Tampa Bay 30 @ New Orleans 20 Final - FOX

Scoring Plays:
1Q - NO - Wil Lutz 23 yd FG GOOD | TB 0, NO 3
1Q - NO - Wil Lutz 42 yd FG GOOD | TB 0, NO 6
End of Quarter Score - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0, New Orleans Saints 6
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2Q - TB - Ryan Succop 26 yd FG GOOD | TB 3, NO 6
2Q - TB - Tom Brady to Mike Evans 3 yd TD pass (PAT Good) | TB 10, NO 6
2Q - NO - Jameis Winston to Tre'Quan Smith 56 yd TD pass (PAT Good) | TB 10, NO 13
2Q - TB - Ryan Succop 37 yd FG GOOD | TB 13, NO 13
End of Quarter Score - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13, New Orleans Saints 13
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3Q - NO - Drew Brees to Tre'Quan Smith 16 yd TD pass (PAT Good) | TB 13, NO 20
3Q - TB - Tom Brady to Leonard Fournette 6 yd TD pass (PAT Good) | TB 20, NO 20
End of Quarter Score - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20, New Orleans Saints 20
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4Q - TB - Ryan Succop 36 yd FG GOOD | TB 23, NO 20
4Q - TB - Tom Brady 1 yd TD rush (PAT Good) | TB 30, NO 20
Final Score - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30, New Orleans Saints 20
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Hello Who Dats & Who Datettes and welcome to the Saints Divisional Game Thread.

Glad to have that little playoff monkey off the team's back, having ended the 2-game postseason losing streak following last week's 21-9 Wild Card Round win over the Bears.

And now it gets interesting as the Saints head up against a divisional rival in the playoffs for the third time in franchise history, and for the second time are trying to complete a three-game sweep. In 1991, the Saints & Falcons split the season series (road team won both games) before the Falcons came to the Superdome in the Wild Card Round and defeated the Saints, 27-20. In 2017, the Saints beat the Carolina Panthers in both games of the regular season and finished off the 3-game sweep 31-26 in the Superdome in the Wild Card Round. That Saints sweep of Carolina represents the last time a NFL team has even had the chance to 3-bag a divisional foe, until today.

But today the NFL finally gets the QB playoff battle it should've craved in the Super Bowl 2 years ago, Drew Brees vs. Tom Brady (Patrick Turner & Gary Cavaletto denied us of that by not flagging 1 very obvious penalty).

For Tom Brady & the Buccaneers, the world was falling after they lost 3 of 4 (NO, LAR, KC) heading into their week 13 bye, but then everyone seemed to jump right back on the Brady & the Bucs to a home Super Bowl bandwagon thanks to a current 5-game win streak with wins over the Vikings (7-9), Falcons (4-12) x2, Lions (5-11), & Football Team (7-9). Total record of those 5 games - 27-53. The talking head media says Antonio Brown is finally getting in the groove and the Bucs are peaking at the right time, even with a bit of a struggle win last week in Washington.

For the Saints, this game gives them yet another chance to prove they are the kings of the NFC South after sweeping the division in the regular season and winning their 4th straight division championship. If there's one team that knows what a healthy Saints team can do, it's the Bucs, who were the only team to see Drew Brees, Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, et al all on the field twice during the regular season, and that did not end well for Tampa. If the Saints can hit the 34 points they put on Tampa in the Superdome in week 1, or even better the 38 points they put up in Tampa in week 9, and if the defense can perform anything like they did in week 9 then we may be packing our long underwear for Green Bay & the NFC Championship.

As already discussed, the last time these two teams played was back in week 9 this season, a game where the Saints just dominated the Bucs from beginning to end, leading 31-0 at halftime and cruised to a 38-3 win at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. I'm sure the defense is still upset they gave up that garbage time field goal that kept them from the shutout.

LET'S SEND THE BUCS TO THE BRINY DEEP AND PUNCH OUR TICKET TO THE NFC CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

Team Ranks: (Category: TB | NO *These are 2020 Regular Season Only Ranks*)
Offensive-
Yards Per Game: 7th (384.1) | 12th (376.4)
Rushing: 28th (94.9) | 6th (141.6)
Passing: 2nd (289.1) | 19th (234.9)
Scoring: 3rd (30.8) | 5th (30.1)

Defensive-
Yards Per Game: 6th (327.1) | 4th (310.9)
Rushing: 1st (80.6) | 4th (93.9)
Passing: 21st (246.6) | 5th (217.0)
Scoring: 8th (22.2) | 5th (21.1)

Injury Report: (Players only currently on the 53-man roster who have a game designation from the Friday injury report listed here)
TB- (Kevin Minter remains on Reserve/COVID-19 List & Alex Cappa was put on Injured Reserve)
Jeremiah Ledbetter (Calf) OUT
Ronald Jones (Quadricep/Finger) QUESTIONABLE
Andrew Adams (Not Injury Related) QUESTIONABLE
Jordan Whitehead (Knee) QUESTIONABLE

NO-
Patrick Robinson (Hamstring) OUT
Latavius Murray (Quadricep) QUESTIONABLE
Taysom Hill (Knee) QUESTIONABLE

Weather: 3.500 fans inside the Superdome will be trying to get the Saints to the frozen tundra next week.

Uniforms: Riding the hot hand of the all-black uniform for another week



2020 Final Standings:
NFC South:
Saints 12-4
Buccaneers 11-5
Panthers 5-11
Falcons 4-12

Betting Line: Saints (-3) O/U 52

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Today's Officials: (Playoffs use mixed "All-Star" crews of the highest graded officials at their positions. The name in parenthesis will be the head referee that official worked with during this season)
Referee: #83 Shawn Hochuli


Umpire: #77 Terry Killens (Clay Martin)
Down Judge: #53 Sarah Thomas (Shawn Hochuli)
Line Judge: #68 Tom Stephan (Clete Blakeman)
Field Judge: #50 Aaron Santi (Craig Wrolstad)
Side Judge: #103 Eugene Hall (Brad Rogers)
Back Judge: #105 Dino Paganelli (Shawn Smith)
Replay Official: Roddy Ames
Replay Assistant: Alton James
**Alternate Officials - (R-23) Jerome Boger, (U-102) Bruce Stritesky, (LJ-75) Mark Stewart, (FJ-15) Rick Patterson, (BJ-119) Greg Wilson.**

Inactive Lists:
TB-
QB Ryan Griffin
WR Justin Watson
RB Ke'Shawn Vaughn
S Javon Hagan
G Earl Watford
TE Antony Auclair
DL Jeremiah Ledbetter

NO-
QB Taysom Hill
RB Latavius Murray
CB Patrick Robinson
CB Ken Crawley
WR Juwan Johnson
DL Malcolm Roach
OL Derrick Kelly