In what might be their biggest game of the entire 2020 NFL Season, the (5-2) New Orleans Saints will be seeking their 5th straight win in a row this weekend when they travel to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida to face their divisional rivals, the (6-2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a nationally-televised contest on NBC Sunday Night Football.
Kickoff is at 7:15 P.M. Central standard time and the game will be broadcast locally in NOLA by WSDU-TV Channel 6 New Orleans.
This Sunday’s contest will be the second of two meetings between the two teams this season; as the Black and Gold won the first game at the Superdome back in Week #1, by a score of 34-23.
The Buccaneers as of now are in 1st place and currently have a half-game lead over New Orleans within the NFC South Division, and this contest could go a long way in ultimately determining the division champion as well as possible Playoff implications at the end of the season.
We’ll be waiting all week for this ? match up! @drewbrees vs. @TomBrady.@Saints vs. @Buccaneers. pic.twitter.com/SvFmtRLNGx
— Sunday Night Football (@SNFonNBC) November 2, 2020
Random @NFL note to change the subject…
If the Saints beat the Buccaneers Sunday, it will mark the FIRST time Tom Brady would be swept by a division rival in his 19 years as an @NFL starting QB.@NFLResearch
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) November 4, 2020
With that in mind, here are Big Easy Magazine’s 5 “Bold” Predictions for this highly-anticipated match-up. And as always: we’ll count them down first beginning with #5 and then work our way down to #1.
Starting first with….
#5. SAINTS ALL-PRO WIDE RECEIVER MICHAEL THOMAS FINALLY RETURNS TO THE BLACK AND GOLD’S OFFENSIVE STARTING LINE-UP AND HAS A SOLID PERFORMANCE
Thomas finally returns to the Saints starting line-up for this Sunday’s key divisional clash, after missing the team’s past 6 games with a wide variety of issues which included a severe high-ankle sprain, a slight hamstring-pull, and a much-publicized incident at practice in which he got into a fight with fellow teammate and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
Although the Saints offense has managed to persevere and still win 4 of those last 6 games that he’s missed without him, it’s been clearly evident that the Black and Gold still needs him to stay healthy and remain an integral part of their passing attack, if they have any serious intentions of making a run in the NFL Playoffs and attempting to achieve their ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl before Drew Brees retires.
In this Sunday Night’s showdown with the Buccaneers, the Saints 5th year All-Pro makes his long-anticipated return and will have a solid performance, as he contributes 7 catches for 85 yards and a receiving TD while matched-up one-on-one for most of the night against outstanding Tampa Bay CB Carlton Davis.
#4. AMID MUCH HYPE, RECENT FREE AGENT SIGNEE AND BUCCANEERS WIDE RECEIVER ANTONIO BROWN HAS A STELLAR DEBUT AGAINST THE MUCH-MALIGNED SAINTS DEFENSIVE SECONDARY
Here is Antonio Brown at his first #GoBucs practice. Last week he was limited to meetings/training while clearing NFL protocols and finishing 8-game suspension.
“Everybody else was walking but he was going full speed.” — Bruce Arians. Pool video is provided by the Buccaneers. pic.twitter.com/XiwV7U290W
— Grace Remington (@GraceRemiWTSP) November 4, 2020
As Saints fans are well aware: the Buccaneers essentially have built themselves a “Dream Team” over the course of the past several months by signing a handful of former all-star players in Free Agency, the latest being former the controversial former Pittsburgh Steelers 7-time All-Pro WR Antonio Brown.
Brown will be making his season debut against the Saints, after serving an 8-game suspension to begin the 2020 campaign for violating the NFL’s mandated conduct / behavior policy last year. Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians earlier this week told reporters that Brown will see substantial action but was non-committal as to just exactly how much playing time that would entail and said it would depend on how the game unfolds.
But with the Saints defensive secondary having notably struggled throughout the first half of this season against opposing pass-catchers at either the wide receiver or tight end positions, Arians decides to allow Brown to have a significant role — as the 11th year veteran catches 8 receptions for 122 yards and 2 TD’s including an exhilarating 57-yard catch-and-run for a score late in the 3rd Quarter.
#3. SAINTS SUPERSTAR RUNNING BACK ALVIN KAMARA CONTINUES HIS “OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR”- CALIBER 2020 SEASON THUS FAR, WITH YET ANOTHER SENSATIONAL OUTING VERSUS THE ONE TEAM (TAMPA BAY) HE’S HAD THE MOST CAREER SUCCESS AGAINST
Through the Black and Gold’s first 7 games, the 25-year old Kamara is having his best season of his 4-year career so far, as he has rushed 87 times for 431 yards and 4 TD’s, while additionally recording a remarkable 55 receptions for 556 yards and another 3 TD’s in the receiving game (7 TD’s total).
Kamara leads the entire League in scrimmage yards (987) this season, and is currently on pace to break Hall of Fame RB Marshall Faulk’s NFL record for receiving yards (1,098) by a running back in a single season. That said, this Sunday Night he’ll actually have an opportunity to even further add more impressive numbers against the one team that he’s personally enjoyed the most career-success against
In his 7 career games against Tampa Bay, Kamara has recorded 80 carries for 345 yards and 5 rushing TD’s against them in the running game; and has 47 catches (on 57 targets) for 456 yards and 3 receiving TD’s against them in the passing game, along with an unforgettable 106-yard kickoff return for a TD in his 2017 rookie season.
If you’re keeping track at home: that’s a jaw-dropping 907 total yards and 9 TD’s vs. the Bucs all-time in his first 3 and ½ seasons.
In Sunday Night’s contest, the young Saints superstar will be a “thorn in the side” of the Buccaneers once again, as he rushes 12 times for 66 yards against the stout Bucs defensive line, while putting up an additional 6 catches for 72 more yards and another TD in the receiving game.
#2. DESPITE PASSING FOR OVER 300-PLUS YARDS, BUCS QUARTERBACK / “LIVING LEGEND” TOM BRADY IS SACKED A SEASON-HIGH SIX TIMES BY THE SAINTS DEFENSIVE LINE
Brady enters Sunday Night’s game against the Saints having only been sacked 10 times in Tampa Bay’s first 8 games, which is actually a favorable stat thus for the Bucs O-Line — who just last season in 2019 allowed their former starting QB (and now Saints back-up #2 QB) Jameis Winston to be taken down a whopping 47 times.
Conversely, while struggling to get their pass rush going earlier in the season after they initially had gotten off to a good start by sacking Brady 3 of those times in the 2020 Season Opener at the Superdome in Week #1, the Saints defense has now tallied a grand total of 19 quarterback sacks; and their pass rush has since been directly responsible for coming up with key sacks in crucial moments which have led to wins in back-to-back games vs. Carolina and Chicago respectively.
This Sunday Night, the Saints rapidly-improving defensive line will have their best performance of the season up to this point — as they will relentlessly pressure the future Hall of Famer Brady and sack him a total of 6 times — which will help off-set the fact (unfortunately) that the 43-year old “living legend” and former 6-time Super Bowl championship-winning QB; will torch the Saints secondary for well over 300-plus passing yards through the air.
#1. AS THE 4TH QUARTER BEGINS, TAMPA BAY HAS A 9-POINT LEAD OVER NEW ORLEANS WHEN….
When the Saints go on an 8-play, 56 yard drive that ultimately results in a successful 41-yard field goal by kicker Wil Lutz, which helps the Black and Gold narrow the Buccaneers lead to a score of 30-24.
Tampa Bay subsequently gets the ball back but after converting a 3rd Down earlier in the drive, a sack of Brady by Saints 3rd year defensive end Marcus Davenport forces the Buccaneers to punt from their own 39-yard line,
Saints kick / punt returner Deonte Harris — who at first appears to be ready to call for a fair catch at the Saints 15-yard line — at the last moment decides to field the punt and after slipping past two Bucs special teams defenders, suddenly breaks a tackle and sprints into the open-field while nearly taking it “all the way to the house” before being caught from behind at the Tampa Bay 15-yard line.
But the Saints aren’t able to punch it in for the potential game-tying score, and New Orleans is forced to settle for a Lutz 29-yard field goal which leaves the Saints still trailing by a score of 30-27, with less than 5 minutes to play in the game.
Brady then leads Tampa Bay on a 5-play, 62-yard drive that’s highlighted by a 43-yard reception to a wide open WR Mike Evans on another blown pass coverage by the Saints secondary, but luckily New Orleans is fortunate enough to keep the Bucs out of the end zone, and Tampa kicker Ryan Succop‘s 4th field goal of the game gives them a 33-27 lead right after the 2-Minute Warning.
The Saints get the ball back on the kick-off at their own 25-yard line with a shot at still winning the game, but two back-to-back incompletions by Brees quickly leaves New Orleans facing a 3rd Down-and-10 with just slightly over a minute remaining.
With the outcome of the game on the line, Brees drops back and appears as though he is about to be sacked — but he somehow is able to escape the clutches of Bucs edge pass rusher Shaquil Barrett and as he absorbs the hit, incredibly manages to throw the ball blindly to WR Emmanuel Sanders — who himself miraculously is able to snag the pigskin between two Bucs defenders before streaking down the right sideline and eventually is pushed out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 11-yard line.
New Orleans is then forced to burn their final time-out to stop the clock with only 14 seconds remaining.
On the very next play, Brees fakes a pitch to Kamara in the backfield, and then rolls out to his right — before floating a pass into the end zone that lands perfectly in the hands of an open Saints tight end Jared Cook for the TD — and Lutz’s extra point provides the winning margin as the Saints escape Raymond James Stadium with their 5th consecutive victory and a season-sweep of the Bucs within the NFC South Division….
FINAL SCORE: SAINTS 34, BUCCANEERS 33
Barry Hirstius is a semi-retired journalist, who has worked previously as a sports editor and columnist. Barry is a New Orleans native who grew up as a fan of the Saints while attending their games as a young boy during the early 1970’s, uptown at the old Tulane Stadium. He is also the proud Grandfather of two beautiful young girls, Jasmine and Serenity. Follow him on Twitter: @BarryHirstius
