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Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Third time’s a charm vs. Saints

By Leigh Oleszczak

TAMPA, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 08: Antonio Brown #81 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers runs a route against Janoris Jenkins #20 of the New Orleans Saints during the first half at Raymond James Stadium on November 08, 2020 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 08: Antonio Brown #81 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers runs a route against Janoris Jenkins #20 of the New Orleans Saints during the first half at Raymond James Stadium on November 08, 2020 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers face the Saints in the divisional round and this will be the third time the two sides have played.

The main storyline when Tom Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was that it’d mean there’d be at least two occasions where he and Drew Brees would square off. This season we’re fortunate enough to have three games between the Bucs and the Saints, as both teams won their Wild Card games and will now face each other in the Divisional Round.

The Saints swept the Bucs this season and downright dominated them in Week 9 by a score of 38-3. That game was when people started to think the Bucs might be overrated and that Brady might not have it anymore, but Tampa Bay finished the season off red hot and they’ll be looking to avenge both of their losses against New Orleans in this one.

While the Saints got the better of Tampa in their two previous meetings, this is a very different Bucs team than the one we saw in NFL Week 9. The offense has been clicking, the defense is playing pretty darn well, and this is a team that has their sights set on playing in the Super Bowl for sure.

Meanwhile, the Saints have been very up and down. They ended up blowing out the Bears in the Wild Card Round but it took them a bit to get the offense cooking. They won’t be able to come out of the gates that slow against Tampa or they’ll be spending the entire game coming from behind.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers get a third shot at their NFC South foes.

It’s incredibly difficult to beat the same team three times in a single season and that’s why the Bucs have a good shot to win this game. The Saints might be the home team, but they lost last year’s playoff game and the season before’s in the Superdome, so they’re beatable there, especially with significantly fewer fans in the stands.

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Tampa Bay has a chance to not only advance to the NFC Championship Game with a win next weekend, but they can do so by defeating a team who has beaten them in two matchups to this point. This team has been hot and they’ll have a chance to prove it in the Big Easy next weekend.

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