3 Lions keys to victory against red-hot Buccaneers on MNF

The Detroit Lions are aiming to avoid their first back to back losses since 2022 as they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7. It's a week before their BYE, which makes a victory all the more important. Walking away with a victory, at home, and a week of rest to boot, is a dream.

Walking off your home field with another loss and tons of question marks surrounding your team during a very quiet bye week, however, is haunting. Detroit simply can't lose.

Of course, that's also not entirely up to them. Tampa Bay, now 5-1 in the NFC South and helming the current leader for MVP in Baker Mayfield, is trying to hand Detroit another home loss. The Buccaneers managed to topple the Lions at home last season, one of two losses the Lions suffered all year long.

There are ways for the Lions to best this elite squad, though, despite them missing some key members of their secondary.

4 keys to victory for Lions against swashbuckling Buccaneers

Winning the rushing game battle

We know how dynamic the Lions' running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery can be. Montgomery is the game wrecker, Gibbs the speedster. When both are on, it's basically impossible to stop the Lions' offense from getting hot with both their passing game and rushing game. They're currently averaging 128.7 rushing yards per game, while allowing 95.5 per game from their opponents.

The Buccaneers, on the flip side, are just as dynamic. That's thanks to Bucky Irving and also Mayfield's ability to get major yardage with his legs. However, Irving's doutbful for this game, and the team is only averaging 109.3 rushing yards per game on the season. It feels like if Detroit can control the tempo of this contest on the ground, they'll be in good shape.

It all depends on Taylor Decker's health and status for the contest, and whether Dan Skipper is up for the run blocking challenge if Decker's not good to go.

Do the impossible: generate turnovers against Mayfield

If there's one thing that's been obvious from Aidan Hutchinson's start to another great defensive season, it's that he's focusing in on trying to force fumbles. You'd be hard pressed to watch a clip of him getting a sack and not see him punching down hard on the football.

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That said, Mayfield is nearly impossible to capture in the pocket, or to force a turnover on. He's only had one interception on the year, but he's had four fumbles so far. It's something that Hutchinson should be able to take advantage of if the team can figure out a way to get him loose against Tristan Wirfs.

Limit big plays

The Buccaneers haven't been big play generators this season, which is surprising given Mayfield's playing style. He's averaging an average air yard differential of -3, which by definition provided by NFL Next Gen Stats means he "is on average attempting deep passes than he on average completes." He's fourth in the league in this metric.

The Lions' defense has been middling this year at limiting quarterbacks in the air without Terrion Arnold or D.J. Reed at corner. They're letting up an average of 212.7 passing yards per game, and they were completely befuddled in Week 6 with how to cover Patrick Mahomes by using their linebackers in zone and have Brian Branch on an island. It was impossible.

Without Branch for Week 7, can the Lions still limit the number of big plays that Mayfield is completing per game?