The New Orleans Saints (1-0) will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneer (1-0) on Sunday. Last season the Saints swept the series, winning 36-27 as a four-point home dog on Oct. 31 and 9-0 as an 11.5-point on the road on December 19.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 13-4 last season and lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional round of the NFC playoffs. Tampa Bay came into this season as the team with the second strongest odds to win the Super Bowl at +750 according to BetMGM.
Tampa Bay beat Dallas 19-3 as a 2.5-point favorite in the season opener, winning the total yardage battle 347 to 244. Brady completed 18 of 27 passes for 212 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Leonard Fournette led the ground attack with 127 yards, the fifth highest individual rushing total in the NFL last week.
Bucs vs Saints injury report: Big names on both teams not practicing #BucsFootball #GoBucs #TampaBayBucs #BucsNation #TBBucs https://t.co/O5d1IcgphH
— Buccaneers Fans (@BuccaneersViews) September 16, 2022
The Bucs are led by Todd Bowles, who spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator and took over for the retiring Bruce Arians. The Buccaneer's defense ranked 13th in total yards allowed per game last season, third in rushing defense, and 21st against the run. Offensively, Tampa Bay was in the top two of the NFL in passing yards, total yards, scoring, and third-down conversions, led by 45- year old Tom Brady who threw for 5,316 yards with 43 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Brady also came into the season two elite receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, despite losing Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski from last year's squad.
The injury list for the Bucs is lenghty, with receiver depth being amongst the top issues coming into Week 2. Mike Evans, Russell Gage, Julio Jones and Breshad Perriman are are listed as questionable and Godwin has been ruled out. Running back Leonard Fournette is also questionable along with three offensive linemen.