Nasty injuries to Buccaneers could give Lions defense room to breathe

Ahead of the Detroit Lions' Week 7 bout against the Tampa Buccaneers - thankfully back home at Ford Field - it's important to acknowledge one fact about the Floridian squad that has bounced to a 5-1 record in the NFC South.

Baker Mayfield is the undisputed leader for the MVP award right now.

The former No. 1 overall pick has officially washed the stink of the Cleveland Browns organization off of himself, and has begun to show exactly why he was such a coveted pick back in 2018. He's a problem for any defense, but a lot of that has to do with the wide receiving corp that Tampa Bay has surrounded the gunslinger with this season.

Rookies Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson joined future Hall of Famer Mike Evans and star Chris Godwin this offseason, forming a quartet of weapons that have been nearly unstoppable this season with Mayfield throwing to them. At least, unstoppable until recent injury woes have begun to bog them down.

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This is huge news for the Lions, as they just struggled in Week 6 against Patrick Mahomes and his arm. If the table is a bit balanced due to injuries on both sides, then Detroit may not be as down bad as previously imagined for this contest.

Egbuka left the Buccaneers' last game with a hamstring injury, while Godwin has already been listed as doubtful for Week 7 against the Lions. Evans, who has been out since Week 3, is returning to practice this week but his status for this game is still up in the air. This leaves just Johnson, Sterling Shepard, and Ryan Miller as the sure-thing WR options for Tampa Bay at the moment.

While Brian Branch just appealed the NFL's decision to suspend him for one game after slapping JuJu Smith-Schuster after the Lions' loss to the Chiefs, we still don't know at this point if he's serving that suspension this week or in Week 9 against the Minnesota Vikings.

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That leaves just one starting safety - Kerby Joseph - on an island. This, coupled with the fact that Detroit is still without D.J. Reed and Terrion Arnold for some time, spells for a bad time defensively.

Of course, if Detroit doesn't have to deal with covering such elite talent like that of Evans, Egbuka, or Godwin, then their depth struggles in their secondary become less strenuous. This has suddenly become a game of attrition, and not a primetime clash between two healthy clubs on Monday Night Football.

It'll still be fun, but it could be a lot less star-powered if the Buccaneers can't run most, or all, of their starting WR corp out against Detroit.