The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Detroit Lions back in Week 6, but Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles wants everyone to know that things will be different heading into their Divisional Round playoff matchup this Sunday.
“We were where we were at that time of the year,” Bowles said, via Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times. “I don’t wish we would’ve done anything different or we wouldn’t have learned from it. They’re a very good team. They’re coached very well. Very fast, very physical. An electric crowd is going to be up there. Wish we hadn’t done anything different, but we’ve got to learn from it. Any of our losses, for that matter. We’re a different team now. We’re mentally tougher. I think we’ve gotten stronger from it, and we learned some things. We’re still piecing it together, but we’re happy where we’re at.”
Tampa Bay has already gotten revenge once, so why not achieve it again?
The Bucs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs in a 32-9 rout this past Monday. Back in Week 3, the Eagles topped the Buccaneers 25-11 at Raymond James Stadium.
Tampa Bay linebacker Shaq Barrett has already said that the team is on a “revenge tour,” and the Lions could end up being the Bucs’ next victims.
It has been a strange season for the Buccaneers, to say the least.
They got off to a solid 3-1 start, but then proceeded to lose four straight games and six of seven overall to fall to 4-7. Bowles’ club rebounded by winning four straight to push its record to 8-7, and after a disappointing Week 17 loss to the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay defeated the Carolina Panthers in the season finale to win the NFC South division title.
Including their playoff win over Philadelphia, the Bucs have won six of their last seven games and are one of the hottest teams in football.
We’ll see if Todd Bowles and Co. can continue their quest for payback this weekend.
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