The Detroit Lions will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field in the Divisional Round of the playoffs next weekend.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, January 21. It will be a rematch of a Week 6 game between these two teams in which the Lions won 20-6 in Tampa.
The Lions punched their ticket to the Divisional Round of the playoffs for the first time since January of 1992 with a 24-23 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night.
"Yeah, I think you get a benefit from watching it every way you can watch it," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Monday afternoon of getting to watch Tampa Bay's 32-9 win over Philadelphia Monday night to complete Wild Card weekend. "The feed that we have, the different cut-up feeds that we have, but also the TV copy. I think you can always find pretty good nuggets."
In that Week 6 contest, Detroit's defense held the Buccaneers without a touchdown and just two field goals total. Quarterback Baker Mayfield was 19-of-37 passing for 206 yards with no touchdowns, one interception (Will Harris) and a passer rating of 56.8. Tampa Bay ran for 46 yards on 16 carries (2.9 average) and had just 251 yards of total offense.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff was 30-of-44 passing for 353 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 107.5 rating. It was Goff's highest passing yards total of the season. His favorite target on the afternoon was wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who caught 12 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown.
The Bucs' defense did a great job containing Detroit's run game. The Lions ran for a season-low 40 yards on 22 carries (1.8 average).
The other NFC Divisional Round matchup is No. 7 seed Green Bay, fresh off a blowout win in Dallas on Sunday, vs. No. 1 seed San Francisco. With a win vs. Tampa Bay, the Lions would either host the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game at Ford Field or travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers.
