The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense had been struggling all season to find consistency. They had been dealing with injuries all season long, and the hope was that the defense everyone saw shut down Jayden Daniels in Week One would return.
As it turns it, it may have in Week 6.
The injuries to Calijah Kancey and Antoine Winfield Jr. sometimes caused the Bucs’ defense to play lost. This was capsulated by Kirk Cousins’s 500-yard passing performance against them last week. In Week 6, Winfield Jr. and Kancey returned, and the former Minnesota Golden Gopher wasted no time making an impact.
On the Saints’ first offensive possession of the game, Tykee Smith punched the ball out of Saints wide receiver Chris Olave’s hands. The ball would be recovered by Winfield Jr. and returned 54 yards to break the game open with a score of 14-0.
The Bucs needed Antoine Winfield Jr. and his leadership back in the lineup, and he showed why almost immediately.