Our defense vs their offense: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers square off in the Superdome this Sunday in a game that could have big playoff implications done the line. The Saints defense has a pretty good track record against the Bucs in recent years (outside of last year’s home game where they scored 26 points), and they’ll need to have another very strong game if they want to win this weekend.

Baker Mayfield has been red-hot through five games this season. He’s completing over 71% of his passes for 1,164 yards, 11 touchdowns and two interceptions. In his last two games alone, Mayfield has thrown for 527 yards and five scores. He has completely revitalized his career in Tampa Bay, and he could give the Saints some problems.

On the outside, Mayfield is throwing to one of the best WR duos in the league. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have both been playing well, combining for 662 yards and eight touchdowns through five games. TE Cade Otton is also enjoying a strong start to the year. He’s their third leading receiver and has 17 catches for 148 yards.

We all know about the Mike Evans/Marshon Lattimore beef. It’s a matchup that never fails to entertain, and that should be no different this weekend. Lattimore has been pretty lockdown this season, allowing just five catches for 56 yards on nine targets as the primary defender in coverage. He’s coming off a game where the Chiefs didn’t even bother to throw at him, and I think he’s in for another lockdown performance. Evans tends to get the better of him once or twice a game, but Lattimore always seems to win that matchup pretty easily.

Chris Godwin is the one that worries me. In two games against the Saints last year with Mayfield as his QB, Godwin combined to catch 11 passes for 195 yards and one score. Alontae Taylor and Paulson Adebo have to find ways to lock him down because if they can keep Evans and Godwin at bay, there’s not much Tampa’s offense can do.

On the ground, Tampa got off to a slow start with Rachaad White, but they’ve started giving the ball to their rookie RB, Bucky Irving. The former Oregon RB gets about 7-10 rushes per game and is averaging over 5.5 yards per carry this year. He’s going to continue to see more and more rushing work with White’s struggles, and he could be in for a massive week this Sunday if the Saints can’t fix some of their run defense issues.

Despite a lot of offensive success these first few weeks of the year, the Bucs offensive line has not been very good in pass protection. They’re giving up 2.6 sacks per game, which ranks 23rd in the league while the Saints are getting QBs on the ground 2.8 times per game. The pass rush needs to be more consistent than it’s been over the last 2-3 games this Sunday. They can’t afford to let Baker sit in the pocket, dance around and extend plays, because that’s where he can beat them.

The Saints have a tall task in front of them, but it’s one I think they can handle. The defense didn’t look great against the Chiefs, but they also came through with some big stops in the red zone. If they can hold TB to three points when they get in the red zone, the offense SHOULD be able to do enough to win this game.

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