The Lions already beat Tampa, but recent history shows that doesn’t mean much
ALLEN PARK — The only thing standing between the Detroit Lions and the NFC championship game is a team they already pounded by double digits.
But they know that 20-6 win against Tampa Bay won’t mean squat when they see the Buccaneers again in a divisional-round playoff game on Sunday at Ford Field.
“I think that was what, Week 6? Week 7?” tight end Sam LaPorta said. “That’s light years ago, to be honest.”
It was Week 6, and ranks among Detroit’s most impressive wins of the season. Jared Goff threw for a season-high 353 yards while both running backs were banged up, and the defense flustered Baker Mayfield into his worst-rated game of the season. Tampa converted just two third downs all afternoon, and never did find the end zone.
And once Goff hit Jameson Williams on a 45-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, the verdict was never in question — an impressively one-sided finish considering Detroit was playing without key players on both sides of the ball.
But impressive regular-season wins don’t always translate to the postseason. Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles, who also beat this Tampa team by double digits during the regular season (25-11) before getting blasted 32-9 in a wild-card game last week.
Of course, the Eagles have been in freefall for a while now. But they weren’t the only team to be eliminated from these playoffs by an opponent they had already beaten. Cleveland topped Houston 36-22 on Christmas Eve, then flew back to Houston last weekend and was smoked 45-14.
Going back to last season, teams are 5-5 against opponents they beat during the regular season, or swept the season series.
The playoffs are just different, and what someone did to someone else in the regular season simply doesn’t matter. Especially when the first matchup was three months and a whole lot of personnel changes ago.
“It’s so long ago, and they’re such a different team, so are we,” Goff said. “I mean there’s certain guys on our team then and on their team then that just aren’t on the team anymore.”