For a little glimpse into how Saturday afternoon’s game went, Tampa Bay’s backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert played the entire second half, throwing a TD pass to Gronk 10 seconds into the third quarter to start his performance. You want to know who started the half with the ball? Yeah, the Lions. Detroit fumbled the ball on its first play of the drive, and Gabbert took it and immediately turned it into six points.
That was after the Bucs had taken a 34-0 lead—in the first half. That tally was a franchise record for the most points scored in a half.
Yeah.
Remember that awful performance the Bucs turned in against Saints at Raymond James eons ago? The Bucs seem to have finally started to figure some stuff out in their 47-7 walloping of the Lions today. Tampa Bay ended up gaining 588 yards of offense, breaking the previous team record for most in a game, which was 576.
Tom Brady had 348 passing yards and four TDs to four different receivers (Gronk, Mike Evans, Antonio Brown, Chris Godwin) in the first half. Evans’ second TD with Gabbert at the helm in the second half made it 47-7 Bucs and was part of an outstanding game for no. 13 who had 181 yards receiving on 10 receptions. Both Evans and Brady ended up setting new Buccaneer records for most TDs in a season, TB12 breaking Jameis Winston’s record for most passing TDs in a season with 36, and Evans breaking his own record for most receiving TDs in a season with 13. Both could also extend those records next week against the Falcons, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
If that wasn’t enough, the Bucs’ defense pitched a shutout (the lone TD the Lions managed to score was a punt return by Jamal Agnew). Bucs linebacker Devin White had another really good game, too, recording a sack and another tackle for loss, while the rest of the defense just dominated a Lions offense that was without its starting QB Matthew Stafford for the majority of the game.
The Bucs struggled on special teams, though, as the usually solid Ryan Succop missed a pair of extra points and a 40-plus yard field goal; special teams allowed that punt return for a TD, too. Not great, but hey, the way I look at it, they were just getting all of those awful plays out before the playoffs start. Succop has been one of the more consistent kickers in the NFL, and if it wasn’t for some really elite play from Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo, he probably would have made the NFC Pro Bowl team.
Next week the Bucs take on the Atlanta Falcons again, and they have a chance to clinch the no. five seed if they win, which would likely give them a matchup against the Washington Football Team. Not too shabby.
For a team that was 7-9 last year, going 10-6 would be outstanding, but going 11-5 and getting an easy first-round matchup? That’s why the Bucs brought in TB12. As much hate and crap I have given him all year, he looked as good as any QB in the NFL has looked all year in that half. Given, the Lions are horrendous defensively, so the matchup was quite favorable, but it’s still the NFL—Any given Sunday (or Saturday in this case).
Any hopes for a chance at winning the NFC South vanished Christmas Day though, as the Saints took down the Vikings, with New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara submitting a historic performance, gaining six rushing touchdowns against an absolutely awful Viking defense. So, yeah, the Bucs won’t be getting any higher than the five seed, but that’s OK.
The Bucs are in the playoffs, and for now, that’s all that matters.
Support local journalism in these crazy days. Our small but mighty team is working tirelessly to bring you up to the minute news on how Coronavirus is affecting Tampa and surrounding areas. Please consider making a one time or monthly donation to help support our staff. Every little bit helps.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter.
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2020.