2008 · Week 12

Final

Buccaneers

Tampa Bay

QB Jeff Garcia

38·20

Lions

Detroit

QB Daunte Culpepper

Ford Field · dome · fieldturf

Closing spread

TB -9

Total

42

Model margin

-5.4est.

DET perspective

Push chance

1.3%est.

Win probability

  • Lions
  • Buccaneers

How each play moved the game.

Lions winsBuccaneers wins

Matchup

Where the edges are

Season-long league percentiles for both sides, mirrored. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge.

Buccaneersedge mapLions
  • -0.033EPA / play-0.162
  • 43.2%Success rate36.3%
  • +0.028EPA / dropback-0.203
  • -0.126EPA / rush-0.092
  • 7.5%Explosive rate8.2%
  • +1.84CPOE-3.61
  • 38.9%Third-down rate28.7%
  • 48.9%Red-zone TD rate72.0%
  • 1.55Points / drive1.21
  • 2.3%Turnover rate2.9%

Bar length is league percentile, already oriented so longer is better. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge; rows within ~12 points are washed as even.

The rivalry

TB lead 11–10 since 1999

Meetings average 41.3 points. DET are 14-7 ATS in the series.

Previous meetings
SeasonMatchupScoreWinner
2025 · W7TB @ DET924DET
2024 · W2TB @ DET2016TB
2023 · playoffsTB @ DET2331DET
2023 · W6DET @ TB206DET
2020 · W16TB @ DET477TB
2019 · W15TB @ DET3817TB
2017 · W14DET @ TB2421DET
2014 · W14TB @ DET1734DET

Box score

Individual performances

Buccaneers

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Jeff Garcia13/1816520

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Warrick Dunn14906.41
Cadillac Williams16271.70
Jeff Garcia1-1-1.00

Lions

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Daunte Culpepper8/2012112
Drew Stanton2/61300

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Kevin Smith16865.40
Rudi Johnson4164.00
Daunte Culpepper263.00

Where this game is likely to land

  • Model
  • Smooth (normal)
  • Betting line

Probability of each final margin. Football scoring clusters — the spikes at 3 and 7 are real, and a smooth model misses them.

line -93.1%3.3%5.0%3.2%7.4%6.3%

Positive margins favour Lions; negative favour Buccaneers.

Half-point at risk

1.30%

outcomes that flip if the line moves 0.5

Model home win

34.8%

Expected total

45.6est.

Model

Where the number comes from

Each component is additive, in points of expected margin.

  • Team ratings (opponent-adjusted EPA)-5.01
  • Home-field advantage+2.49
  • Quarterback adjustment-2.90
  • Rest differential0.00
  • Expected margin-5.42