You got the sense that ever since they lost to New Orleans in Week 1, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were going to do everything in their power to defeat the Saints in the rematch. However, in their worst performance of the season, Tampa Bay(6-3) was blown out by the Saints(6-2) 38-3 at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday night.
The Saints intercepted Tom Brady three times, and Drew Brees threw four touchdown passes. It was an embarrassing night for Tampa Bay, and one head coach Bruce Arians, was surprised to see.
“It was shocking. To watch us practice the way we practiced all week and the confidence we had coming in — we have to go back and look in the mirror as coaches, players, everybody, from yesterday to today,” Arians said after the game. “Another [game] where we go three-and-out and give up a touchdown [to begin the game]. Second half, I thought we got the turnover, and we don’t score a touchdown. I thought that kind of was the end of it right then and there. Give New Orleans credit — they kicked our [butts] in every phase.”
Because of the signing of Tom Brady, the Buccaneers were must-see TV, but they have struggled in primetime. The Buccaneers are 1-2 in primetime and have struggled offensively on the big stage. Tampa Bay is averaging 15.6 in those games, which Arians hopes to fix.
“That’s one of the things we have to look at because that’s what we just addressed in the locker room,” Arians said. “We have stunk in those games. We won one of them [and] we should have won [against Chicago], but we didn’t. This one, we just basically handed it to them.”
According to Buccaneers LB Lavonte David, the team was furious after getting dismantled by the Saints.
“Guys were pissed,” David said on Monday. “You saw it on the sidelines, you see it today [and] you saw it after the game. Guys were pissed because we know we’re not that type of team, especially against a team who we obviously wanted to really beat. To go out there and put on a show like that on Sunday night – guys feel some type of way about it. All you can do is move on from it. It’ll show how we prevail from it this week. Like I said, we’re focusing on the Carolina Panthers right now. They’re a pretty good football team with some talented weapons. A lot of guys took it to heart yesterday. We came in today, and the good thing about it is [I] didn’t have to go to [anybody]. Guys were coming to me [and saying], ‘That’s unacceptable. We can’t have [a] performance like that again. We have to do find a way to get better.’ That’s going to start this upcoming week, and I’m really excited to get to work this week, move on from last week and get back going.”
It was surprising to see Tampa Bay get beat up by the Saints on Sunday, but it’s clear that at this point, the Saints are the class of the NFC South and maybe the NFC. There is a lot of football left, but the Buccaneers have to fix some things if they want to be the team many thought they would be when the season started.
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