Drew Brees Beats Tom Brady, Tampa Bay in Embarrassing Fashion, 38-3
Tampa Bay, FL – The marquee matchup of week nine did not live up to the billing. The battle of GOAT QB’s: Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees vs Buccaneer’s quarterback Tom Brady. Both still playing high-quality football in the NFC South in their early 40’s, with their first-ballots stamped and ready to go for the Hall of Fame. Combined, they have seven Super Bowls, three MVP Awards, over 150,000 passing yards, more than 1,100 touchdowns, and 37 years of NFL quarterbacking experience. Everyone and their mother picked the Bucs to win a shootout tonight against the Saints. After all, they had the top-rated defense, an offense that was just beginning to click, and they added yet another dynamic playmaker at wideout in Antonio Brown in mid-October. Instead, it was the Saints that proved to be the better of the two, taking back the division lead with a resounding 38-3 win over the Buccaneers.
Thomas returns, but Taysom Hill was the real star
Tonight marked the return of Saints star wideout Michael Thomas after missing six games due to ankle and hamstring injuries and being suspended for another after punching teammate DB CJ Gardner-Johnson during practice. But Thomas’ returned was overshadowed by another dynamic Saints offensive weapon. And no, I’m not talking about Alvin Kamara, who had 49 total yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, nor Drew Brees, who completed 26/32 of his passes (81%) for 222 yards and four touchdowns. Indeed, the true key to the Saints’ win on Sunday was back-up quarterback Jameis Winston!... Gotcha, didn’t I’? It was actually the Saints’ third-string quarterback Taysom Hill who served as the catalyst for the offense. Taysom had 10 total touches on the night; two passes (completed both of them), seven carries, and one catch for a total of 123 offensive yards (48 passing, 54 rushing, 21 receiving). Hill provided a sense of offensive mystery for the Saints offense, confusing the top-rated Bucs defense (No. 1 in total DVOA) into giving up 420 yards of total offense.
On defense, the pressure came in early and often against Brady, sacking him three times, hitting him nine times, deflecting eight of his passes, and picking the future Hall of Famer off three times. Defensive lineman Trey Hendrickson, who Bruce Arians said was the “easiest Saints player to block up there”, sacked Brady three times on back-to-back-to-back plays, with the first sack being negated by a holding penalty against Gardner-Johnson. In the secondary, it was the Marshon Lattimore show. The shutdown corner only allowed two catches for 25 yards on the whole night, primarily covering Antonio Brown and Mike Evans. Lattimore got the chance to re-spark his rivalry with Evans, proving he’s the only DB in the league that can shut the Pro Bowl wideout down; deflecting a short fade route touchdown pass in the endzone against him. Evans was targeted twice whenever he went up against Lattimore. Both times, he couldn’t make the catch.
What the expletive was that?!
That is what everyone in the football world said unanimously when they saw a Tom Brady-led offense get completely shut out for almost four quarters on Sunday Night. Here’s how every drive ended for the Bucs; 3 and out four times in a row, an interception in Bucs territory, turn over on downs, a pick off a deep pass to Antonio Brown to end the first half, another turnover on downs, a third interception by Brady throwing off his back foot (very uncharacteristic of him), a field goal, and a kneel down by backup QB Blaine Gabbert. Writing that drive sequence was just as painful as watching it play out in real life. Tom Brady was a disaster out there, completing 22/38 of his passes (58% completion percentage) for 209 yards and three ugly interceptions. Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen did a great job conducting his defense against Brady. The trick to defeating TB12 is bringing constant pressure while disguising your coverage well enough to confuse him, and that’s exactly what the Saints D did. None of the supposed “big names” on Tampa’s offense did anything to generate any kind of momentum for the Bucs. A receiving corps comprised of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, Scotty Miller, and Rob Gronkowski only managed a combined 12 catches on 26 targets for 144 yards. On the ground, it was so much worse, as Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones combined for four total carries for nine yards, with Blaine Gabbert adding a carry on his kneel to end the game. 5 total carries for the Bucs; that set a new NFL record for the least amount of rushing attempts in a single game. That is a damning statistic for a Bruce Arians team that was supposedly the “most balanced” in the NFL.
As for the defense, this was the real disappointment of the night. As I mentioned earlier, Tampa’s defense overall ranked 1stin overall DVOA, 13thagainst the pass but 1stagainst the run, and was third in the league in total sacks (25), just behind the Pittsburgh Steelers (30) and the Philadelphia Eagles (28). Against New Orleans, this “vaunted” unit allowed 38 unanswered points. Drew Brees, the quarterback that many said was “finished” in 2020 (even me), threw four touchdowns against this young secondary, sprinkling the ball around to 11 different receivers (Winston threw it to the fullback Burton to make it 12 in garbage time) for 222 yards, while Kamara, Hill, and Latavius Murray (plus Dwayne Washington) racked up 138 yards on the ground attack. Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles opted for a more conservative approach to the game; opting for zone schemes and prevent defense instead of his trademark blitz packages. Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was the only player to register a sack, while the heavily underrated linebacker Lavonte David and defensive back Mike Edwards each got a fumble recovery produced by Devin White and Shaq Barrett, respectively.
What’s coming up next?
The schedule starts to get easier for New Orleans, as they’re set to host an injury-riddled San Francisco squad on Sunday for an afternoon matchup (Fox’s game of the week, indeed). As for Tampa, they’ll be looking for a chance to get right next week, traveling down to Charlotte to face a feisty Carolina Panthers team that just went toe-to-toe with the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Writer
-By: Juan Guarin-Camargo