Lions @ Buccaneers · Week 1

WEEK 1 · FINAL

THE READ

Lions beat Buccaneers, 24-9

Lions took care of Buccaneers, 24-9. Demond William Jr. was steady for Lions — 20/30, 318 yards, 2 TD. Nyck Harbor was the target for Lions — 5 catches, 142 yards, 2 TD. Through the air: Lions 341, Buccaneers 188.

The Wire · league beat

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Lions	+14.9	-1.4	+16.3	+18
Buccaneers	+3.3	-1.9	+5.2	+9

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Lions — NFC #1 · division · 11-0 Buccaneers — NFC #6 · 7-3 Playoff picture →

In the MVP race

#2 Demond William Jr. QB · Lions · 10.7% of the field

#5 Nyck Harbor WR · Lions · 2.2% of the field

#10 Jahmyr Gibbs HB · Lions · 0.6% of the field

The whole board →

IN THE BOOTH

Elise Carter The insider

Detroit's defense made Tampa Bay's offense look helpless—33 combined points tells you the Bucs couldn't find anything on either side of the ball, and that kind of suffocation is what separates 3-0 from everyone else right now.

Ethan Price The numbers guy · replying

Detroit's 16-point margin is exactly what a 3-0 team should inflict on a 2-1 team—Nyck Harbor's 142 yards on 5 catches tells you the Bucs couldn't match them vertically, and William Jr.'s 318 on 20 completions suggests they stopped trying to.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Demond William Jr.

Lions

20/30, 318 yards, 2 TD

Nyck Harbor

Lions

5 catches, 142 yards, 2 TD

Jimmy Rolder

Lions

2 sacks

THE STORY SO FAR

💎 Nyck Harbor is 72 overall and sits 5 in the league in receiving yards.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Through the air Lions 341, Buccaneers 188 Lions

Total yards Lions 367, Buccaneers 269 Lions

On the ground Buccaneers 81, Lions 26 Buccaneers

Pressure Buccaneers 1 sacks, Lions 3 Lions

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 1 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Pass-heavy Pass 71% · Rush 29% · 39.4 scored, 23.1 allowed

12.5 yds/att 68.1% completions 5.2 yds/carry 422.6 yds/game 0.8 giveaways/game 6.2% sack rate last 5: 5-0

Primary weapon: Nyck Harbor WR — 35% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 82 · Efficient Balance 79 Ball security 77 Back usage 23% QB runs 2.2/game

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 88 WR 85 TE 89 RB 88 OL 83 DL 84 LB 78 DB 82

Best: Jahmyr Gibbs HB 99 Fastest: Nyck Harbor WR 99 SPD 8 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

Kitolito101

Buccaneers · his last 8 games

Balanced

Pass / run59% / 41% Points for / against31.0 — 24.4 Margin+6.6 Giveaways a game1.0 Sacks taken5.9% of dropbacks Lead backBucky Irving · 13.8/g Top targetCade Otton · 24% QB carries2.4 a game

stuuumouuu

Lions · his last 8 games

Throws it

Pass / run72% / 28% Points for / against38.1 — 26.5 Margin+11.6 Giveaways a game1.0 Sacks taken6.6% of dropbacks Lead backJahmyr Gibbs · 7.4/g Top targetNyck Harbor · 28% QB carries2.4 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES stuuumouuu against Kitolito101 — the men, not the teams

stuuumouuu leads it 1-0. stuuumouuu won the last one.

1 meeting avg 24.0 — 9.0 biggest: 15 pts to stuuumouuu

S2 · week 1 stuuumouuu 24 — 9 Kitolito101 STUUUMOUUU

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Lions receivers vs Buccaneers secondary 85 v 85 EVEN

Buccaneers receivers vs Lions secondary 85 v 82 BUCCANEERS

Lions line vs Buccaneers front 83 v 85 EVEN

Buccaneers line vs Lions front 85 v 84 EVEN

Lions backs vs Buccaneers run defence 88 v 83 LIONS

Buccaneers backs vs Lions run defence 80 v 83 LIONS

Lions passer vs Buccaneers secondary 88 v 85 LIONS

Buccaneers passer vs Lions secondary 84 v 82 EVEN

TOP PERFORMERS

Demond William Jr. QB Lions 318 pass yds

Baker Mayfield QB Buccaneers 188 pass yds

Nyck Harbor WR Lions 142 rec yds

Bucky Irving HB Buccaneers 85 rush yds

Chris Godwin Jr WR Buccaneers 63 rec yds

Jahmyr Gibbs HB Lions 53 rec yds

Amon-Ra St. Brown WR Lions 51 rec yds

Cade Otton TE Buccaneers 50 rec yds

Jimmy Rolder WILL Lions 2 sacks

Lewis Cine SS Lions 2 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

LIONS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Demond William Jr. QB	20/30	318	2	0	1	48	124
Jared Goff QB	1/1	23	0	0	0	23	118.7

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Baker Mayfield QB	7/13	188	0	2	3	63	59.4

LIONS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Jahmyr Gibbs HB	7	25	3.6	1	0	6	10	0
Demond William Jr. QB	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
Coy Eakin WR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Jameson Williams WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Bucky Irving HB	10	85	8.5	1	9	49
Josh Williams HB	1	0	0	0	1	0
Baker Mayfield QB	2	-4	-2	0	1	0

LIONS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Nyck Harbor WR	5	142	28.4	2	29	48
Jahmyr Gibbs HB	5	53	10.6	0	34	26
Amon-Ra St. Brown WR	3	51	17	0	18	24
Sam LaPorta TE	2	40	20	0	15	23
Jameson Williams WR	4	27	6.8	0	2	27
Isaac TeSlaa WR	1	21	21	0	1	21
KeAndre Lambert-Smith WR	1	7	7	0	5	7

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	YAC	LNG
Chris Godwin Jr WR	1	63	63	39	63
Cade Otton TE	1	50	50	31	50
Jerry Jeudy WR	1	33	33	5	33
Bucky Irving HB	2	19	9.5	3	23
Josh Williams HB	1	15	15	4	15
Terry McLaurin WR	1	8	8	3	8

LIONS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD
Jimmy Rolder WILL	4	2	0	1
Damone Clark MIKE	4	0	0	0
Dan Jackson SS	2	0	0	0
Amare Barno REDG	2	1	0	0
Arion Carter WILL	2	0	0	0
Kerby Joseph FS	1	0	0	0
Alim McNeill DT	1	0	0	0
Derrick Moore REDG	1	0	0	0
Boo Carter CB	1	0	0	1
Lewis Cine SS	0	0	2	1

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	PD	FF
Alex Anzalone WILL	4	0	1	0
Tykee Smith SS	3	0	1	0
Josiah Trotter MIKE	2	0	0	0
Zyon McCollum CB	1	0	0	0
Keionte Scott CB	1	0	0	0
Austin Romaine WILL	1	0	0	1
Antoine Winfield Jr FS	1	0	0	0
Yaya Diaby REDG	1	0	0	0
Demonte Capehart DT	1	1	0	0
Jacob Parrish CB	1	0	1	0
Benjamin Morrison CB	1	0	0	0

LIONS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Jake Bates K	1/1	3/3	59

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Chase McLaughlin K	1/1	0/1	58

RECENT FORM

Lions

no games yet

Buccaneers

no games yet

TEAM STATS

Lions		Buccaneers
367	TOTAL YARDS	269
341	PASSING YARDS	188
26	RUSHING YARDS	81
1	SACKS ALLOWED	3
3	SACKS MADE	1
1	GIVEAWAYS	2
2	TAKEAWAYS	1

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

1 LIONS — 0 BUCCANEERS

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