Bucs' Todd Bowles Reveals Lions 'Can Beat You in Both Ways'

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers know the Detroit Lions well, as earlier this year, the Lions knocked the Bucs out of the playoffs in a 31-23 NFC Divisional Playoff game.

Both teams kicked off the season with victories, and this highly anticipated matchup will require the Bucs to go on the road for the first time into a tough Detroit environment.

The Buccaneers' head coach Todd Bowles knows what the Lions are all about.

“They’re very balanced,” Bowles said. “They’re very strong up front, they can beat you both ways, running the ball or throwing the ball. Very physical team, very fast on the outside, very fast in the backfield, very athletic at tight end.”

The Lions showed how balanced they are on offense in their Sunday night matchup against the Los Angeles Rams where they threw the ball 28 times and rushed it 31 times.

Tampa Bay may have some trouble in coverage defense as they got banged up in the secondary with the loss of Antoine Winfield Jr. and a really injured cornerback room.

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However, the Bucs have a balanced offense of their own, and Baker Mayfield is coming off a game where he looked like one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. The Buccaneers threw the ball 30 times in their win against the Commanders and put it on the ground 28 times.

Mayfield looked electric in the season-opener, throwing for four touchdowns and finding each of his top three targets at wide receiver. The difference this week is the Bucs are facing a team that went to the NFC Championship game a season ago and not a team that finished the 2023 season with just four wins.