The BUCS lost a heartbreaker to the visiting Detroit Lions in Week 6. The game wasn’t a heartbreaker because the final score was so close. It’s because of the disappointment of missed opportunities.

The Buccaneers had another opportunity to rewrite several narratives surrounding the team. There was the narrative that the BUCS couldn’t stand up to or next to the top-tier teams in the NFC.

There’s the one where the offense is mediocre at best, and it needs someone like the former QB and/or the former head coach to steer the ship.

And then, there’s the one that says the BUCS’ classic Creamsicle uniforms are cursed and should be dismissed forever. Well, naysayers everywhere will have ammo to continue nitpicking that one for another year, while the other two complaints will take another couple of weeks to address.

The Detroit Lions came to town, bringing some of their rowdiest friends with them. On paper, the BUCS and Lions were a pretty interesting matchup as far as strengths and weaknesses go for each team. Tampa has offensive weapons that should’ve caused concern for Detroit. The Lions’ run game was expected to be trouble against the run defense of Tampa. Aiden Hutchinson was supposed to be a nightmare for Luke Goedeke. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin were set to have big days against a secondary missing multiple key players.

But none of that happened.

It was truly a game of opportunities. And our BUCS came up short in taking advantage of the big ones, which determined the game's outcome.

Despite the Lions’ defense being a solid unit, it didn’t feel like they were dominant or did anything special against the BUCS’ offense. Yet, our offense only managed to put six points on the board. We can’t take anything away from Detroit. But it felt like another game of missed opportunities of offense. Similar to the loss against Philadelphia in Week 3. From dropped passes on 3rd downs to overthrows on wide-open receivers, the offense could not get in sync to take advantage of what was in front of them.

Once again, the BUCS could not get their running game going, gaining just 46 yards on the ground on 16 tries. For what it’s worth, neither could the Lions who entered the game as one of the League’s top rushing attacks. They ended up with only 40 yards on 22 attempts.

Quarterback Jared Goff had a solid game for the Lions, completing 30 of 44 passes for 353 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was Goff's favorite target, catching 12 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. Rookie wide receiver Jameson Williams also had a big game, catching four passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.

The Lions got on the board first in the first quarter with a 30-yard field goal from Riley Patterson. The Buccaneers responded with a field goal of their own in the second quarter, but the Lions took a 10-6 lead into halftime after St. Brown caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Goff.

The Lions extended their lead to 17-6 in the third quarter after Williams caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Goff. The Buccaneers had a chance to cut into the lead in the fourth quarter, but they were forced to punt after failing to convert a fourth down.

The Lions added a field goal in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Statistically, it may have looked like Goff and the Lions offense dominated. But the game was much closer than the final score and stats would illustrate. Like the offense, the BUCS defense suffered from missed opportunities. Both touchdown passes from Goff resulted from players being in place to make stops and falling short on execution. Looking at you, #23.

The BUCS defense gave up several long 3rd downs that added to the frustration of the offense’s inability to convert on their own 3rd down opportunities. Detroit was 9 of 16 on 3rd downs while the BUCS only managed to convert 2 of 12.

Key takeaways

• Too many missed opportunities on both sides of the ball. But especially, FAR too many on the offensive side.

• Lavonte David was in rare form; PFF “grades” be damned!!

• I wanted to suggest that Mayfield didn’t have a terrible game. But reality struck, and there’s no way around it. He completed just 19 of 37 passes for 206 yards. His hesitation seems to be the biggest factor in the tipped pass that resulted in the lone interception. However, there were at least two other throws that he could have easily resulted in turnovers.

  There was one drop by Mike Evans on a 3rd and 12 that could’ve shifted momentum in the game and changed Mayfield’s trajectory in confidence. But Mayfield’s experience and maturation should’ve been enough to overcome that play.

  And his overthrows on deep balls to Trey Palmer looked pretty bad.

  Mayfield is now 1-1 against the Detroit Lions in his career.

• Ryan Neal stood out again in the worst ways. He seemed to be two or three steps behind the action too often. Over his 4 years in Tampa, Coach Todd Bowles and his staff have shown they can work with and around whatever talent they’re given on the field. Injuries have shuffled players rather frequently on the defensive side of the ball. They’ll need to work some extra magic to get Neal in tune with the rest of the defense so he no longer looks the obvious weak link going forward.

• The offensive line held up. Mayfield was sacked once in the game. RT Luke Goedeke held defensive standout Aiden Hutchinson at bay all game.

  And there were opportunities in the running game that the final stat line will now show. Both Rachaad White and Ke’Shawn Vaughn share responsibility/blame when they didn’t take advantage of open areas quickly enough. Coach Todd Bowles addressed White’s hesitancy in Week 3, and he felt confident that White would do better.

• The failure of execution of plays and the lack of sieging of opportunities were far more prevalent than any executive coaching decision or play call in this game.

What was the biggest positive and/or the biggest concern you took away from the game? Leave a comment below.

Drive SummarY

What's next

The Buccaneers will host the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday with the NFC South lead at stake.