Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not quite Super Bowl ready

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were embarrassed by the Saints on Sunday night.

Sunday night was set up to be the final dotting of the I or crossing of the T for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They were facing the team’s division rival the New Orleans Saints with control of the division on the line.

It was a prime opportunity for the team to avenge its loss in the opening game of the season and stake its claim as a true championship contender. This may have been the most anticipated home game in Tampa Bay in over a decade.

Instead, the Buccaneers not only lost the team’s first home game of the season, but the team was also embarrassed by the Saints and may have been forced to realize that it is not in the same class as its division counterparts. The Saints were never threatened on Sunday night and the Buccaneers looked like a team that didn’t realize the game had started until it was far too late.

Many things went wrong for Tampa Bay on Sunday beginning with Tom Brady and the offense. They started the game with a quick three-and-out on the first possession and, although you couldn’t tell at the time, it was a precursor for what was yet to come.

Brady looked uncomfortable all night and for some reason, the team never made an effort to get the running game going to help him out.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers still have a ways to go to contend for a Super Bowl.

This was the second time this season where Brady and his offensive line struggled against the Saints defense. In the two games against the Saints, Brady has been hit 16 times and also sacked six times. When you add in the team’s loss to the Bears, Brady has been hit 24 times and sacked nine times. These are just the plays that are credited in the box score and do not account for plays nullified for penalties so the damage has been more.

As good as the offensive line has looked at times, it has struggled against good defensive lines and Brady has paid the price. The pressure and ineffectiveness have taken its toll on Brady and he has now thrown five interceptions against the Saints, though he did manage to not throw one against the Bears.

The vaunted Tampa Bay defense was also horrible in this game. The Saints took advantage of the aggressiveness of the Tampa Bay secondary and Drew Brees was able to find open players all night long. Jamel Dean in particular was victimized for two touchdowns, but the Saints clearly had a gameplan to find the open player and there were plenty on Sunday night.

Brees only had six incompletions while also throwing for four touchdowns. At times it looked like he was running a scrimmage drill in practice and he never seemed uncomfortable in the pocket or with the looks the Buccaneers showed him in the secondary.

Tampa Bay’s run defense was also abused on Sunday for the first time this season. The team gave up 138 yards rushing and the Saints were often getting out of the first tackle. They kept Alvin Kamara in check but let Taysom Hill run through them.

The biggest issue for the Buccaneers is they have now played two games against the Saints and one against Green Bay and Chicago with only one win out of the grouping. The only teams they have beaten with winning records are the Packers and Raiders. Green Bay was undefeated when the Bucs beat them but they have been a bit up and down since. The Raiders are 5-3 but do not look like true title contenders at all.

All three losses have shown the team may not be ready for championship contender status. They definitely should not be considered frontrunners again before a win against another contender. Kansas City might be the only other true test left on the schedule.

For things to turn around, the team will have to get off to better starts and show much more discipline. They could not do that against New Orleans in either game and certainly cannot consider themselves in the same class as the Saints.