The Buccaneers are now on a three-game win streak after narrowly defeating the Detroit Lions. The Tampa Bay 24-21 victory over Detroit was highlighted by the play of quarterback Mike Glennon and wide receiver Tiquan Underwood. The Lions played sloppy throughout the game, despite the triumphant return of Nate Burleson. Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford was intercepted four times on the way to the Lions fifth loss of the season.
Buccaneers vs. Lions 2013: Tampa Bay improves in upset, Detroit plays sloppy on offense
Our SB Nation writers are reacting to the Buccaneers upset win over the Lions in Week 12.
Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Sean Yuille of Pride of Detroit believes that the Lions gave the game away to the Buccaneers:
The Detroit Lions outgained the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday by a margin of 390 to 229. Despite this, the Lions lost by a score of 24-21. How? They finished Sunday's game with 5 turnovers -- 4 interceptions and a lost fumble -- and they also got a punt blocked. Despite the Bucs' best efforts to give Detroit a win, the Lions were apparently not interested, leading to their second straight loss.
This game opened with a pair of really ugly drives. Matthew Stafford threw a couple incompletions and Reggie Bush went for a loss of 2 yards en route to a three-and-out, and the Bucs had a pair of incompletions and a gain of 2 yards en route to a three-and-out of their own. In the first two minutes of this game, there were two punts.
Sander Phillipse of Bucs Nation thinks that the improvement of Glennon and the defense led to a victory for Tampa Bay:
Mike Glennon hit a deep ball in stride. To Tiquan Underwood. For an 85-yard touchdown. Now that was surprising, as the rookie quarterback has struggled with deep throws in his career. With two 40-plus-yard completions on the day, though, complaining about Glennon's deep ball didn't make much sense. Glennon finished the game going 14 of 21 for 247 yards, two touchdowns and four sacks.
Equally important was a resurgent Tampa Bay defense that seemed to be on the verge of collapsing after giving up a touchdown drive to start the second half. Three turnovers in the second half stopped the Lions from scoring more than a touchdown, including one weird fumble by Kris Durham. Even the struggling special teams unit got in on the fun, getting its second blocked punt in as many games -- although Rian Lindell then missed the resulting short field goal and then missed another field goal after the fourth turnover, with Glennon taking an unnecessary sack making it a little more difficult on the Tampa Bay kicker.
More from SB Nation NFL
See More:
