Buccaneers' Sterling Shepard: Does little with seven catches

Shepard secured all seven targets for 25 yards in the Buccaneers' 24-9 loss to the Lions on Monday night. He also lost a fumble.

Shepard tied Cade Otton for the team lead in receptions with a figure that also served as the veteran receiver's season high, but he averaged a minuscule 3.6 yards per catch. The Lions' extremely short-handed secondary significantly overperformed expectations against a Buccaneers offense that had been running hot, and Shepard therefore posted his third sub-30-yard tally of the season. Nevertheless, considering Mike Evans will be out for a significant amount of time due to the broken collarbone he suffered Monday night -- and Chris Godwin now has missed consecutive games with a fibula injury -- Shepard figures to remain in an expanded role for the foreseeable future.