How the Buccaneers Can Beat the Saints

The Buccaneers and Saints are facing off in an NFC South showdown later today. Oh wait, I forgot to change my calendar. Whoops, it was still on 2020. That’s on me. It’s 2025, and both teams are far from that time. The Saints and Bucs are dealing with their fair share of injuries. The Saints are also dealing with a lack of talent on both sides of the ball. Not to say they should be taken lightly, but there is a reason why the last game was 23-3.

Looking at the saints offense, the biggest missing piece is Alvin Kamara. He is not what he once was, but he has been an effective weapon for them. Without him in the line-up, the focus should be on Chris Olave. He also seems to be dealing with back spasms, so he may be restricted by that. Tyler Shough seems to be that guy, or at least the saints have gotten in a few years. That being said, he is still green. Jamel Dean has been money against better QBs and WRs, so let’s hope that continues.

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However, on the flipside, Morrison is out again. Which means Zyon McCollum will be CB2. Hurray. He will likely be facing off against Vele a lot. Vele has only recently gotten playing time (even though they traded not insignificant assets for him), but he didn’t look half-bad vs the Dolphins. As I have said before, as OC, my gameplan would be target McCollum’s man until McCollum makes some plays.

Looking at the Bucs offense, things get sad again. Tristan Wirfs is out with an oblique injury. It won’t be long-term it doesn’t seem, but it is a blow. Considering he has had a history of struggling against Chase Young, so just think what Charlie Heck will do. And yes, I imagine it will be Heck. I can’t imagine they want to play musical chairs and kick Barton out there. But maybe because they did already do it with some success, they might try again.

The Saints defense ranks in the bottom half on defense in run and pass, so Grizzard can decide what he wants to focus on. The Bucs still have their three capable backs (even though Tucker was not featured much last week). However, I think they need to look to their Saint killer. Chris Godwin averages 75 yards a game vs them and nearly a td a game. He looked a lot better against the Cardinals, but strangely disappeared in the second half. If he looks that strong again, they can’t move off him.

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The Saints aren’t the biggest pushovers in the league, but they also have two wins. The Bucs should be able to beat them. The offense will probably be a bigger issue than the defense this week just because of a lack of Wirfs. The defense needs to hone onto the few remaining weapons left standing and get to Shough. Offense just needs to hold on and play disciplined football. Baker needs to make good decisions and find Godwin.

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