For five years, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost far too many games because of interceptions thrown by Jameis Winston.
On Sunday, they were the beneficiaries of Winston’s penchant for throwing the ball to the opposing team, picking off their all-time leading passer three times, taking one of them back 67 yards for a touchdown that sealed a 20-10 road win over the New Orleans Saints.
It was another banner day for the Tampa Bay defense, one that included five takeaways (all in the fourth quarter) and six sacks. The Bucs nearly went a second straight game without allowing a touchdown, finally letting the Saints get into the end zone in garbage time Sunday.
The bad news?
The Bucs offense desperately needed another dominant performance from the defense, as their scoring struggles continued. Tampa Bay managed just one offensive touchdown for the second game in a row, though it did come in a clutch situation. Tom Brady delivered a perfect 28-yard strike to Breshad Perriman on third down to give the Bucs a 10-3 lead in the fourth quarter, a sigh of relief for the unit that had a similar feeling on Mike Evans’ highlight-reel fade against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1.
As encouraging as the defense was, Tampa Bay’s offensive woes have to be concerning after two weeks of similar issues. That said, much of that can be blamed on injuries, as some of the offense’s most important components have been banged up and/or unavailable so far this season. Add the fact that there are far more fresh faces on this year’s offense compared to last year’s and these growing pains shouldn’t have been unexpected.
The most memorable moment of Sunday’s game was a brawl that started with Marshon Lattimore jawing at Brady and shoving Leonard Fournette in the face, continued with Evans de-cleating Lattimore in response, and ended with both Evans and Lattimore being ejected from the game. It was still 3-3 at that point, and the Bucs turned turned into a different team afterwards. I guess they really do watch a lot of Lightning games.
For all the reasons Bucs fans could be frustrated after these two games, the team is still 2-0, with back-to-back road wins over NFC opponents. Despite all the injuries and offensive inconsistency, the defense has been dominant and that’s been enough.
The offense should only get better from here, especially as they get healthier, and the defense is already playing like the best unit in the league.
Oh, they finally beat the Saints in the regular season.
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