While the outcome is certainly not what the Bucs hoped for, there were some bright spots.
The Bucs’ defense, Lavonte David especially, looked stellar against Drew Brees and an explosive Saints offense, holding them to 280 total yards. David tallied 11 total tackles, tied for the most on the Bucs with second-year man Devin White out of LSU. The Saints had to settle for a lot of short screen plays and slants (they actually do that a lot anyways), which was encouraging against a young Bucs secondary, who limited New Orleans' Michael Thomas to three catches for 17 yards .
The real problems were on the offensive end (I’ll get into the disaster that was the Bucs’ special teams play). Brady threw a pair of interceptions, one a pick-six by Saints corner Janoris Jenkins, and while it's certainly not encouraging, it should have been expected in his first game with his new team.
As I pointed out in the preview, there was no preseason. The Bucs had never run their offense against an opposing team before Sunday, and it showed. One of the Brady interceptions was a result of a miscommunication between the former Patriot and receiver Mike Evans (Oh yeah, he played despite being questionable with a hamstring injury, and was such a nonfactor I kind of forgot). Regardless of whose fault it was, the play was ugly and gave the Saints great field position to score a touchdown.
Now about the special teams. There was a blocked field goal (led to a Saints field goal), a muffed kickoff return (led to another Saints field goal), and some poorly covered punts (Deonte Harris, the Saints’ All-Pro punt/kickoff returner averaged 14.8 yards per punt return). You can excuse these mistakes for rust, but it still doesn’t change the fact that they need to work on it.
Special teams is a part of the game where the Bucs can’t make silly mistakes if they want to win games. TB12 will right the ship and the defense actually looked really good (if you take away the Bucs’ three turnovers and the blocked field goal, the Saints only scored 14 points unaided by the Bucs’ mistakes), but the special teams play could turn the Bucs from a Super Bowl contender to a team that is watching the playoffs from home.
But don’t read too much into the result of the game. The Saints have been the best regular season team over the past three years for a reason, and they had most of their team from last year return with a few additions. They didn’t really need the preseason to get everyone on the same page. Some more good news is that the rest of the NFC South lost, too. The Panthers lost a close one at home to the newly relocated Las Vegas Raiders, and the Falcons got clobbered at home by Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks.
The Bucs won’t panic, despite the rough start. Bruce Arians is a quality veteran coach, Tom Brady is, well, Tom Brady, and things will work out. Brady has proved it’s not wise to bet against him, no matter the circumstances.
As for Mike Evans’ lack of production, let’s not forget he was questionable with a hamstring injury before the game, and, along with everyone else, is still learning to play with the GOAT. He probably would have been better off resting, but it’s good to see the star receiver want to be tough and play through it, giving him some in-game snaps to try to sync up with TB12.
If you ask me, the Bucs will be fine. This week of practice will give them an opportunity to see some things to improve upon, and they’ll beat the Panthers in the home opener next Sunday.
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This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2020.