New Orleans Saints Embarrass the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, 38-3

Sunday Night Football brought us one-sided domination that nobody could expect, as New Orleans Saints hammered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 38-3.

Instead of seeing a close contest, with both sides coming after one another, SNF was all about the Saints, who were ripping apart the home team from the start until the very end.

When Josh Hill caught a three-yard TD pass from Drew Brees with 9:07 left, the result on the scoreboard was 38-0 for the Saints. With much weaker teams than this one now, Tampa Bay didn’t see such a disastrous margin at home.

“It was shocking. To watch the way we practiced all week and the confidence we had coming in — we have to go back and look in the mirror, coaches, players, everybody,” Bucs’ head coach Bruce Arians said. “They kicked our ass in every phase.”

Tom Brady couldn’t toss a TD pass, while on the other side posting three interceptions. He was also sacked three times, and was without any chances in making a few good plays in a row.

What was also tragic for one of the biggest Super Bowl contenders, was the ground game, where they had just nine yards, all of them by Ronald Jones. Leonard Fournette had zero yards on one play. On the other side, the Saints yielded 138 yards. Overall, Tampa Bay held the football for just 20 minutes.

It seems that they don’t like playing in prime time, at least that is what the stats say. The Buccaneers appeared three times in such contests, posting 15.7 points per match. In the remaining six, they had 33.8, and that is quite a difference. Tom Brady was very unhappy because of it.

“We need to perform better at every time,” he said. “One o’clock, 4 o’clock, 8 o’clock, Monday night, Sunday night. Doesn’t matter. They’re going to schedule the games, and we’re going to go out there and play.”

As for the Saints, they were doing just fine, with Drew Brees confidently leading the way with 222 passing yards and four tosses for a score. Michael Thomas was back, posting 51 yards on five catches without a TD. The guests’ scores were delivered by Tre’Quan Smith, Adam Trautman, Emmanuel Sanders, and Josh Hill, all of them through the air. Alvin Kamara carried the football into the endzone once.

Tonight was only the 2nd time in Tom Brady's career where his team lost by more than 30 points, with tonight's defeat being his most lopsided ever. 😮 pic.twitter.com/jHolm1UJu9

— theScore (@theScore) November 9, 2020

Even though they had two turnovers, the Saints didn’t allow points. Their defense, which has been under certain doubt since the campaign started, was at the highest possible level.

“As many weapons as they have on the offensive side of the ball, our defense just played phenomenally,” Brees praised his teammates from the defensive unit.

What was especially important for him was Thomas’ comeback. The Saints posted solid results without him on the field, and having one of the best, if not the best, wide receiver on the field again, is a massive boost for them.

A 6-2 New Orleans has a nice chance to improve the overall record, as their next two matches take place at home. The first one is against the 49ers, and the latter versus the divisional rivals, the Atlanta Falcons.

The Buccaneers, 6-3, will travel to Charlotte to play against the Carolina Panthers. After that, the LA Rams are coming to Florida, in a match that might be very important for this team. They need to win both to stay near the Saints.