Keys to the Saints turning point victory over Tampa Bay

The Saints handed Brady the worst loss of his career

Basically, the Saints not only met all the goals necessary for them to win, they exceeded them exponentially.

This is one of the greatest games many Saints fans may recall. There hasn’t been such a complete team dominance type game since the 2018 game against the Philadelphia Eagles that the Saints won 48-7.

And this Tampa Bay team is a much better team than that Eagles team.

The statistical dominance is mind-blowing: more than double the first downs (27-13), Brees threw four TD’s and Brady threw none, 72 plays run by the Saints to 43 by Tampa Bay, no defensive TDs allowed, 9-14 on third downs and 1-2 on fourth down, holding that Tampa Bay team with all it’s weapons to 194 yards of total offense. Incredible performance.

The biggest takeaway for me is the lack of respect the Saints got going into the game. No one picked them to win.

Everyone looked at the talent on Tampa Bay’s team and felt the Saints couldn’t overcome the talent. Brady, Gronkowski, Fournette, Brown, Evans, Godwin, Brate, McCoy, Jones – how could the Saints outdo all of that?

Simple – the Saints are a team. They’ve been together in this form by and large going on 4 seasons now.

There are a few new faces to assimilate into the team, but not a lot. It’s easier for a team that’s been a team to pick it up and play well together than it is for a bunch of people just being thrown together.

As I heard one pundit say, it’s more like a reality show where you just put people together and see what happens in Tampa. The Saints are a family and have been for a while.

That’s what makes them a better team, and that’s what will hopefully get them over this hump as they now have the first place spot in the NFC South and the inside track to host playoff games with this important win.