Sometimes you have to look back before you can move forward. And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been doing their share of that this week, gleaning lessons from their decisive albeit injury-marred 24-9 loss to the Detroit Lions Monday night.

A road contest with the NFC South cellar-dwelling New Orleans Saints awaits Sunday, but while the first-place Bucs prepare for a rival that often seems to play them tough, they’ve also spent time focused on where they went off course in the Motor City earlier this week.

For Josh Grizzard, with only seven NFL games under his belt as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator, that has been especially true as he has studied the tapes. His chief takeaway:

“I’d say as much as anything, patience,” he said. “(Considering) how the game started and how well the (Lions’) defense was playing – (we need) to stick to some of the things we wanted to hit going in – lean on the run a little bit earlier,” he said.

“Then, a lot of the things we harped on going into the week: handling the crowd noise, not getting into some second-and-longs, and the turnover battle. This is really the second game where we’ve had turnovers and now it’s the second one we’ve lost. But, just the patience, trusting in the guys that it’s going to be there, and again trying to establish the run a little earlier and just keep rolling with that.”

It was also the first time this season that quarterback Baker Mayfield appeared off his normally sharp game, unable to escape the hard-charging Detroit pass rush and missing receivers with a handful of high throws in key situations. Grizzard attributed a certain amount of that to the particularly effective man-to-man defense Detroit employs.

“Yeah, they’re really a man-coverage team,” he said. “They’re committed to that. They do a really good job of it – trying to disrupt you at the line of scrimmage. They had a good plan, and they got away from it a little bit in the Kansas City game (when they lost 30-17 two weeks ago) and played a little bit more zone, but the man coverage showed up on tape.”

Will other teams try to utilize the same approach against the Bucs now?

“It’s a copycat league,” Grizzard said. “So when you see some of those looks, if people feel like they have success with that, we definitely have to have better options to get our guys open, to be able to run away from man to be able to ultimately convert those third downs and be able to continue the drives.”

But Mayfield also wound up throwing the ball far more than planned – completing 28 of 50 throws for 228 yards, one touchdown and an interception. And that high number of tosses, while under relentless pressure as the Bucs played from behind all night, also forced them to largely abandon the running game as time became a factor.

“Yeah, 50 throws in a game cannot happen,” Grizzard said. “It’s got to be through leaning on the run, trusting the run, and sticking to that – especially in the first half – being able to establish it. Once you got into the fourth quarter and it was, what, 13–14 minutes left and it essentially turned into a two-minute drill, then you’re really forced to throw it. If we can handle that earlier on and keep that thing closer, that way we can now turn the fourth quarter into having an opportunity to run (more). I think it evens the game out a little bit.”

Some of the solution, he added, involves giving Mayfield a chance to get comfortable from the outset.

“I’ve got to give him a chance earlier in the game to get a little bit easier completions – that way he gets settled in,” Grizzard said. “You get into the rhythm and the confidence of, ‘Let’s let this thing fly.’

“On the protection side of it, I think we did a good job on it at times (and) there’s other times where he didn’t have much of a pocket to step up into, and that’s something we addressed on the sideline as well. But I think being able to start and get some of those easier completions (is key). … Now you get into the rhythm of our standard pass game, still being able to push the ball down the field. He was calm through all of it. We didn’t start off as well as we’d like – (we’ve) got to have a fast start – but he was good through the whole game. You saw him battle. He took some real shots out there. That’s not shocking from the guy.”

Then there was the Bucs’ persistent problem against Detroit’s defense on third-downs, converting only four of 16 attempts for first downs.

“Yeah, they did a good job with it in terms of the man coverage and their plan on it,” Grizzard said. “Again, we really need to have some things that get our guys in better spots – to be able to run away from that – to have some more throws.

“Then, there were some unfortunate ones too where we really got exactly what we wanted and we weren’t able to connect. So, in those opportunities, we’ve really got to be able to exploit the defense on taking advantage of those man looks. It might not discourage them from doing it the whole game, but they at least have to think about if that’s something they want to use moving forward.”

Of course, any analysis has to take into account losing star wide receiver Mike Evans in the second quarter. It was a freakish play that started out looking like a tremendous catch for a long gain against tight coverage from Lions cornerback Rock Ya-Sin. But it ended with an incompletion with Evans down for the count with a concussion and broken clavicle (and now on injured reserve, out for the rest of the regular season). That changed the dynamic for Tampa Bay’s offensive gameplan in a major way, depriving Mayfield of his go-to target on the verge of cutting into a 14-0 deficit.

Young receivers like rookie Tez Johnson and Kam Johnson have stepped up impressively to support heralded rookie Emeka Egbuka and veteran Sterling Shepard. But playing without a full complement of receivers – including Evans’ wingman Chris Godwin (out with a fibula injury) and Jalen McMillan (sidelined by a severe neck sprain, but possibly back after the Week 9 bye) – has heightened the challenge. And then there’s the offensive line, which has been dealing with injuries throughout the season.

“I think everybody is banged up,” Grizzard said. “I mean, we’re dealing with injuries. I don’t want this to sound bad toward the guys that are not in there – on Mike and Chris and those guys – but I do find (and) I think as a staff we find enjoyment in the guys that are now having a chance to play: (like Tez Johnson and Kam Johnson) who have worked their whole life to get that opportunity. And who knows when that opportunity is going to come again?

“So, getting those guys prepared as well as possible to go out there and make plays because at the end of the day that’s their shot, too. They’ve worked really hard to get to the league and deserve to get the ball, and that’s on us to try to put them in that position. I find a lot of enjoyment in that.”

Defensively, Bucs linebackers coach Larry Foote also saw key areas that need improvement – particularly in giving up yards after catches to the Lions.

“(We have) got to take away their space,” he said. “We (have) to adjust,,, (and we have) to know how to attack those guys, but [we are] giving them too much space. … We’re trying to do too much. At the end of the day, we get paid to keep those guys on the ground. Those guys are hard, they are dynamic, as we know, but you (have) to fill the zone and (have) to (make) tackles. … We definitely have to address that."

They’ll get their chance Sunday to apply that lesson in the boisterous Superdome, while the Grizzard’s offense does the same with insights gained from an unexpectedly tough night in Detroit.