Instant observations: Lions pull away from Bucs, match best start in 67 years

TAMPA, Fla. — Bam! Wack! Pow!

A first-place grudge match lived up to the billing, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers punched hard. But the Lions punched harder, and Jameson Williams delivered the biggest blow of all to help Detroit pull away for a hard-fought 20-6 win on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.

Detroit allowed just two third-down conversions all afternoon and held Tampa out of the end zone entirely, but remained locked in a one-score game until Williams got behind the Buccaneers’ excellent defense for a 45-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. That stretched the lead to 17-6, and Detroit never looked back en route to a fourth straight win, all of which were by double digits, matching a franchise best since 1970.

The Lions are now 5-1 overall, matching their best six-game start since 1956. Paired with losses from San Francisco (5-1) and Philadelphia (5-1), they are now tied for the best record in the league. Plus they hold an important head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bucs, who entered the weekend leading the NFC South.

And they did it all without their biggest strength of much of the afternoon in Tampa.

Their sixth-ranked offense was held to just 10 points through the first two-plus quarters, and lost top running back David Montgomery to a rib injury along the way. X-rays were negative on Montgomery’s ribs, according to the TV broadcast, and that’s good news for the long term. But for the short term, it left Detroit without either of its top running backs. Jahmyr Gibbs was in street clothes with a hamstring injury that has now dogged him for two weeks.

The Lions struggled to run the ball effectively against Tampa’s stout defense — they didn’t have a carry go for more than 6 yards until the fourth quarter — but backup Craig Reynolds did come up big after checking into the game due to the injuries. He immediately de-cleated Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. on a short pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown, and then St. Brown did his thing, tiptoeing up the right sideline while hurdling out of a tackle en route to a 28-yard touchdown.

That gave the Lions a 10-3 lead right before halftime. They looked like they might pad that lead coming out of the break too, although Riley Patterson missed a 52-yard field-goal attempt. Then Williams did his thing.

Williams has struggled during his short time on the field in the NFL, dropped another pass in his debut last week, and then another in the third quarter. But that kid can also run, and he outran the entire Tampa defense two plays later, adjusting well to the ball while closely defended by safety Ryan Neal.

That’s the spark Detroit needed, and has long desired from Williams.

The Lions chewed up most of the fourth quarter with another long drive, then Jack Fox coffin-cornered a punt at the 2-yard line when the drive did stall out. Detroit sat back in a prevent defense, and prevented Tampa from biting into the two-score lead. Finally, Baker Mayfield’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete, and Detroit had officially risen to the top of the league.

Let’s get to some more observations:

— Gotta start with the defense, don’t we? The Lions endured their worst first half of the season, and still had a seven-point lead thanks to a defense that held Tampa to just two third-down conversions and no touchdowns. Flowers could go so many different directions, including Alex Anzalone for a couple excellent breakups on third down. Or Will Harris, for his second takeaway in two weeks. But Harris’ pick came on a ball that was batted at the line of scrimmage by Isaiah Buggs, who continues to play super well after opening the season as a healthy scratch. That decision sat heavy with Buggs, a good starter for this defense last year, but he’s responded to the adversity well and is playing some of his best ball in Detroit to date.

“There’re no free rides on this defense,” defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said this week. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a first pick, last pick, practice squad, it doesn’t matter. Every time you go out there on the grass, you’re earning the right to go out there and play with the other men. I have a responsibility to the head coach, to the coaching staff, to make sure that we go out there and play the guys that are going to play to a high level. And Buggs is doing that right now.”

Sure is. That’s true across the board too. Tampa ran for a season-low XXX yards, while Baker Mayfield completed just 19 of 37 passes for 206 yards against Detroit, much of which was racked up late against a prevent defense. Mayfield had the seventh-best passer rating heading into the weekend. Against Detroit, he checked in at a season-worst 56.8.

Honest question: When was the last time Detroit had back-to-back-to-back defensive performances like this?

— Let’s talk about Jameson Williams, shall we? The young wideout sure picked a good time for his first explosive play of the season, running behind the defense — boy, can he run behind a defense — for a 45-yard touchdown catch that helped blow the game open in the third quarter. That’s the sort of thing Detroit always envisioned when making that pick last year, but Williams remains very much a work in progress. He dropped a pass in his season debut last week, then wasn’t so much as targeted on Jared Goff’s first 27 passes against Tampa. Then Jamo caught a short pass near the line of scrimmage, before dropping another ball when he failed to adjust to an underthrown ball by Goff. Rough. But Jamo bounced back in a huge way, adjusting to an off-target pass while in heavy traffic in the end zone. And this time, he made a tough catch that helped change the game. Detroit was struggled to get behind Tampa’s defense all afternoon, and even the best scoring opportunities came after really long drives. Then Jamo busted that one deep, and the Lions had a two-score lead for the first time. They never looked back.

— Quarterback Jared Goff enjoyed another workmanlike performance, punching holes in an excellent defense on 30-of-44 passing for 353 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was good against a great defense, but at his best when targeting Amon-Ra St. Brown, hooking up with the third-year wideout for 12 catches, 127 yards and one go-ahead touchdown. Goff spent most of the afternoon exploiting the holes in Tampa’s intermediate pass defense, then delivered the killshot on that 45-yard bomb to Williams. Goff finished with a passer rating of 107.5, extending his streak of games with an 85.0 rating to 13, more than twice as long as anyone else in the league. Tua Tagovailoa is next closest at six games.

— Will Harris earned a second straight start for the injured Brian Branch at slot cornerback, and made yet another big play, intercepting Baker Mayfield to set up Detroit’s first score of the day. Harris also recovered a fumble last week against Carolina. No one is going to mistake him for Brian Branch anytime soon — Harris was burned deep and also flagged for defensive holding on third down — but he’s also playing good enough football to help Detroit play winning defense while the prized rookie heals from an ankle injury.

— Riley Patterson made his first six field-goal attempts this season, including a 30-yarder that gave Detroit an early lead against Tampa Bay. But he also missed from 52 yards to open the second half. This was always the fear with him — he’s money from inside 50, but just doesn’t have much leg beyond that. That’s why he was originally cut last year, and remains an issue now. For a team with growing aspirations of not only making the playoffs, but actually making some noise once there, this is a concern.

— The Lions have now won four straight games in Tampa, their longest road winning streak against any team in the league.

— What’s up with Halapoulivaati Vaitai? He opened the season as the starter at right guard, but hasn’t played since suffering a knee injury in Week 2. He dressed the last two weeks, including in Tampa, where left guard Jonah Jackson was unavailable because of an ankle injury. But Detroit opted to roll with Kayode Awosika at left guard and Graham Glasgow at right guard.

— Khalil Dorsey made his long-awaited return from injury, and started at both kick returner as well as gunner.