New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Prediction, Pick, Odds: Will Tom Brady Struggle Against Saints?
New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Prediction, Pick, Odds: Will Tom Brady Struggle Against Saints?
The New Orleans Saints escaped disaster against the Falcons and will now look to go 2-0 with a win over the Buccaneers on Sunday.
The Buccaneers are minor favorites, but the Saints have recently had Tampa Bay's number, winning both games in last year's regular season.
However, if we're being honest, if the Saints play as they did against the Falcons, New Orleans will struggle to beat the Buccaneers, even with the game at home. Can we trust Tom Brady against the Saints? Here are our picks, predictions, and odds for Sunday's game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New Orleans Saints.
Saints vs. Buccaneers Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds
- Date: September 18, 2022
- Game Time: 1:00 pm ET
- Where to Watch: FOX
Click here for Saints vs Buccaneers odds
Saints vs. Buccaneers Injury Report
Buccaneers
Questionable: OT Donovan Smith (Elbow), WR Chris Godwin (Hamstring)
Saints
Questionable: RB Alvin Kamara (Ribs), WR Tre'Quan Smith (Chest)
New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Prediction
The New Orleans Saints rallied against the Atlanta Falcons in their first game of the season to pull out a win.
The Saints were led by Jameis Winston, who threw for 269 yards along with two touchdowns. However, he was sacked four times against the Falcons.
New Orleans rarely ran the ball. They were trailing in the second half by multiple possessions. Taysom Hill had four carries for 81 yards after popping off for a 57-yard rush. Meanwhile, Alvin Kamara only got nine carries while Mark Ingram earned four carries.
Most analysts were excited to see the passing game for the Saints. Winston returned from injury dating back to last year and now has a bunch of exciting targets.
Michael Thomas is also back at wide receiver and earned two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Jarvis Landry hauled in a team-high seven receptions for 114 yards. He had nine targets in the afternoon while Thomas had five. Chris Olave, the rookie wideout, produced three catches for 41 yards.
The pass protection for the Saints held up. However, the run blocking probably could've done better. If you take away Hill's 57-yard run, the Saints weren't that impressive on the ground.
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On the flip side. the Buccaneers held the Cowboys to just three points. They stayed disciplined and look their best in coverage, holding Dak Prescott to 14-of-29 from the field until he got hurt. The defense didn't allow a touchdown or just 3.9 yards per rush.
On the offensive side of things, Tom Brady didn't look fabulous but did enough to get the win. If we're being fair, the offensive line for the Buccaneers looked overmatched most of the time against the Cowboys. Many drives for Tampa Bay stalled in the red zone for the Buccaneers too.
You also won't be able to rely on the run game for Tampa Bay. Leonard Fournette had 21 carries for 127 yards, but realistically, that's probably not going to happen every week. Rookie running back Rashaad White had six carries for just 14 yards.
In conclusion, the Buccaneers will need to protect Brady better in passing situations. The Saints didn't put together a great pass rush last week but are very capable of getting through this Tampa Bay offensive line that looked really poor last week.
On the other hand, the Buccaneers will likely struggle to get their hands on Winston as quickly. Right now, Alvin Kamara is considered questionable with a rib injury. The Saints will want to get Kamara some more work in comparison to last week. But it's great to see Mike Thomas back on the field having success. On top of that, the Jarvis Landry signing will pay dividends for the Saints after he led the team in receptions and yards in the first game.
The Saints have the better offense coming into this game, while the Buccaneers have the better defense. The Saints have had great defensive gameplans against Brady since his time in Tampa Bay.
Therefore, I will take my chances with the Saints at +3.
New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pick
- Saints +3 (-110) (Bet $110 to Win $100)
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Article Author
Jason grew up an avid sports fan. His passion for sports writing grew in high school and he developed a blog that was strictly for New York Sports. From his work, you will quickly realize that he loves looking at games from an analytical and numbers perspective and hopes to provide you with that same perspective in his articles.