Breaking down how the New Orleans Saints ended first quarter at 2-2
By Tony Twillie
Tampa Bay
The Saints opened the season against the new-look Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
I mentioned early on that it was a good thing to get them in game one because this is a team that will improve and be a force later in the year. That was a prophetic statement, as the loss to the Saints is Tampa Bay’s only blemish so far aside from a blunder against the Bears.
After the Saints gave up an early TD to the Bucs, they came back strong to go up 24-7 early in the third quarter.
A Janoris Jenkins pick-six was the highlight of that stretch. But Tom Brady is the QB in Tampa and 17 points isn’t insurmountable. The Bucs returned fire and cut the deficit to seven by the end of the third quarter.
Fortunately, the Saints had enough firepower to put 10 points up early in the fourth quarter and hold off for the victory. Troubling was Drew Brees terrible day, Michael Thomas’ injury, and the 116 penalty yards.
Overall the offense was anemic, not even reaching 300 yards. And the defense was just OK. Fortunately, the Bucs were nearly as bad with penalties and they turned the ball over three times to help out our victory.