Coming into Sunday’s game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans, the talk was about the quarterback battle between two all-time greats in Tom Brady and Drew Brees, but when it was over, the conversation was about the Buccaneers’ defense and running game. 

The Buccaneers’ defense came up with four takeaways, including three interceptions, that led to 21 points, as the Buccaneers defeated the Saints(13-5) on the road 30-20 in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. With the victory, Tampa Bay(13-5) advances to the NFC Championship Game and will travel to Green Bay to face the Packers next Sunday.

The Buccaneers were outscored 72-26 in their two losses to the Saints this season, including a 38-3 beatdown in November. However, Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is not surprised by what happened on Sunday. He thought Tampa was a much better team than they were in November.

“It’s a different football team than that week,” Arians said. “I try to tell everybody that – nobody wants to believe me. This is what we’re capable of playing. Defensively, we’ve had some rough spots at times, but we’ve had some really, really good times. This was one of the best times.”

The running game was huge for Tampa Bay on Sunday. Leonard Fournette(107 total yards, one touchdown, including 63 yards on the ground) and Ronald Jones(63 yards rushing) combined for 126 yards rushing, which is more than they had in two games combined against the Saints in the regular season. Jones was bothered by quad and hand injuries all week, but according to Fournette, he encouraged Jones to fight through the pain.

“I’m telling Ro, excuse my language, but ‘[bleep] the injury,” Fournette said. “We need you, I’m not going to lie to you – we need you.’ I’ve been in these types of games. It’s funny – we have four good running backs – Ro came in fresh; I came in fresh. I said, ‘Man, understand this – you don’t get many chances to make it to the playoffs [and] to have the run that we’re on right now.’ I’m a living example. We (the Jacksonville Jaguars) went from the AFC Championship to the next two years not even making it to the playoffs. So big congrats to Ro for fighting through the injury – a hand and a quad.”

Brady, who went 18-of-33 for 199 yards and three total touchdowns on Sunday and recorded his 32nd postseason victory, which are the most playoff wins by any player in league history, is happy to be one of the final four teams.

“The defense was incredible all game,” Brady said. “The turnovers were huge. Last time we played them, we lost the turnover [margin], minus three. Today was plus four – you’re not going to lose many games when you’re plus four. Just a great effort – they came up huge. Offensively, made some plays when we needed to. The running game was great, the line protected great up front – just a great week of prep. Really proud of our team and everything we put in to get to this point. There’s only four teams left – we’re one of them. It’s tough to get to this point, so we need a big week [and] a great week of practice. We’ve got one of the best teams in the league, obviously, in Green Bay. [They are] the top seed, Aaron [Rodgers] is playing incredible [and] they’ve got a great defense, so it’s going to be a great matchup.”

Tampa Bay did what they needed to do on Sunday, and if they can put together one more big effort next Sunday against the Packers, Brady will have a chance to play for his seventh Super Bowl title, but defeating the Pack, who Tampa Bay beat in the regular season, will be a tougher challenge for this team. Let’s see if they are up for it!