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Head coach Todd Bowles insisted throughout a Tuesday information convention that his Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t the identical staff that misplaced 20-6 at dwelling to the Detroit Lions in Week 6 again on Oct. 15.
“We’re a special staff now,” Bowles defined forward of this coming Sunday’s divisional playoff sport at Detroit, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Instances. “We’re mentally more durable. I feel we’ve gotten stronger from it, and we realized some issues. We’re nonetheless piecing it collectively, however we’re blissful the place we’re at.”
The Buccaneers entered their Week 5 bye at 3-1 however then dropped 4 straight video games and 6 of seven to fall to 4-7. Simply when it appeared like each Bowles and quarterback Baker Mayfield may very well be in search of work elsewhere this offseason, Tampa Bay received 5 of six contests to assert the NFC South division title. The Bucs then shocked many within the NFL group after they thrashed the Philadelphia Eagles 32-9 in Monday’s wild-card playoff matchup at Raymond James Stadium.
Not like the Week 6 showdown, this coming Sunday’s sport between the Buccaneers and Lions will likely be held at Detroit’s Ford Area. The Lions earned a hard-fought 24-23 dwelling win over the Los Angeles Rams this previous Sunday evening.
“They’re an excellent staff,” Bowles mentioned in regards to the Lions. “They’re coached very effectively. Very quick, very bodily. An electrical crowd goes to be up there.”
Bowles added in regards to the earlier Tampa Bay-Detroit conflict that “there are not any classes in shedding however shedding.” That won’t have been the case for this previous Monday’s sport contemplating the Eagles defeated the Buccaneers 25-11 in Week 3.
Whereas Mayfield and the Buccaneers are “having fun” and “playing free” in January, many nonetheless are predicting their playoff run will come to an finish this weekend. As of early Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Tampa Bay as a 6.5-point highway underdog towards Detroit.
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