2 reasons to believe in every underdog in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs

Reason No. 1 why the Bucs can beat the Lions: Pressure on Jared Goff

After winning their first playoff game since the Van Buren administration (don't check my math on that one), the Lions are the feel-good story of the NFL. Dan Campbell has built something special in the Motor City, and now the Lions are hosting a playoff game for the right to go to the NFC Championship. It almost doesn't sound real to say it, does it?

Jared Goff deserves a ton of credit for beating his former team and outdueling Matthew Stafford, the player he was shipped out of L.A. for three years ago. The former No. 1 pick sliced apart the Rams in leading the Lions to three straight touchdowns to start the game, and it was genuinely cool to see the Ford Field faithful chanting his name.

That being said, the Bucs have a defensive recipe that could cut Detroit's storybook season short. The scouting report on Goff has always been that if you could blitz him and make him uncomfortable, he becomes a different quarterback, which makes Todd Bowles one of the worst coaches he could be up against. The Bucs head coach loves to send pressure from every angle, and his team ranked third in the league in blitz percentage this year. He won't sit back and let Goff pick his team apart with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta. He's going to bring the house until the wheels fall off, and that could make the difference.

Tampa's defense has turned a corner after a difficult first half of the season. In the Bucs' last five games, they've allowed less than 13 points per game, so don't expect the Lions to move the ball as easily as they did in the Wild Card Round.

Reason No. 2 why the Bucs can beat the Lions: Detroit's leaky secondary

Puka Nacua feasted against the Lions secondary on Sunday, catching nine balls for 181 yards and a touchdown. The electric rookie has been a revelation this year, and his success could portend a big day for the Tampa Bay duo of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

The Lions shut the Bucs down in a 20-6 win in Tampa in Week 6, but a lot has changed since then. The Bucs are playing much better, having won six of seven, and Baker Mayfield has really blossomed as the unquestioned leader of the team. He threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns against the hapless Eagles, and surprisingly, Evans and Godwin only accounted for 93 of those yards. It's rare to see that twosome held down in back-to-back games, so expect them to flourish this week. Detroit gave up the sixth-most passing yards in the league this year, so if Aidan Hutchinson can't replicate his superhuman effort from last week, it could be a long day for the Lions secondary.

A relatively boring Wild Card Weekend got these playoffs off to a slow start, but anyone planning on skipping this weekend's games for fear of the same thing happening should reconsider. The favorites aren't as strong as they appear, and something tells me we're going to see some surprises.