DETROIT — On the stats page, the Detroit Lions dominated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But on the field Detroit couldn’t take advantage of its chances and lost 20-16 at Ford Field on Sunday.
The Lions had the edge in first downs, 26-14; third-down efficiency, 7/17 to 2/10; total yards 463 to 216; and total plays 83 to 47. Sounds impressive but the scoreboard is what matters. Also, Detroit was just 1 of 7 in the Red Zone.
“We fought, we got down there, certainly on offense we doubled up on yardage, we get down to the red zone and can’t get TDs, that was the story of the game,’’ Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “Defensively I thought we played lights out, gave us two shots there at the end of the game and we couldn’t finish it out.’’
The Lions beat the Bucs twice last season — 20-6 in October and then a big divisional round win, 31-23, in January. With the win, the Bucs moved to 2-0 while the Lions fell to 1-1.
“It’s early in the year but it’s a good learning experience and chance for us to dive into what went wrong and how can we fix it,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. “If I remember correctly we started 1-1 last year and we were able to respond from that pretty well.’’
Here are five of the main reasons the Lions lost:
ONE: At the end of the first half, the Lions had second-and-10 at Tampa’s 17-yard line with 18 seconds left. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught an 8-yard pass up the middle, Goff spiked the ball leaving 4 seconds but the Lions were penalized for 12 men on the field and the half was over. If they had made a field goal, they wouldn’t have needed a touchdown in the fourth quarter, they could have won with just another 3 points. “It’s a massive error on my part no one else’s,’’ Campbell said. “It was between hurry-up field goal and clocking it, it was 100 percent my fault.’’
TWO: Going 1 for 7 in the red zone was a killer. “We just never felt real comfortable and once you get out far enough and you end up in these third-and-longs in the red zone that’s where it gets pretty hard, when getting close to 10-yd line it’s hard to throw it from there from what they could do coverage-wise,’’ Campbell said. “We couldn’t quite get the rhythm, we couldn’t get in sync and ultimately it hurt us.’’ Detroit was at Tampa’s 11-yard line on a fourth-and-8 with 1:01 remaining. A 5-yard pass to Jahmyr Gibbs, turned the ball over to the Bucs. Goff said the Bucs’ defense got “really stingy” in the red zone.
THREE: Goff threw a pair of interceptions, including his first pass of the game. On that one it looked to him like Jameson Williams was man-handled but no pass interference call was made. He finished the game 34 of 55 for 307 yards, zero touchdowns and those 2 interceptions. Campbell is not worried about Goff. “He’ll rebound. Has he played better? Yeah, he’s played better. I know him, he never stays down,’’ Campbell said. “… He’s going to take ownership and he’s going to be better. That’s the way he’s wired and that’s what makes him who he is.’’
FOUR: Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield completed just a dozen passes (185 yards) and was sacked five times. He threw one touchdown pass and one interception. He also carried the ball five times for 34 yards. Even though his numbers weren’t spectacular he was in control. That was not a surprise.
FIVE: Aidan Hutchinson was an edge rusher on a mission, finishing with 4.5 sacks. “His motor is unbelievable. To be able to play at the rate he plays at, at that intensity for that many snaps in a game, it’s rare,’’ Campbell said. “On top of that he’s got talent and he’s continued to develop his different moves.’’ Detroit’s defense held the Bucs numbers down but also allowed too many chunk plays including a 41-yard touchdown play by Chris Godwin.
UP NEXT: Lions at Arizona Cardinals, 4:25 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22.
Lions Lowdown 