Rough game against the Lions brings the Buccaneers back to the pack

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hold up on that MVP talk. Slow down on giving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the No. 1 seed.

Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers crashed in Detroit against a depleted defense missing its entire starting secondary. The Bucs (5-2) were outplayed from start to finish in a 24-9 loss on Monday night.

Even worse, they lost star wide receiver Mike Evans for most of the rest of the season because of a broken collarbone.

“When you lose somebody like that, it’s always going to affect your offense and you’re going to have to change and do different things,” coach Todd Bowles said Tuesday.

Mayfield, who was the talk of the NFL after an impressive first six games, was erratic, missing high on several throws. The receivers struggled to get open against the Lions. Sensational rookie Emeka Egbuka looked like he was slowed by a hamstring injury. Evans, playing his first game in a month because of his own hamstring injury, was knocked out of the game with a concussion and the broken collarbone.

The offense, also missing running back Bucky Irving, simply couldn’t get going in a game that was expected to be a shootout.

“Every game is going to be different — just patience,” Bowles said about a takeaway for offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard. “If your quarterback is not on and not going, you’ve got to help him out with either the run game or screen passes. When you have to protect, you have to do different things and chip. If the running game isn’t going from a power standpoint, we’ve got to try to get on the edge — just different tips. He’s going to learn each week — whether he scores 40 points or 10 points — he’s going to learn different things each week that he can put in his arsenal and get better at next week.”

Now, the Buccaneers have to regroup quickly and go back on the road to face a divisional rival. The New Orleans Saints (1-6) have plenty of their own problems so Tampa Bay has to make sure to take care of business and not look ahead to a bye in Week 9.

What’s working

Third-down defense did its job for the most part, holding the Lions to just 3 for 13. But cornerbacks Jacob Parrish and Jamel Dean committed penalties on third downs that negated stops, extended Detroit’s drives and both times the Lions scored a touchdown.

What needs help

Tackling. The Bucs missed too many tackles, allowing short gains to go longer and missing opportunities for stops.

“It was definitely an issue on the first drive — we missed two tackles that got them down the field,” Bowles said. “We missed two more later on. Overall, we can be better at open-field tackling. It has to do with angles and fundamentals.”

Stock up

TE Cade Otton had seven catches for 65 yards, getting nine targets. Otton stepped up last year when Evans was injured and he’ll be counted on again with several wide receivers hurting.

Stock down

A run defense that was fifth in the NFL gave up a season-high 164 yards and allowed 5.1 yards per carry. Poor tackling contributed to that total. So did giving up a 78-yard TD run to Jahmyr Gibbs.

Injuries

Evans will miss significant time because of his broken collarbone. Evans has had 1,000 yards receiving in each of his 11 seasons in the NFL, the most to start a career and tied with Jerry Rice for the most ever. … Edge rusher Haason Reddick will have an MRI on his knee and ankle. … WR Chris Godwin (fibula) and RG Luke Haggard (shoulder) didn’t play, along with Irving.

Key number

41 — The Bucs couldn’t do much on the ground, rushing for only 41 yards.

Next steps

The Buccaneers visit the Saints on Sunday. They’ve won five of the last six games against New Orleans.

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