Typically, holding a rival to just nine points is enough to pull out a victory. On Sunday night, the Buccaneers didn’t have that problem; instead, they gave up three field goals, matching the number of offensive starters who were hurt throughout the game.
Tampa Bay was the league leader in both points scored and yards per game coming into the contest on Sunday. On Sunday, the Buccaneers did not, however, play like the club that scored 31.54 points on average.
In a game that the Buccaneers anticipated would seal their first NFC South championship since 2007, the Saints handed Tom Brady his first shutout in 15 years.
Tampa Bay suffered injuries to Pro Bowl receivers Mike Evans (hamstring) and Chris Godwin (knee) on consecutive drives in the first half. With what the team described as a hamstring injury, running back Leonard Fournette, who led the Bucs with seven receptions, was assisted back to the locker room by two trainers in the second half and left the field for the rest of the contest.
In the fourth quarter, Bucs linebacker Lavonte David was also forced to exit the game due to a foot injury.
According to Bruce Arians, the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, “it hurts more losing all the players we lost.” “I’m more worried about that right now,” said the coach, “because we lost about seven starters in this game.”
Tampa Bay was also without receiver Breshad Perriman, who has been on the reserve/COVID-19 list since Friday, as well as Mike Edwards and Antonio Brown, who were both given three-game suspensions after lying to the team about their vaccination statuses. These absences were in addition to the injuries that occurred on the field.
Running back Ronald Jones II stated, “Those guys play a huge role on our team, so we have to uplift them and do a better job.” “Just guys falling to their knees and battling hardship. We didn’t persevere today.
The Buccaneers’ offense was overburdened by the sheer number of absent players and struggled to maintain itself. The only player still on the field with more than 25 receptions this season after Fournette exited was tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Brady mainly depended on Gronkowski, but the pair only successfully connected on two of their 11 targets.
Brady was sacked four times during the course of the contest and committed two third down errors. The quarterback had his poorest statistical game with Tampa Bay to yet, going 28 of 48 for 213 yards and one interception.
Brady stated, “I don’t think we were much good at anything tonight.
Late in the third quarter, as Tampa Bay drew close to the end zone, Cam Jordan of New Orleans forced a Brady fumble.
Only Brady’s third shutout as a starter was the 9-0 defeat. With 255 games, he is second all-time in the most of games without a shutout, trailing only Drew Brees’ 304. Additionally, this was the first time Brady lost against a team that didn’t score a touchdown.
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