New Orleans Saints: Madden simulation vs. Buccaneers in Week 8

The New Orleans Saints (4-2) face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-1) on Sunday in what is a highly anticipated matchup around the league. The Saints swept the Bucs in the regular season last year but then were eliminated from the postseason by those very same Buccaneers so revenge is definitely on the mind of the black and gold.

After the Saints were eliminated, Tampa Bay ran the table and won the Super Bowl in their home stadium. Meanwhile, the city of New Orleans groaned at yet another missed opportunity.

While losing to the Bucs wouldn’t spell the end of NOLA’s 2021 season, it might take winning the division off the table. Let’s see how Madden predicts this game going down. They correctly picked NOLA to beat the Seahawks last week but it was a much closer game than the video game projected.

Madden Simulation – New Orleans Saints 17, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24

Saints Stats

• Jameis Winston – 17-of-29, 188 yards, TD, 2 INT
• Alvin Kamara – 19 carries, 97 yards; 7 rec, 78 yards
• Mark Ingram – 3 carries, 34 yards
• Marquez Callaway – 4 rec, 29 yards
• Juwan Johnson – Rec, 16 yards, TD
• Demario Davis – 11 tackles
• Marcus Davenport – Sack
• Marshon Lattimore – INT
• Malcolm Jenkins – INT (Pick-6)

Buccaneers Stats

• Tom Brady – 34-of-48, 302 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
• Leonard Fournette – 7 carries, 47 yards, TD
• Chris Godwin – 6 rec, 99 yards, TD
• Mike Evans – 3 rec, 15 yards, TD
• Devin White – 15 tackles; 0.5 sack
• Shaquil Barrett – 1.5 sacks
• Richard Sherman – INT
• Antoine Winfield – INT

A loss wouldn’t be surprising but it’s disappointing to see another lackluster performance from the Saints receivers, as Callaway had just 29 yards receiving and no one else had anything noteworthy. Winston throws for under 200 yards and that’d be a bummer in the revenge game against his old team.

The Bucs offense has no problem tearing through the tough Saints defense though they do pick Brady off two times, including a pick-six. That’ll be the key in this game because we all know the NOLA offense shouldn’t be depended on to win the game for the team. It’ll have to come down to the defense.

This would be a disappointing outcome but Madden hasn’t done well this season. Here’s to hoping it’s wrong this time around.