Saints make key plays to drop Bucs in opener, 34-23

  • September 13, 2020
  • By Ken Trahan
  • Category: Saints
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Trey Hendrickson, Tom Brady
Sep 13, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) sacks Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) during the second quarter at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (Pool Photo: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports).

Tom Brady was reportedly the offseason Saints backup plan for Drew Brees.

The former is 43. The latter is 41.

Brady and Brees entered the game Sunday with 1,088 touchdown passes combined, more than seven other teams in their franchise histories. In addition, they had combined for 151,987 yards passing.

Both had moments Sunday but neither will remember the performance among their any great games in their brilliant careers.

Brees was not very sharp but he played error-free football. Brady did not.

The Saints had taken care of two cornerstone players prior to the season starting, including Alvin Kamara and Demario Davis, who signed a three-year, $27 million dollar deal with 18.35 million guaranteed on Saturday, according to Erin Andrews of Fox Sports.

Then came the game.

Here are my Quick Takes from the 34-23 win Sunday for New Orleans over Tampa Bay:

**Inactives for the first game of the season for the Saints were Marquez Callaway, P.J. Williams, Cesar Ruiz, Zack Baun, Marcus Davenport and Shy Tuttle

**Tampa Bay won the toss and deferred, giving the Saints the ball first.

**Taysom Hill was in on the first snap and caught a pass for 14 yards from Drew Brees but the drive stalled.

**Tampa Bay took over on its 15-yard line and promptly drove 85 yards in nine plays, taking 4:53 off the clock with Brady scoring on a 2-yard quarterback sneak to take a 7-0 lead with 7:27 to play in the opening quarter.

**The drive was aided by two pass interference calls, neither of which was much of an infraction, if at all. The first was on Malcolm Jenkins while the second was on Marshon Lattimore.

**Rookie Malcolm Roach made a big play on a Ronald Jones run for a loss of one on the second Tampa Bay possession.

**The Saints finally got it going on their third possession, driving 64 yards in 11 plays, taking 5:38 off the clock with Brees hitting newly paid Alvin Kamara on a 12-yard touchdown pass on a well-executed screen pass to tie the game at 7-7 with 11:39 to play in the half.

**Then, Marcus Williams came up with a huge interception of Tom Brady thanks to miscommunication between the Bucs QB and wideout Mike Evans, who stopped and broke off the route while Brady threw it deep. Williams returned the pick to the Tampa Bay 35-yard line.

**On third-and 13 from the Tampa Bay 38, Brees threw deep for Emmanuel Sanders into double coverage and got a huge break as Jordan Whitehead interfered with Sanders, a 32-yard penalty, giving the Saints a first-and-goal at the six-yard line. The penalty was called against Sean Murphy-Bunting but it was clearly contact on Whitehead.

**The Saints took advantage as Kamara raced six yards for a score, his second in 90 seconds, to give the Saints a 14-7 lead with 10:09 to play in the half.

**The Saints were able to match up Cameron Jordan and Trey Hendrickson in positive fashion against Tampa Bay tackle Donovan Smith, with Jordan coming up with a big tackle for loss and Hendrickson getting a big sack to stop a Bucs drive.

**Tampa’s Ryan Succop had a 54-yard field goal attempt blocked by Margus Hunt, who was just activated from the New Orleans practice squad on Saturday. Hunt had very good penetration. The kick was low and hit him near the face mask.

**New Orleans got the ball at its own 45 but faced a fourth-and-two at the Tampa Bay 47-yard line. The Saints lined up to go for it and Brees got Vita Vea to jump offside for a first down.

**The Saints had two likely touchdowns which they missed. First, Jared Cook dropped a slant route and he was wide open and likely would have scored. Then, Kamara was wide open in the flat but Shaquil Barrett got penetration, leaped and knocked the pass down. Kamara would have scored easily.

**Wil Lutz came on and kicked a 29-yard field goal to make it 17-7 with 44 seconds left in the half.

**The Saints finished the first half with 138 yards to 107 for the Bucs.

**Brees was 13-of-19 for 94 yards with a touchdown in the first half. Kamara scored twice.

**Tampa Bay opened the second half with the ball and fourth play of the half, Brady threw in the flat for Justin Watson, threw it slightly behind him and Janoris Jenkins picked it off and returned it 36 yards for a score to give the Saints a 24-7 lead with 13:13 to play in the third quarter.

**The interception was the 24th for Jenkins in his excellent career. He’s now returned eight of them for scores.

**The momentum did not last. On the first play of the next series for Tampa Bay, Marcus Williams was flagged for pass interference against Evans, a 45-yard penalty to the New Orleans 30-yard line.

**Then, Jones ran 21 yards to the nine and on the next play, Brady found tight end O.J. Howard all alone for a nine-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 24-14 with 12:20 to play in the third quarter. It was a blown coverage, to be certain.

**The Saints offense did absolutely nothing on two straight series, accounting for just one yard total, and Tampa Bay came back and drove 69 yards in eight plays, taking 3:49 off the clock with Succop booting a 38-yard field goal to make it 24-17 with 2:22 to play in the third quarter.

**The big play of the drive was a pass interference penalty on Patrick Robinson, playing for the injured Janoris Jenkins, who was in the injury tent at the time. The penalty covered 28 yards to the New Orleans 23-yard line.

**The offense finally got on track, driving 61 yards in six plays, taking 2:25 off the clock with Brees hitting Emmanuel Sanders on a five-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 31-17 lead with 11:38 to play in the game.

**Brees has now thrown touchdown passes to 70 different players in his illustrious career.

**On the touchdown play, Sanders had his face mask grabbed. The Saints elected to enforce the penalty on the kickoff.

**Thomas Morstead kicked off toward the right sideline, Jaydon Mickens and Mike Edwards collided, fumbled, and Bennie Fowler recovered at the Tampa Bay 18-yard line.

**Of course, Lutz usually kicks off, so it brought back memories of “Ambush” in Super Bowl XLIV, when Morstead successfully executed an onside kick which Chris Reis recovered which changed the momentum of that contest, which the Saints won 31-17

**Despite making one first down, the Saints could not fully take advantage of it and Lutz kicked a 21-yard field goal to make it 34-17 with 8:01 to play in the game.

**Tampa Bay then drove 90 yards in 11 plays, taking 3:18 off the clock and Brady hit Evans on a 2-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 34-23 with 2:41 to play in the game. Evans, who was throttled all day by Lattimore, got a matchup with Demario Davis and took advantage of it.

**Michael Thomas, who was held to just three catches for 17 yards, got his ankle rolled up on from behind late in the game and limped off. That is obviously a concern.

**Kamara appeared to have scored a third touchdown as time was winding down but it was overturned on replay.

In 2019, the Saints scored 30 or more points 11 times. When you score 30, you win.

What does a deep roster look like?

New Orleans activated two players Saturday from its practice squad, Margus Hunt and Bennie Fowler. Hunt blocked a field goal and Fowler recovered a fumble.

It was a strange game with no fans.

It was a strange game between two teams who had no offseason and no preseason games and looked the part, at times.

Simply put, the Saints won by committing no crippling mistakes, with no turnovers.

Brady threw two interceptions, the Saints recovered a fumble on a kickoff and New Orleans blocked a punt.

Of course, the Saints were penalized six times for 119 yards and must reduce the explosive play penalties in the secondary.

On the other hand, the Bucs were penalized nine times for 103 yards, following a 2019 season in which Tampa Bay was the most penalized team in the NFL.

New Orleans won despite putting up just 271 yards of offense.

The Saints have their best cornerback duo in franchise history in Lattimore and Janoris Jenkins.

As we stated prior to the game, the Saints were catching the Bucs at the right time, a team with a new quarterback, running back and tight end trying to assimilate. The Bucs will get better.

So will the Saints, based on what we saw. Sanders will only get better. Brees should get better. The hope is that first rounder Cesar Ruiz and Marcus Davenport get healthy and that rookies Zack Baun and Adam Trautman also get a shot at some point to contribute.

With both the Falcons and Panthers losing, New Orleans is already on top in the NFC South. That, of course, is nothing new but it is welcomed nonetheless for the home team.

Next up is a Monday night game at Las Vegas as the Raiders open Allegiant Stadium without fans.

Las Vegas beat Carolina and looked pretty good doing so Sunday. The Raiders will be pumped for their first home game but that will be tempered without fans.

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Ken Trahan

CEO/Owner

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Born and raised in the New Orleans area, CCSE CEO Ken Trahan has been a sports media fixture in the community for nearly four decades. Ken started NewOrleans.com/Sports with Bill Hammack and Don Jones in 2008. In 2011, the site became SportsNOLA.com. On August 1, 2017, Ken helped launch CrescentCitySports.com. Having accumulated national awards/recognition (National Sports Media Association, National Football…

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