Bucs rally past Saints to clinch NFC South

1/5/2025

Photo By: WWLtv

Da Boot Sports
1/5/2025
Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports
By: Ken Trahan

Like virtually everyone, I gave the New Orleans Saints no chance to win Sunday at Tampa Bay.The Saints had a chance to win. In the end, the result was predictable.
Thankfully, an awful season has ended.
Spencer Rattler made his first NFL start in a 51-27 loss in New Orleans to the Buccaneers. In that game, the Bucs ran roughshod over the Saints, rushing for 277 yards and Tampa Bay riddled New Orleans for 594 total yards.
The rookie signal-caller entered the game 0-5 as a starting quarterback. He is now 0-6.
The Saints led the Buccaneers 27-24 at halftime on Oct. 13 in the Caesars Superdome. Tampa Bay proceeded to outscore New Orleans 27-0 in the second half.
This time, Rattler had the Saints on top 16-6 at halftime. Tampa Bay outscored the Saints 21-3 in the second half.
It was a Déjà vu experience. It was another experience for a losing team that has earned its record, its losing moniker.
Here are my Quick Takes from the 27-19 Tampa Bay win over New Orleans:
**Inactives for the Saints were Khristian Boyd, Derek Carr, Willie Gay Jr., Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller and Mason Tipton.
**The Saints won the toss and elected to receive.

**New Orleans came out inspired and had a nice drive but the drive stalled and Blake Grupe kicked a 35-yard field goal to give the Saints a 3-0 lead with 9:16 to play in the opening quarter.
**The drive covered 54 yards in 11 plays, taking 5:44 off the clock. Rattler was 4-of-5 for 29 yards on the drive while Clyde Edwards-Helaire rushed three times for 15 yards.
**With Werner and Gay out, Anfernee Orji started at linebacker with Demario Davis while Nephi Sewell came on early and saw a lot of action.
**Isaiah Stalbird committed a senseless running into the kicker penalty after the Saints got a stop, taking a lousy angle and running right into the punter.
**Instead of punting, Tampa Bay took advantage of the gift as Chase McLaughlin came on and drilled a 52-yard field goal to tie the game 3-3 with 4:51 to play in the opening quarter. The drive covered 43 yards in nine plays, taking 4:25 off the clock.
**Trevor Penning committed a false start penalty while Taliese Fuaga committed an ineligible receiver downfield infraction on the next New Orleans possession.
**The Saints controlled the first quarter, possessing the ball for 10:35 to just 4:25 for Tampa Bay. New Orleans had 103 total yards to just 38 for the Bucs.
**The Saints overcame the penalties, Rattler hit Marquez Valdes-Scantling with a perfect throw in the end zone but he could not control it to the ground and after the initial signal of a touchdown, the pass was ruled incomplete and Darren Rizzi did not challenge it.
**Grupe kicked a 39-yard field goal to give New Orleans a 6-3 lead with 14:52 to play in the half. The drive went 49 yards in 10 plays, taking 4:59 off the clock.

**On the next drive, the Saints converted a pair of fourth down attempts and it led to the end zone as Rattler hit Dante Pettis on a 5-yard touchdown pass to give New Orleans a 13-3 lead with 6:14 to play in the first half.

**The drive was 14 plays, 79 yards, taking 7:36 off the clock. The biggest play of the drive was the first play where Rattler hit Juwan Johnson on a perfect throw in tight coverage for 26 yards.

**It marked the first time the Saints scored on their first three possessions since the week two 44-19 win at Dallas.
**Tampa Bay had a long drive toward the end of the first half but the Saints got a stop at the 7-yard-line and McLaughlin kicked a 25-yard field goal to make it 13-6 with 1:03 to play in the half.
**The drive covered 63 yards in 12 plays, taking 5:11 off the clock.
**Rattler then engineered an outstanding two-minute drill drive and Grupe kicked a 39-yard field goal to give the Saints a 16-6 lead with seven seconds left in the half.
**Rattler completed his first seven passes on the drive. His eighth was caught to Valdes-Scantling in the end zone but he had one foot out-of-bounds. The drive covered 49 yards in 10 plays, taking just 56 seconds.
**The Saints scored on all four possessions in the half. Rattler was 21-of-28 for 181 yards and a touchdown in the half.
**New Orleans had 231 yards to 116 for Tampa Bay in the half. The Saints had the ball for 19:15 to just 10:45 for the Bucs. The Saints ran 42 plays to just 23 for the Buccaneers.
**Tyrann Mathieu committed a personal foul penalty on the opening drive of the second half, hitting Sterling Shephard head-to-head on a catch.
**On the next play, Nathan Shepherd committed a personal foul face mask penalty giving the Bucs the ball at the New Orleans 14-yard-line.
**Tampa Bay took the second half kickoff and drove 72 yards in 10 plays with Baker Mayfield hitting Payne Durham with a 6-yard touchdown pass to make it 16-13 with 10:27 to play in the third quarter. Durham was open, with Mathieu the closest defender.

**It was the 40th touchdown pass of the season for Mayfield.
**Jordan Howden came up with a big interception of Mayfield on a pass intended for Mike Evans. The pass was tipped by Carl Granderson and that gave the Saints the ball at the Tampa Bay 37-yard-line.

**New Orleans failed to take advantage, going 3-and-out as Rattler missed an open Cedrick Wilson on third down, throwing it poorly, well behind him.
**Grupe rescued the poor possession with a 49-yard field goal to take a 19-13 lead with 5:53 to play in the third quarter.
**New Orleans got a stop, Jack Browning dropped the snap and was able to barely get off a 14-yard pun to the Tampa Bay 47-yard-line.
**Foster Moreau then caught a short pass and committed a stupid 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Rattler got sacked for the first time on the next play.
**The Saints had just 15 yards of offense in the third quarter.
**Tampa Bay finally took the lead 20-19 as Mayfield hit Jalen McMillan on a 32-yard touchdown pass over Howden with 10:09 to play in the game.
**The Bucs converted a fourth-and-eight on the drive on a completion from Mayfield to McMillan over Ugo Amadi.
**Mathieu went out injured with a concussion and did not return.
**Rattler than missed a wide open Valdes-Scantling, took a sack when he had a lot of time to throw, He then took a delay of game penalty in a terrible sequence. Finally, he simply threw one up deep and was very fortunate that Mike Edwards, who got two hands on it, did not intercept it.

**Sewell got his first career sack with just over five minutes to play in the game.
**Shepherd then committed another horrendous penalty, a personal foul after the Saints had gotten a stop. That proved to be fatal.
**That led to an 11-yard touchdown run by Irving to make it 27-19 with 1:51 to play in the game. The drive covered 94 yards in 12 plays, taking 5:47 off the clock.
**Moreau was injured on a pass completion on the next series and left the field.
**Rattler moved the Saints to the Tampa Bay 32-yard-line with just under 50 seconds left but he missed two open receivers with bad throws.
**Evans then caught an 8-yard pass from Mayfield to tie the all-time record of Jerry Rice with 11 straight seasons of 1,000 yards receiving or more.

The Saints played well enough to give themselves a chance in the game and played poorly enough to lose. It is a familiar refrain.
New Orleans committed senseless, stupid, losing penalties that could not be afforded. Rattler went from being very good to being simply not good enough.
The run game disappeared in the second half.
The Saints had little or no pass rush and when they got a rush, they lost lane discipline and allowed Mayfield to run wild.
Winners make winning plays and losers make losing plays.
Once again, Rattler showed enough to merit a longer look as an NFL quarterback but has not done enough to merit giving him the keys to the vehicle. Accuracy and decision-making are still issues.
Now come the most important moves. Who will make personnel decisions? Who will the new coach be? How will the Saints address the hard cap hits and bad contracts? Which aging players will or will not return next season?
The Saints were without Derek Carr, Erik McCoy, Rashid Shaheed, Chris Olave, Alvin Kamara, Lucas Patrick, Taysom Hill, Pete Werner, Paulson Adebo and Willie Gay Jr. How much better would New Orleans have been with most, if not all of its key players?
We will never know but the likely answer is where the Saints have been the last few years, anywhere from a seven-win to a nine-win team. That is not good enough. This season was not good enough. The Saints finished 5-12, the worst season since the 2005 Hurricane Katrina season.
With Carolina’s overtime win at Atlanta, the Saints finished last in the NFC South (tied at 5-12) for the first time since 2008.
It is time for a rebuild, to stop believing you are close to being a contender to win a championship.
In all phases of life, understanding your shortcomings, admitting your failures is the first step to correcting those missteps, to set things on a better, if not correct path.
It is not the path less chosen.
It is a path that many who are stubborn refuse to accept.
Here is hoping the Saints, including ownership, front office and coaches understand the reality of the situation.

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