Tampa Bay's playoff hopes suffer big hit Anwar Richardson, The Tampa Tribune, published 20 December 2010 Buccaneers players knew they had lost more than a home game against Detroit on Sunday. The Bucs also saw their playoff hopes start to fade. "It's hurtful," running back Cadillac Williams said. "I haven't been a part of a loss like this ever in my NFL career. "Just to know where this team has come from, the struggles we've been through, to know we were on the cusp of the playoffs and for us to lose, and at home, it's a tough way to go, man." Tampa Bay (8-6) was defeated by Detroit, 23-20, and suffered a setback in the NFC playoff race. In the wild-card race, the Bucs remain one game behind the New York Giants, 38-31 losers against Philadelphia, and trail New Orleans by two games. With the loss, Tampa Bay needs to win its next two games — against Seattle and at New Orleans — plus get help to make the playoffs. "It's a gut punch, but not a death blow," Raheem Morris said. "We've got to get ready to get back on the shelf. The most important game is the next one and Sunday can't come fast enough." There are plenty of reasons why Morris wants to move past his team's disappointing performance against Detroit (4-10). Tampa Bay was beaten by a team that had lost 26 consecutive road games prior to Sunday. The Bucs could not stop Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, who had 10 receptions for 152 yards, or running back Maurice Morris, who rushed 15 times for 109 yards. Every Bucs player believed this was a game they needed to win, and should have won. "This, the two loses against Atlanta, we'll look back at in the end, whether we get in or not, and kick ourselves," Ronde Barber said. "We can handle our business and still not get in and that's what's disappointing." After the loss, Bucs players shifted their attention from the playoffs to winning 10 games. Morris' mantra this season has been the "Race to 10." He wanted his team to win 10 games and believed that number would be enough to make the playoffs. The Bucs could still achieve their original goal but would prefer to be in control of their playoff destiny. "It definitely was a win we needed to have," fullback Earnest Graham said. "We definitely needed that game and wanted that game. I don't want to say it kills everything we've done all year because we had a great offseason, the team really rallied, but we definitely hurt ourselves as far as that picture is concerned. "We're still going to continue to do what we set out to do this year, which is continue our race to 10 and try to get better every day." Still, Tampa Bay may have lost more than just a game against Detroit. "It's bad because now we've got to hope other people lose," Donald Penn said. "We had our destiny. We were in the race. Hopefully, we will still be in the race. We'll take it game by game. "We've got two more. Hopefully, we'll go 2-0 and we'll see what happens there. We've got to take care of business and hopefully some of these other teams take care of business and help us out."