Before Week 2 of this season, the New Orleans Saints had done something no other team in the NFL could do: Endure a long winning streak against Tom Brady.
Indeed, the Saints won four regular-season games in a row against the future first-ballot Hall of Famer, but because a plethora of second-half turnovers, the Tampa Bay Bucs won in New Orleans in September in a game that was 3-0 at halftime.
On the second matchup between the two teams this season, they’ll do it in front of a national TV audience, as they face off at The Pirate Ship on Monday Night Football.
It has been a weird series that is lopsided in the Saints favor, but let’s dive in and see if we can find anything through past history that will help us figure out how tonight will go. And as always, we’ll certainly have some entertaining information.
TIME/TV: Monday at 7:15 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN and locally on FOX-8 with a broadcast team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the main feed.
LINE TREND: The line opened a week ago Sunday night at Tampa Bay -6 and quickly dropped to -4 by Monday afternoon. Then it dropped to -3.5 shortly thereafter, and it remained there the rest of the week. The money line for New Orleans is +158 and is -190 for Tampa Bay. The over/under total is 40.5.
WEATHER FORECAST: It will be very similar weather to what we’re having in New Orleans the past week or so – in the mid-70s with high humidity and little to no chance of rain.
UNIFORMS: The Saints will be wearing their white color-rush uniforms, and – just for the second time in team history – black helmets with the gold fleur-de-lis pasted on them. The white jerseys will have the old-time 1960s gold numbers outlined in black, as well as white pants with a black and gold stripe down the side.
The Buccaneers will wear their regular red jerseys with white numbers and pewter pants with a black and red stripe down the side. They will wear their regular pewter helmets with the large red Buccaneers flag and a pirate inside.
REFEREE: Clay Martin is the lead official and has been in that role since 2018. Both teams are 2-0 when he referees their games.
In the 11 games his crew has called this season, the home team is 8-3. Last week, Martin and his crew officiated the Denver at Carolina game, won by the Panthers, 23-10.
Against the visiting team, the crew has called 55 penalties (average of 5 per game) for 525 yards (average of 47.7 per game) and 81 penalties (7.4 per game) on the home team for 607 yards (average of 55.2 per game).
TEAM TRENDS
SAINTS (4-8, 1-4 on the road)
- The Saints are ranked 15th in the NFL in overall offense (yards gained) and 20th in points scored. They are 22nd in rushing offense and 11th in passing. … The team is 12th in overall defense and 20th in points allowed. They are 22nd against the run and seventh against the pass.
- New Orleans is looking to avoid a ninth loss in the season since finishing 7-9 in three straight seasons from 2014 to 2016. Interestingly, in 2015 the Saints were 4-8 entering their 13th game at Tampa Bay and won to improve to 5-8. They haven’t been 4-9 or worse since the Hurricane Katrina season of 2005 when they were 3-10 after 13 games and finished 3-13. That also was the last time they have gone this far into a season without winning consecutive games.
- As we wrote last week, the team has not won a road game since Week 1. The last time the Saints have gone 12 weeks without a road victory came in Mike Dita’s final season of 1999 when they didn’t win a single game away from the Superdome.
- With a victory, the Saints would win their fifth consecutive game in Tampa, which would match the second-longest such streak against a division opponent in team history. They also are on a current five-game winning streak in Atlanta. New Orleans won eight games in a row in Los Angeles against the Rams from 1987 to 1994.
- By far, the Saints have a better road record against Tampa Bay as an underdog than against any other team in the NFC South. They are 12-9 straight up (and 13-8 against the spread) when underdogs against the Buccaneers and 25-50 straight up against Atlanta and Carolina as road dogs.
BUCCANEERS (5-6, 2-3 at home)
- Tampa Bay is ranked 18th in the NFL in overall offense (yards gained) and 27th in points scored. They are 32nd (last) in rushing offense and fifth in passing. … The Bucs are ninth in the NFL in overall defense and sixth in points allowed. They are 20th against the run and sixth against the pass.
- This is first time in Tom Brady’s 21-year career he has been on a team with a losing record this deep into a season. It also is the first time since 2005 he has gone this far without a three-game winning streak.
- Last week’s game at Cleveland marked the first time with Brady at quarterback Tampa Bay won the turnover margin but lost a game. It was the first time he lost a game in which his team turned it over fewer times than their opponent since Week 14 of 2019 when he was with New England against Kansas City.
- This will be the 32nd consecutive regular-season game – away, home or on a neutral site – the Buccaneers are favored. The last time they were underdogs came in Week 12 of the 2020 season against the Chiefs, in which they lost 27-24. Tampa Bay is one of the worst teams in the league against the spread this season, going 3-7-1, and they have covered just once – against Seattle on Nov. 13 in Munich – since the second week of the season.
SAINTS vs. BUCCANEERS SERIES
All-time: The Saints lead the overall series, 39-23, with the divisional-round game in 2020 being the only time they have met in the postseason.
Last meeting: Buccaneers won, 20-10, on Sept. 18, 2020, in New Orleans.
All-time in Tampa: The Saints lead, 18-9, including four wins in a row.
All-time in New Orleans: The Saints lead, 21-13, in the regular season. (0-1 in the playoffs.)
SERIES TRENDS AND NOTES
- Before September’s loss to the Bucs, the Saints had won seven in a row in the regular season in the series. Over the past eight games in the series, New Orleans has outscored Tampa Bay 240-158.
- In that last loss, New Orleans committed five turnovers, which was the most in any game against Tampa Bay since they had six in October 1983. In that game, Ken Stabler tossed four interceptions and the team fumbled five times (and lost two), but the Saints still won, 24-21.
- There have been 30 or fewer points scored in the series in two consecutive games. Prior to last Dec. 19, the teams had played 11 straight games against one another in which more than 30 points were scored, and in 10 of those at least one of the teams scored 30 points by themselves.
- Tampa Bay has won two games in a row in the series seven times (never three in a row). However, they haven’t done it since winning Dec. 31, 2017, in Tampa and Sept. 9, 2018, in New Orleans.
- The only franchise the Saints have won more games against is Atlanta, but they have played the Falcons 45 more times.
- It is well-documented that Tom Brady is one only four quarterbacks who have defeated all 32 teams in the NFL. (Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre are the others.) But beyond that, Brady has a winning record against all but three, and he is even against those, at 5-5 against the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints and 2-2 against the Seattle Seahawks.
MEMORABLE GAMES IN THE SERIES
- Older Saints fans hate when we bring this up, but the first game between the teams certainly is one of the most memorable. It was Dec. 11, 1977, in the Louisiana Superdome, and it was Tampa Bay’s first victory in franchise history – after 26 consecutive losses. The Bucs went 0-14 in their first season of 1976, then went on to an 0-12 start in ’77 before beating the Saints and then winning again in the regular-season finale (there were only 14 games then) against the St. Louis Cardinals.
- Tampa Bay won their first of two Super Bowls following the 2002 season. However, their campaign opened with a loss at home against the Saints, and it was a thriller. On Sept. 8 at Raymond James Stadium, New Orleans took a 20-10 lead into the fourth quarter on two Aaron Brooks touchdown passes – one to Boo Williams and another to Donté Stallworth. However, Brad Johnson connected on a late scoring pass to Joe Jurevicius, and Martin Gramatica hit a 40-yard field goal as time expired in regulation to tie the score at 20 and send the game into overtime. Just 2:50 in, James Allen intercepted a Johnson pass in the Bucs end zone, and the Saints won on the way to a 6-1 start … and 9-7 finish and handed Tampa Bay two of its four losses on the season.
QUARTERBACKS IN THE SERIES
TOM BRADY vs. NEW ORLEANS
Brady has started 11 times against the Saints, and he is 6-5 in those games. (5-5 in the regular season.) Here are his numbers:
With Tampa Bay
Sept. 18, 2022: W, 20-10. 18-34, 190 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Dec. 19, 2021: L, 9-0. 26-48, 214 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Oct. 31, 2021: L, 36-27. 28-40, 375 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT
Jan. 17, 2021 (NFC Divisional Round): W, 30-20. 18-33, 199 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Nov. 8, 2020: L, 38-3. 22-38, 209 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT
Sept. 13, 2020: L, 34-23. 23-36, 239 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
With New England
Sept. 17, 2017: W, 36-20. 30-39, 447 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Oct. 13, 2013: W, 30-27. 25-43, 269 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Nov. 30, 2009: L, 38-17. 21-36, 237 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
Nov. 20, 2005: W, 24-17. 15-29, 222 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Nov. 25, 2001: L, 34-17. 19-26, 258 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT
TOTALS: 245-402 (.609 completion pct), 2,959 yards (269 per game), 18 TD, 11 INT
ANDY DALTON vs. Buccaneers (both games with Cincinnati)
Oct. 28, 2018: W, 37-34. 21-34, 280 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT.
Nov. 30, 2014: W, 14-13. 19-27, 176 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT.
TOTALS: 2-0 record. 40-of-61 (.656 completion percentage), 456 yards (228 per game), 3 TD, 3 INT.
