The Bucs played their worst game of the season against the Lions on Monday Night Football in some respects. And there is a chance they lost future Ring of Honor inductee and the best offensive player in team history, Mike Evans, for the year.

But there were several players and aspects that provided silver linings. Here is the most impressive from Week 7 in Detroit.

OLB Yaya Diaby

Diaby was creating push on left tackle Taylor Decker early. It paid off quickly as he hit Jared Goff’s arm for a strip sack on the Lions’ second drive of the game. Elijah Roberts fell on the ball and the Bucs got a much-needed turnover after allowing a quick score on the Lions’ first drive.

Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby and Lions QB Jared Goff – Photo by: USA Today

Diaby added a tackle for a loss of David Montgomery on the second play after the Bucs turned the ball over late in the second quarter while down 14-0. The play helped stem the tide of momentum that was increasingly growing in Detroit’s favor and set up a third down that the Bucs would get a stop on.

Diaby finished with five tackles, one tackle for a loss and a sack.

P Riley Dixon

On a day when the Bucs offense struggled to move the ball down the field, Dixon was able to keep the Lions’ offense from gaining advantageous field position. His second punt of the game went 45 yards for a fair catch on the Detroit 14. His follow-up went 39 yards to the same spot.

Dixon continued his pinpoint punting on his fourth try with a 37-yarder to the Detroit 13. On his following boot, he had to add a little extra and came through once again with a 52-yarder for yet another fair catch at the 14-yard line once again. Considering the Bucs defense would bend throughout the night, Dixon forcing the Lions to have to traverse long drives was key in limiting their scoring.

Dixon totaled six punts for 263 yards and pinned the Lions inside the 20 four times.

CB Jamel Dean

Dean started the game in a rough way with some sloppy technique and a ticky-tack penalty before giving way to Benjamin Morrison for several drives. But he came up in a big way towards the end of the first half.

The Bucs had just lost their second turnover of the game and Detroit looked like it had an opportunity to go up three scores before Dean picked off Jared Goff with a fantastic play, sinking into zone coverage and setting up the Bucs’ first score of the game.

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today

Dean added several good reps in coverage including a key third down that led to an incompletion to Amon-Ra St. Brown just after the start of the fourth quarter that led to a Lions punt. He finished the game with two tackles in addition to the interception, his career-high third of the season, while giving up just one catch for 24 yards on four targets.

Bucs’ Third-Down Defense

For all the yards the Lions put up, they struggled to get anything going on third and fourth down against the Bucs defense. Tampa Bay held Detroit to just one third-down conversion on six attempts in the first half and then stopped the Lions on their lone fourth-down try in the first two quarters. Diaby’s sack-fumble came on third down when the Lions were in field goal range, keeping precious points off the board.

SirVocea Dennis pitched in with a sack for a 12-yard loss on 3rd and 5 as well. The Lions converted more third downs in the first half on Bucs penalties (2) than they did with actual conversions (1).

The second half was more of the same as the defense was strong when they got to third down, holding the Lions to just two conversions on another seven opportunities while keeping the Bucs in the game drive after drive. After yielding a touchdown on Detroit’s first drive of the second half, the defense buckled down for the rest of the half, forcing three punts and allowing just a field goal on a drive where they yielded zero yards after the Lions started in Bucs territory.

WR Tez Johnson

After Mike Evans left the game with not one, but two potentially serious injuries, the Bucs needed someone to step up and spark the offense. Johnson obliged with a stunning 22-yard catch and run on a perimeter screen that included a hurdle, a juke and a spin as he found his way into the end zone to finish off the Bucs’ first drive of the second half.

Bucs WR Tez Johnson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Johnson added another acrobatic catch in the fourth quarter on a deep dig where Mayfield threw the ball high. He was able to go up and high-point the catch – on third down no less – for a first down.

Johnson ended the day with four catches for 58 yards and a touchdown. On a depth chart he should have been buried on, Johnson has more than paid off the seventh-round selection Jason Licht used on him.

CB Zyon McCollum

Zyon McCollum was matched up against Jameson Williams for much of the game and helped keep the normally explosive Williams in check throughout the night. McCollum was targeted just three times by my count and yielded only eight yards. He also contributed with several stops in the right flat. McCollum was tight in coverage and physical in support with five tackles.

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown and Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: USA Today

S Tykee Smith

Smith was everywhere for much of the game, logging several of the Bucs’ defensive stops and recording one of the defense’s four sacks as he came off Goff’s strong side while he was looking to the left. He was also in coverage on a key third down early in the fourth quarter that killed a drive and forced a field goal that kept the game a two-score affair.

Bucs SS Tykee Smith and Lions QB Jared Goff – Photo by: USA Today

Smith was the Bucs’ last line of defense, but that didn’t stop him from being the first, second and third as well. He logged 13 tackles to go with his sack.

TE Cade Otton

Otton was playing against the Lions defense and the zebras all night. He got hosed not once, but twice by the refs after they took a 50/50 catch that he did an amazing job of one-handing behind his back and fighting Arthur Maulet to the ground for it. In any sane situation, the 50/50 goes to the receiver, but the Lions were gifted the interception on an iffy replay.

He got the shaft again on an amazing fourth-down catch and reach to the sticks. Lions head coach Dan Campbell challenged the catch and after the review affirmed the catch, they gifted Campbell a second review where they determined Otton did not reach the line to gain and turned the ball back over to Detroit, which would get a field goal on the ensuing drive to go up 15.

Despite these calls going against him, Otton was Baker Mayfield’s most reliable target on the night, catching seven of his nine targets for 65 yards.