Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is looking at Sunday’s game against the Lions as a measuring stick after the Lions knocked Tampa out of the playoffs last season, but there are differences from the last time that the two teams squared off.
One of the biggest is that cornerback Carlton Davis will be trying to stop Mayfield rather than Lions quarterback Jared Goff. The Buccaneers traded Davis to the Lions this offseason after he spent six years as a key part of the team’s defensive backfield, but Davis said this week that he isn’t gaining any extra motivation from that history.
Davis said he’s “not bitter or anything like that” and is approaching this game with the same mentality he has every week.
“It’s not personal for me, at all,” Davis said, via SI.com. “I could never get personal with these type of games, because it’s all business. They’re just the next opponent in our way and it’s a long journey,” Davis said. “Like I said, it’s a business. I do have a lot of love for those guys over there, but on Sunday it’s football, man. There’s no friends on the field, and there won’t be on Sunday.”
Bucs wideouts Mike Evans and Chris Godwin combined for three touchdowns last weekend, so the Lions will be hoping that Davis’s familiarity with them will help the defense do a better job than the Commanders managed in the opener.
