On Sunday in New Orleans in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, the Saints and Buccaneers will battle it out for the third time this season. Tampa Bay is 0-2 against the Saints this season and has been outscored 72-26. Overall, New Orleans has beaten the Buccaneers five straight times.
The two quarterbacks in this game have accomplished so much in the game of football. In a combined 41 years of NFL service, Tom Brady and Drew Brees have thrown for 176563 yards and 1263 touchdowns, with seven Super Bowl victories. Brady is number one in passing yards and touchdowns, while Brees is second in those categories. So, obviously, these guys have put in a lot of work.
Brady is 43, and Brees is 42, so there is a good chance that these two guys may never play against each other ever again. Brady, who is 2-5 against Brees all-time, has a lot of respect for the New Orleans Saints quarterback.
“He’s a lot younger than me – he’s 18 months younger than me. Eighteen months ago, I felt pretty good, so I’ve got a little advanced age on him – and experience,” Brady said this week. “I’m hanging in there. He’s had a terrific year. He’s a great player – I’ve known him for a long time. I’ve always had a great amount of respect for him going all the way back to his Purdue days. My roommate, when I first got to the Patriots, was from Purdue and was really good friends with Drew. I always just kept up with him and have gotten to know him somewhat well over the years. I just think so much of him as a person and as a player. I know what it takes to do what he’s doing [and] he knows what it takes to do what I’m doing. I think there’s just a lot of mutual respect.”
Turnovers have killed the Buccaneers against the Saints this season, and Brady has been the biggest culprit. He has thrown five interceptions against New Orleans, and according to him, turnovers could decide the outcome of Sunday’s game.
“It’s big for both teams,” Brady said. “Turnover margin – out of all of the stats – I think that one always speaks to wins and losses just about more than any other stat. Taking care of the football maximizes your ability to score. Taking the football away minimizes their ability to score. It’s very difficult to score if you don’t have the ball. If you give the ball away, it gives them more chances to score. When you play good teams, it always comes down to that. That’s a big point of emphasis – we’ve got to protect it in the passing game. That responsibility obviously falls on the quarterback, but it falls on a lot of other people too. It falls on all of us, making a concerted effort to be on the same page in the passing game so that we can play with anticipation [and] play with confidence.”
Brady’s worst moments this season have been against New Orleans, and quite frankly, Brady is going to have to protect the ball and be better if the Buccaneers want to beat the Saints on Sunday. If he is better, maybe the Buccaneers can finally beat the Saints. If not, we might see a repeat of the previous two games between these teams this season.
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