Buccaneers' Todd Bowles, Baker Mayfield disagree on revenge aspect of Lions game

Tampa Bay Buccaneers players declared back in January they were on a "revenge tour" as they faced opponents during the postseason tournament that beat Tampa Bay earlier in the regular season. 

Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles spoke with reporters on Wednesday and said that Tampa Bay's 31-23 divisional-round loss to the Detroit Lions roughly eight months ago has "absolutely nothing" to do with his club trying to get to 2-0 for the ongoing campaign at Detroit's Ford Field this coming Sunday. Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield seemed to disagree with Bowles' take later in the day.

"You can definitely sense it already, within our building, when you put up the personnel, the game records, the scouting report, all that and you talk about the atmosphere, the memories instantly pop up and our guys are ready," Mayfield said about those inside the Tampa Bay locker room embracing an "unfinished business" mentality ahead of the Lions game, as shared by the Buccaneers' website. "You know, it's obviously a topic of conversation of they ended our year and so [it's] one that we've been looking forward to and it just so happens to be the one this week."

Bowles, Mayfield and others within the Buccaneers suggested throughout the summer they were keeping receipts as analysts routinely predicted that the Atlanta Falcons would win the NFC South division title this season. While Atlanta fell to 0-1 on the campaign this past Sunday, the Buccaneers opened the season with an impressive 37-20 win over the Washington Commanders.  

As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the 1-0 Lions as 7.5-point betting favorites against the Buccaneers. That same outlet had Detroit tied for second among the favorites at +475 betting odds to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX.

Mayfield acknowledged on Wednesday that this weekend allows the Buccaneers to see how they measure up against an advertised championship contender. 

"This is one of those – on the road with a team who was in the NFC Championship, where we aspire to be, so it's one of those – you said it, measuring sticks to great competition [and] see how our guys handle it early on," Mayfield added. "You know, it's a long season but we can learn a lot from this one."

The 2023 Buccaneers learned plenty from losing, as they fell to 4-7 before they ultimately claimed the division crown and later notched a home playoff victory. Even if Tampa Bay suffers a defeat this Sunday, Mayfield and Co. could make quite a statement about their ability to hang with the conference's best teams by giving Detroit a true fight through four quarters of action.