Week 16 Grades: Griffen's Undisciplined Play Sets Tone for Disastrous Defense

Nothing went right for the Detroit Lions' defense against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

On the Buccaneers'first possession, Jahlani Tavai was able to pressure and eventually sack Tom Brady on third down.

Unfortunately, Everson Griffen and Detroit's defense were penalized for being offside.

“There’s no doubt. Their discipline, or lack of, helped us tremendously. It was exactly what we needed. Had he not jumped offsides, I think we would have had a better play," Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians said after the game. “They are what they are. We’ve had them go the other way, but I loved what our guys did with that opportunity -- went straight down and scored.”

Brady pounced, and Detroit's defense never recovered from the error.

The defense was embarrassed on national television, getting dominated for all four quarters.

Here are the grades for the Lions' defense after the team's Week 16 contest with Tampa Bay.

Defensive line: F

Romeo Okwara was the lone bright spot on Detroit's defensive line. He recorded another sack, and is one sack away from recording 10 sacks on the season.

Both Brady and backup Buccaneers quarterback Blaine Gabbert had their way with Detroit's defense, as they rarely faced any sustained pressure.

Tampa Bay averaged over four yards per carry on the afternoon.

Linebackers: F

Tavai saw a significant increase in his snap count on Saturday afternoon, due to Jamie Collins missing the contest.

Unfortunately for Detroit, Tavai was easily brushed aside by Leonard Fournette on a couple of occasions.

Fournette and the Bucs' offense exposed Tavai's struggles with understanding his role in Detroit's defense.

According to Pro Football Focus, Detroit had four linebackers who recorded at least 20 snaps on Saturday.

Their PFF grades:

Jahlani Tavai: 40.1
Christian Jones: 39.2
Reggie Ragland: 33.4
Jarrad Davis: 29.3

What more can you say about the struggles of this unit.

Secondary: F

Duron Harmon's struggles continued against his former teammate.

Brady appeared to have more knowledge of the Lions' defense than Harmon did, as the veteran quarterback found open receivers all afternoon long.

Rob Gronkowski, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Antonio Brown all aided Tampa Bay in earning its first playoff berth in over a decade.

Detroit was simply unable to stop Brady from successfully finding open receivers deep.

Special teams: B

Jamal Agnew scored Detroit's only points of the game, breaking free on a 74-yard punt return for touchdown.

Jack Fox was put to work in this one, as the Lions' futility on offense resulted in eight total punts.

While he had one punt that was far below his net average per attempt, he rebounded nicely on his remaining attempts.

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