-Bucs game in Week 6. Goff threw touchdown passes of 27 and 45 yards to St. Brown and Jameson Williams , and St. Brown finished with 12 catches for 124 yards.
Mayfield was 19 of 37 passing in that game for 206 yards, and missed several downfield shots to open receivers, but Tampa's defense held the Lions to a season-low 40 yards rushing.
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Buccaneers running back Rachaad White stiff-arms Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone during the first quarter of the Lions' 20-6 win on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, in Tampa, Florida.
The Bucs have one of the best receiving tandems in the NFL in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin , who Lions safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson compared last week to the Rams duo of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua , while taking a shot at 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."
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Nacua, who Gardner-Johnson said was similar to Godwin, had nine catches for 181 yards and a touchdown Sunday, the fourth straight week the Lions have allowed a 100-yard receiver.
Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson had 12 catches for 192 yards and a touchdown against the Lions in Week 18, Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb went for 13 catches, 227 yards and a score in Week 17, and Jefferson had six catches for 141 yards and a touchdown in Week 16.
Lions coach Dan Campbell acknowledged Monday the Lions will have to play better pass defense to advance this week. Williams and Godwin combined for 10 catches and 126 yards receiving in Week 6.
"We made some adjustments second half (against the Rams) that helped us in that area, but I just go back to this: We have to play a certain way," Campbell said. "And ultimately, the answer to all this is we have to play as a team. It takes three phases. That's ultimately the answer to all of it. So, you ask about defense, it takes three phases, and the other two got to step up. And just like when the offense, we weren't able to put up the points in the second half, the defense kept them out of the end zone. So, we just find ways in all three phases. We got to continue to find an advantage over the opponent and go from there."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions to face Tampa Bay Buccaneers in second round
