When I sat down to think about who the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ X-Factor might be this weekend against the Detroit Lions the obvious answer was Sean Murphy-Bunting.
He’s from Michigan, played college football in Michigan, and the Bucs are playing the Lions - you guessed it - in Michigan.
And if there’s ever been a player who could use a trip home, it’s Murphy-Bunting.
2020 has not been kind to the second-year NFL cornerback. Still flashing moments of the talent and athleticism which led the Bucs to draft him in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft in the first place, it seems more and more lowlights of SMB getting beat by opposing receivers have replaced them all too often.