With a must win game to cover from the NFC South, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came out completely flat to the New Orleans Saints. The Saints completely outplayed the Buccaneers from start to finish with Brady throwing three interceptions.
First Quarter
Tampa Bay goes three and out on their first drive after Tom Brady misses Chris Godwin. Ronald Jones II would get a seven yard gain. Drew Brees and the Saints would go nine plays for 65 yards and a touchdown. The Buccaneers would go three and out again on their second drive helped by a holding penalty on Donovan Smith.
New Orleans would go all the way down the field for 64 yards on seven plays, but a Jordan Whitehead forced fumble on tight end Jared Cook at the Buccaneers’ two yard line would give Brady and the offense another chance.
Again, the Buccaneers go three and out with an incomplete deep pass to Brown as Brady was pressured off the left side of the line. The Bucs would only gain two yards before punting to, again, to the Saints. Alvin Kamara runs for a 17 yard gain inside of the Buccaneers’ 18 yard line. On second down, Brees finds Adam Trauntman for a seven yard touchdown, pushing the Saints up 14-0.
Second Quarter
Tampa Bay would go three and out on their fourth drive to start the second quarter. Brady connects with Godwin for seven yards before Brady has a pass sail, throwing off his back foot. The Buccaneers special teams have been sloppy thus far with multiple missed tackles on punts.
On second and 16, Brees connects with Taysom Hill for 21 yards before Hill goes for 23 yards on the ground. Drew Brees would then connect with Emmanuel Saunders for a 12 yard touchdown on second and 10 at the Buccaneers’ 12 yard line. The Saints go up 21-0 at the 11:40 mark of the second quarter.
New Orleans Continues to Dominate Defensively
Tom Brady finally gets a first down connecting with Tyler Johnson before a Brady screen pass gone bad ends up in Onyemeta’s hands thanks to Marcus Davenport tipping the ball. The Saints would then drive the ball five plays for 27 yards for a Kamara one yard touchdown run. Saints up 28-0.
Buccaneers get a first down on a 20 yard throw and catch from Brady to Godwin on their next drive. Brown would get the Bucs next first down for six yards. The Buccaneers would go for it on a fourth and six with Gronkowski just missing a pass over the middle at the Bucs’ four yard line. New Orleans takes over at the New Orleans’ 38 with 4:57 left in the first half.
Tampa Bay’s defense would be able to get a stop on an eight play 44 yard field goal series. After a 10 yard pass to Brown and a 22 yard throw to Evans, Brady would miss an intended pass to Antonio Brown and the Saints Marcus Williams would get Brady’s second interception of the first half. The Saints take over at the New Orleans 15 yard line with 57 seconds left in the half. The Saints end the half with a 31-0 lead over Tampa Bay and will receive the ball to start the second half.
Third Quarter
The Saints receive the ball and would only get one first down before Shaquil Barrett forces a fumble on Brees. Mike Edwards would recover the fumble and take it 31 yards to the New Orleans 21 yard line. A catch from Evans for 12 yards would setup a defensive pass interference call on Gronkowski to setup the Bucs at the one yard line. After four failed attempts to score, the Bucs turn the ball over on downs. This snapped the Buccaneers’ perfect goal to go scoring drives.
Brees makes it out of the one yard line with a 16 yard throw to Michael Thomas. Tampa Bay’s defense shows up with two tackles for loss forcing the Saints to punt from their 32 yard line. Tampa Bay takes over at their own 19 yard line.
After two sacks given up by Donovan Smith, Brady gets flushed out of the pocket and throws his third interception of the game on fourth and seven. Saints take over at the New Orleans 30. The Saints shut out the Buccaneers 31-0 through three quarters.
Fourth Quarter
With two neutral zone infractions and a few plays later, Drew Brees caps off a 10 play, 70 yard drive, and connects with Jordan Hill for a three yard touchdown. Saints up 38-0 with 9:07 left in the game.
Tampa Bay’s next drive is plagued with tons of pressure from the Saints after going six plays and 45 yards. Ryan Succop would connect on a 48 yard field to change the score to 38-3, New Orleans.
Jameis Winston takes over for Drew Brees in the final five minutes of the game. Winston would throw one pass for 12 yards before a few runs and the victory formation.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Carolina Panthers at 1 o’clock next Sunday as they will look to right the ship.
