Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions Player Prop Pick: Can Mike Evans Make an Impact in Divisional Round?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to Detroit today to take on the Lions in the NFC Divisional Round of the Playoffs. Can Mike Evans make an impact in this divisional round game? Ben Rajavuori answers.
Ben Rajavuori - January 21, 2024, 12:56 PM EST
5 minTampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions Player Prop Pick: Can Mike Evans Make an Impact in Divisional Round?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to Detroit today to take on the Lions in the NFC Divisional Round of the Playoffs. The Buccaneers are coming off an impressive win against the Eagles in which they dominated from start to finish. The Lions are coming off a home win against the Rams in which they survived a near comeback by Matthew Stafford and the visiting team. the Buccaneers are six-point underdogs but are not scared after beating the Eagles in the first round as underdogs. Which team will go to the NFC championship and face the San Francisco 49ers?
Buccaneers vs. Lions Date, Time, and Where to Watch
- Date: January 21, 2024
- Game Time: 3:00 pm ET
- Where to Watch: NBC
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions Prediction
As far as the spread goes, I like the Buccaneers to cover. Both secondaries are not very good in this game, but the Buc's defense has really shaped up over the later half of the season, as they are now on a 6-1 run, playing excellent defense in the process. The Lion's defense has looked leaky all year and the Bucs have an amazing receiving corps of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Cade Otten, who will all be playing in this game. This game should be back-and-forth and become a shootout with both offenses having success. Therefore, I like taking points with the Buccaneers in this spot, but the real pick for this article is going to be Mike Evans.
As I just alluded to, I think this is a very offensive-minded game for both teams and we should see a lot of points. Part of that starts with wide receiver Mike Evans going off for the Buccaneers today. Mike Evans struggled in the wildcard round against the Eagles. He had seven targets but finished with just three receptions and 48 yards with a line of 66.5. However, watching the game, Evans had multiple big play opportunities that hit his hands and he simply did not make the play. He could’ve easily finished with over 100 yards without those drops. That was uncharacteristic from the number one wide receiver for the Buccaneers, and I think he gets the same opportunities today over the top of the secondary and completes the play.
The Lions have been giving up big games to wide receivers all season. The Detroit Lions rank third-worst in the NFL against wide receivers, giving up 181 yards to them per game this season. Looking back at their schedule, the number one wide receivers for the opposing team have done very well against the Lions. Just last week, Puca Nakua had a line of 87.5 yards and he had nearly 150 in the first half and finished with 181 yards for the game. In the week before, Justin Jefferson had 192 receiving yards against this secondary. the game before that, CeeDee Lamb had 227 yards against this secondary. The week before that, Justin Jefferson had 141 receiving yards. Overall, the number one wide receiver for the opposing team the Lions play is 13–4 on hitting 75+ yards.
With Evans looking to bounce back in the divisional round, this is a perfect spot for him to do so against a Lions' secondary that has given up big games to wide receivers all year. We saw what the Rams were able to do last week, despite losing, and Mike Evans Should have enough big-play opportunities to hit over 100 yards here, but we just need 75.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions Player Prop Pick
Pick: Mike Evans Over 74.5 Receiving Yards -110 Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
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