For the third time this season, the Bucs and Saints will face each other, this time with a trip to the NFC Championship on the line.
Although Saints have beaten the Bucs in their previous two meetings this season, but that hasnt stopped Bucs fans from believing that indeed the third time should be the charm. When both teams met in Week One, the Saints were able to escape with an 11-point victory. This indeed was QB Tom Brady's first time in live action with a new team, playbook, etc after spending the previous two decades in New England where he and coach Bill Belichick were able to accomplish six championships together, with Brady receiving Super Bowl MVP 3-times. Although there was limited time to build chemistry with his new teammates, Brady still had a decent day outside of throwing two interceptions. Although the loss was tough, it was pretty much expected. If you talk to Saints fans, that seems to be their biggest accomplishment of the entire season.
Fast forward to Week Nine's rematch, the Saints were able to walk away with a 38-3 victory.
This was Antonio Brown's first game after signing his one-year deal the previous week. Of course Antonio Brown wasn't the cause as the team as a whole just looked like they were asleep for the entire game. To make matters worse, the Bucs didn't even face Drew Brees in this game as he was sidelined with fractured ribs. The Bucs defense legitimately got destroyed by gadget player, Taysom Hill. Third time around, Bucs fans are hoping to see more of a pass rush after Devin White returned to the team this week after missing the last two while on the COVID list. If we want to put the cherry on top, the locker room celebration that costed the Saints some money, witnessed "former QB turned bench warmer" Jameis Winston do his signature "eating Ws' taunt (you know because many of our losses were due to his inability to not turn the ball over). Sorry not sorry Winston fans, but gloves are off when it comes to playoffs and the Lombardi.
Now in this final matchup, the Bucs look to continue their run in the playoffs while the Saints return to the Divisional Round for the third time in four years.
Now let's be honest, this is about the time the Saints choke themselves out of the playoffs. This time around, the Bucs are hoping to see "Tampa Tom" eat a W of his own (please Tom don't eat your damn fingers like a fool). To be successful, the Bucs will need to come out of the gate strong on both sides of the ball and have more than five total rushing attempts. Yes that may be outplayed, but who the hell besides Byron Leftwich would call 5 total rush attempts in a game against a Top-5 pass defense? Again if the Bucs are going to beat the Saints and advance, they're going to need to repeat their performances from the previous five weeks.
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