The Detroit Lions defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-6 away from home earlier this season, and the oddsmakers are taking note of that heading into this weekend’s divisional playoff matchup.
Caesars Sportsbooks has the Lions as six-point favorites, as do most of the regular suspects, with a couple of detractors holding the line at seven points. Unlike last week, the Action Network says that 68% of public bets are in favor of the Lions returning to Ford Field.
And that home-field advantage should not be overlooked. The crowd of 66,000-plus fans was buzzing from an hour before kickoff until they were forced out of the building well after Detroit’s win over the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round.
The Rams were forced to use two timeouts due to noise in the second half, and that came back to haunt them after punting away their final chance with 4:15 left on the clock.
“Listen, it was — yeah, I think it was on par with what I expected. And there again, it was probably the best I’ve ever been a part of,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on Monday. “I mean it was — that was — so much of it was the fact that the thing started an hour before the game and it was just four hours of a nonstop barrage of the fans just going off and the chants for (Jared) Goff and it was just — what a special, special environment.
“I mean for anybody that was there, you’ll never forget that. You will never — for the rest of your life, that will be something you’re talking about. That was special.”
The Buccaneers are rolling right now, and that should be noted. They beat the heck out of the Philadelphia Eagles to make it this far. Their defense is clicking and quarterback Baker Mayfield is finding ways to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers.
Tampa has won six of its last seven games, winning the NFC South crown in the process. Its defense is one of the best in the game against the run, with Vita Vea clogging holes. And Mayfield and Mike Evans have boosted that passing attack into the top half of the league.
