The Detroit Lions will be facing a familiar foe with a stingy defense in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

In Week 6, a banged-up Lions team went on the road and beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their second-round playoff opponent, 20-6, on the back of a season-high 353 passing yards from Jared Goff and not allowing a touchdown on defense. 

Although the Lions won the first go-around on the road, Lions head coach Dan Campbell said he's not taking anything for granted.

“This is a better team than what we faced, they are playing better football,” Campbell said. “But we are better, too. And that is the way it should be. We’re in the divisional (round) against an opponent that only improved all year and so did we.”

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The Week 6 win moved the Lions to 5-1 on the season as they held onto the division lead and marched towards the NFC North title. For Tampa, it was the first loss of a four-game skid that dropped them to 3-5 at the middle point of the season, signaling two teams on different paths.

But the Buccaneers rebounded to finish the season 9-8, including winning five of their last six games to clinch the NFC South title. Tampa breezed through the first round with a 32-9 win over the Philadelphia Eagles to maintain the red-hot momentum for the trip to Detroit on Sunday.

“I think everything they’ve been through is what has made them who they are — no different than us,” Campbell said. “They were pretty hot early and then they hit a tough spot in there and had to find a way to get their confidence back.”

Campbell’s quarterback came away with the same assessment after re-watching the film on the Buccaneers three months after the first matchup. Outside of three sacks, Goff could do no wrong in the first matchup but said the second meeting will be tougher in every way.

“Everyone’s season is different but they went through that wall in the middle and then are coming out of that now playing well, playing good ball on both sides of the ball,” Goff said. “(The Buccaneers) are a tough team, really in all facets. So, we will have our hands full.”

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In the last seven games which encompasses the hot run from Tampa, the Buccaneers’ defense has allowed an average of 15.3 points per game, including a total of nine points over the last two games combined, to help spur the turnaround. For the entire regular season, the Tampa Bay defense ranked seventh in scoring defense (19.1 points allowed) and 23rd in total defense (344.2 yards allowed per game), which was boosted by the late-season surge.

Campbell said the continuity of Tampa’s defense has been a major factor in their defensive success. The Buccaneers' defense has several veterans, such as defensive tackle Vita Vea, linebackers Devin White, Shaquil Barrett and Lavonte David, and defensive backs Jamel Dean and Antoine Whitfield Jr., who were a part of the Super Bowl roster three seasons ago when the defense put up a dominant four-game stretch leading to the Lombardi Trophy.

Head coach Todd Bowles has developed a reputation as one of the most blitz-happy defensive coaches during his time as a defensive coordinator and head coach, and his 2023-24 team is no different. Campbell said the Buccaneers have not changed their defensive philosophy during the season since the first matchup, and still rely heavily on disguised blitz packages to bring pressure and stuff the run. According to Pro Football Reference, Tampa sends a blitz on 40.1% of opponent dropbacks, the third-highest rate in the league.

“They’ve got a number of guys on that defense, you know, they’ve been together,” Campbell said. “He’s got these things that they believe in that they’re pretty good at — disguises and pressure. And so you are going to see that no matter what. It is just maybe a different wrinkle to it but they are really good at all of that.”

The Lions have plenty of experience this season against teams that like to turn up the dial on pressure packages. Outside of the Buccaneers, the Lions have played two other teams in the final month of the season that rank top-five in blitzes called on dropbacks — the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos. The Vikings were by far No. 1, bringing a blitz on 51.5% of pass plays which includes the two matchups with Detroit in the final three weeks of the season.

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“Minnesota is kind of like the most similar to what (Tampa Bay) kind of runs,” All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell said. “Our preparation stays the same though. We go into each and every week with the clips and (offensive line) coach Hank (Fraley) gets us right. It’s a lot of communication this week and we gotta get it right.”

Sewell, who earned his first All-Pro nod of his career during his third season, harped on communication along the offensive line as one of the biggest keys to dealing with Tampa Bay’s pressure.

The ever-confident anchor on the right side of Detroit’s offensive line said it is just a matter of taking care of business, which he promised after the win on Sunday and once again on Wednesday.

“Everyone’s got to be on the same page, meaning we don’t want two guys on one,” Sewell said. “So, everyone’s gotta win those individual matchups and when it comes time to do that, that’s what we will do.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions preparing for 'better' Buccaneers team in second matchup