YAC doomed Bucs.
Yeah, the Bucs defense gave up big plays Monday night. But if you peel the onion skins back, there was a lot to like about the defense.
Big plays was not one of them. And the YAC yards Lions receivers had was very disappointing since the week before against the 49ers, preventing YAC was a big focus for the Bucs and they did a strong job not letting Christian McCaffrey burn them.
That didn’t happen Monday night.
The Bucs’ defense actually shut down Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Where the Lions made their yards, per NextGen Stats by way of Nick Shook of NFL.com, [was in YAC](https://www.nfl.com/news/buccaneers-lions-on-monday-night-football-what-we-learned-from-detroit-s-24-9-win).
> **Next Gen Stats Insight from Buccaneers-Lions (via NFL Pro):** Jared Goff finished just 1 for 7 on passes over 10 air yards for 24 yards and an interception. Lions pass catchers gained 194 yards after the catch, the fifth-most by any team in a game this season, with YAC accounting for 80.5% of Goff’s passing yards.
Overall, Joe thought the defense did fine. In the previous six Lions home games, including a playoff loss to Washington, Detroit averaged 37 points a game. The Bucs held them to 24.
A little bit of tweaking, and the Bucs defense should be OK.