The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football was especially painful as wide receiver Mike Evans suffered a broken collarbone.
Tampa Bay dropped to 5-2 with a 24-9 defeat at Ford Field, Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs gashing the Buccaneer defense for 218 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns.
More concerning for the Bucs is the loss of Evans, who now looks set to miss most of Tampa Bay’s remaining regular-season games.
“He’ll be out mostly toward the end of the year,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said of a timeline for Evans’ return. “We’ll see what happens.”
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Evans streak set to come to an end
Evans has served as one of the most consistent receivers in NFL history since being drafted by the Buccaneers with the seventh overall pick in 2014.
Indeed, Evans has racked up 11 successive 1,000-yard seasons, tying the record set by Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.
But he will not take sole ownership of the record following his latest injury.
Having already missed four games in 2025, Evans’ absence for the stretch run will see him miss out on a 12th consecutive 1,000-yard season.
Gibbs finally breaks out
Gibbs had four plays of 20 yards or more as he powered the Lions to 5-2, the highlight a 78-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that put Detroit up 14-0.
The 2023 first-round pick had previously recorded just one game with over 100 scrimmage yards this season.
But head coach Dan Campbell was not surprised to see him explode in primetime.
“It was huge. You felt like this was coming,” Campbell said of Gibbs’ performance.
“You felt like this has been building and as he gets in better shape and starts getting his feet under him and starts getting a feel of it – starts breaking some tackles. Every week, you feel like it’s gotten closer and closer. Tonight was the night where he just busted one of these out of there and there’ll be no looking back.
“I think he’s just going to continue to do this. So, our O-Line did a good job in areas of getting into the second level.
“Certainly, we got to continue to improve there but that’s all you got to do. If you can get him the second level, he’ll do the rest. We’re fortunate because our O-line can open some holes in and we have the receivers that block. So, the rest is up to him.”
The Lions have a bye in Week 8. The Buccaneers will look to get back on track against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
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