6 Takeaways from Detroit Lions' 34-17 Win over Tampa Bay
The Detroit Lions secured an important 34-17 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday to improve their record to 9-4. Getting the win was great, but the uneven performance doesn't exactly inspire confidence in any postseason fate.
Detroit did many things well in this game but also reverted perilously close to "same old Lions" in a few ways too. In the end their superior talent prevailed, but the Lions did not make it easy on themselves. That's still better than a year ago, when Tampa Bay prevailed over a sloppy, listless Lions team in a similar situation.
With the victory, the Lions now hold a wild-card spot in the highly competitive NFC playoff picture. With three weeks to play, Detroit still controls its own playoff fate. The Lions are tied at 9-4 with Seattle in the NFC West and the loser of the NFC East between Dallas and Philadelphia. San Francisco fell two games behind with its loss to Oakland.
Here are my top six initial takeaways from Detroit's win over Tampa Bay.
Matthew Stafford Was Quite Good
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Sunday's win marked one of Matthew Stafford's most impressive games as Detroit's quarterback. While he's had gaudier numbers, his poised performance and precise placement paved the way for the victory.
| Completions | Attempts | Yards | Y/A | TD | QB Rating |
| 26 | 34 | 311 | 9.1 | 3 | 133.3 |
The touchdowns and quarterback rating were both season highs, and it marked just the second time Stafford topped nine yards per attempt.
No. 9 earned an "A" grade from MLive's Justin Rogers, who sagely noted: "Another stellar performance by Matthew Stafford, who only misfired on just a handful of throws all game. The quarterback was on target at all depths, evaded pressure in the pocket when needed and didn't turn the ball over. You won't find a better back-to-back stretch in his career."
Stafford is having a heck of a run after the entire offense struggled in losses to New England and Arizona. He's been on fire the last two weeks.
"Matthew Stafford the last two weeks: 60/79 (75.9%) for 701 yards (8.9/att), 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 123.4 passer rating. #Lions 68 points.
— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) December 7, 2014"
Those are the kind of numbers needed to win in December, something the Lions hadn't done before today since Christmas Eve of 2011. If Stafford keeps slinging it like this, Detroit has a chance to play well into January.
Penalties Were a Big Problem
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An old nemesis reared its ugly head in Sunday's win. Detroit committed nine penalties for a season high 122 yards.
The penalty situation went from sublime to ridiculous in the second half:
"In second half today, Bucs offense had 104 yards, just short of the 107 yards Lions had in penalties in the second half ...
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) December 7, 2014"
That's right, Detroit had more penalty yards in the second half than the Buccaneers had total yards. Four of Tampa's 15 first downs resulted from Lions infractions. Even scarier is that Detroit didn't have any penalties until the two-minute warning in the second quarter.
Two of those first downs stemmed from pass interference calls on cornerback Darius Slay, totaling 62 yards on consecutive drives in the fourth quarter. The second of those calls is certainly debatable.
"Somehow this is on Slay, apparently for not being Mike Evans https://t.co/Ltzob4HNs3
— Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) December 7, 2014"
But the Bucs were wise to understand how the game was being officiated and challenged the young corner.
There was an Isa Abdul-Quddus interference penalty on a punt return. There was a retaliatory facemask penalty on Jason Jones, a roughing-the-passer call on Ndamukong Suh, an offside on Ezekiel Ansah. It was hard to watch the Lions continually give Tampa Bay life with stupid decisions and mental errors.
In the end, Detroit more than doubled its average penalty yards per game. That sort of sloppiness must cease if the Lions hope to taste victory in January.
Matt Prater Has Answered the Bell at Kicker
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Much of the early-season hair loss in the greater Detroit area could only somewhat jokingly be blamed on the truly awful Detroit Lions place-kicking.
Nate Freese came and went after missing four of his seven field-goal attempts. Alex Henery's audition proved brief, as he missed four of his five boots, including all three in a 17-14 loss to Buffalo.
Enter Matt Prater, fresh from an alcohol-related league suspension and subsequent release from the Denver Broncos. The 2013 Pro Bowler and owner of the NFL record for longest field goal at 64 yards was shaky early on, making just one of his three efforts in his debut versus Minnesota.
Since then, the rust is coming off his powerful right leg. Prater has now made 13 of his last 15, and one of the misses was a block on an imperfect snap and hold.
He was perfect against Tampa Bay, but the manner in which he achieved perfection is just as critical. Prater's 46-yard bomb late in the second quarter would have been good from at least 10 yards longer, and there was never any question if it would remain between the Ford Field uprights.
The confidence is back. It was tangible in watching him walk onto and off of the field on the broadcast. It's evident to Prater himself, too:
"Lions K Matt Prater: "Nothing but good things are going to happen the rest of the season" http://t.co/FTbnjdD94O via @freep
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) December 4, 2014"
Prater expects to make his kicks, and the Lions are learning to trust him too. As noted in the Detroit Free Press piece linked in the above tweet, the newcomer is finally getting chemistry with holder Sam Martin and long snapper Don Muhlbach.
He also has invaluable playoff experience, an attribute which could serve him very well going forward in Detroit.
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Ndamukong Suh Had an Interesting Day
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Stop me if you've heard this one before: Ndamukong Suh sullies what is an otherwise dominant performance with a stupid penalty sure to draw a fine and national scorn.
That same old song and dance played once again against Tampa Bay.
Suh was a terror to Tampa's offensive line. Center Evan Dietrich-Smith and guards Patrick Omameh and Logan Mankins took turns being pushed backwards or flat-out beaten by the bullish defensive tackle.
The free-agent-to-be filled up the stat sheet on ESPN:
- Five solo tackles
- Three tackles for loss
- One sack
- Three quarterback hits
He also had this ruthless illegal hit on Josh McCown:
"The fine might already be in the mail. RT @gifdsports: Ndamukong Suh lays out Josh McCown https://t.co/0YhP0rFO7z
— Sporting News NFL (@sn_nfl) December 7, 2014"
Suh long ago lost any benefit of the doubt on plays like that, although he did show some remorse later on in the game:
"Ndamukong Suh just went up to Josh McCown and shook hands after that timeout was called. Nice sign of sportsmanship there.
— Kyle Meinke (@kmeinke) December 7, 2014"
In his postgame press conference, available here from the Lions' official website, Suh spoke glowingly of McCown while also touching on astronomy and pensively handling all the questions with articulate answers.
It's hard to reconcile that Suh with the one delivering forearm shivers to quarterbacks' heads. Yet that's the way the story goes with him; he's a complex individual who often dominates a team sport. He certainly did that against the Buccaneers.
The Tight Ends Chipped in
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The contributions on the box score don't stand out when compared to Calvin Johnson (eight catches, 158 yards) or Joique Bell (83 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards, two TD), but the Lions' tight ends quietly had a nice collective game.
Well, two of them did anyway.
Eric Ebron continues to slowly build his way into the good graces of most fans. He's still not producing as well as many expected for being the 10th overall pick last May, but for the second week in a row Ebron caught three of the four balls thrown his way.
True to his ostentatious style, the North Carolina product picked up his 28 yards with flair.
"Eric Ebron leads the league in hurdles the past two weeks.
— Kyle Meinke (@kmeinke) December 7, 2014"
As with Prater, it's easy to see the young tight end's confidence in himself growing with each successful play.
Joseph Fauria only caught two passes for 17 yards, but he too posted them with flair. Following his 10-yard touchdown reception just before the end of the third quarter, he wasted no time in showing off his famous dance moves.
As your eyes recover from that, think about his toughness in coming back into this game after aggravating his ankle injury early on. Fauria showed he's got some brawn to go with his graceful funkiness too.
Then there's the third wheel, Brandon Pettigrew. Per Michael Rothstein of ESPN, Pettigrew was benched for the first quarter for an unspecified violation of team rules.
He did play during the rest of the game, though no passes were thrown his direction and he did not make my notes for any blocking, either.
Still on Course for the Playoffs
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Time to pull out the dreaded "If the season ended today" card, but it's not insignificant in telling the story of Detroit's season.
As of now the Detroit Lions hold the No. 6 seed in the NFC with their 9-4 record. They are tied with Seattle and Dallas with that same record.
As explained by ESPN's playoff standings chart, Seattle wins the tiebreaker based on "best win percentage in conderence games," giving them the fifth seed. Detroit tops Dallas for the six spot because of its 7-2 record in NFC games, where Dallas is just 6-4.
That's pretty much the field for the wild cards after San Francisco fell two games off the pace in a humbling loss to lowly Oakland. Of course Detroit still controls its own destiny in the NFC North title race, too.
Here's where the schedule helps the Lions. Philadelphia (also 9-4) hosts Dallas next week. If the Lions take care of business against Minnesota, they are guaranteed to hang on to at least the sixth seed and pick up another key NFC tiebreaker in the process.
Arizona and Seattle square off a week later, when the Lions figure to be heavy favorites against the collapsing Chicago Bears. That's another guaranteed loss for one team currently above Detroit. With the surging Rams and still-dangerous 49ers also on the schedule for both teams, there are chances for multiple losses from both the Cardinals and Seahawks.
Detroit could get an assist from Atlanta on Monday, though the odds are pretty long the 5-7 Falcons pull off the upset in Green Bay. The Packers still have to travel to Buffalo on a short week before facing the improving Vikings and then hosting the Lions in Week 17.
The moral here? Detroit's playoff life is pumping with vitality right now. As long as they win the next two games, it's very hard to envision the Lions not making it to the postseason. Sunday's win over Tampa Bay, though far from perfect, builds on last week's win over Chicago in proving this team understands how to handle the task at hand.
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