The New Orleans Saints' playoff hopes are on the line Sunday when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-7). If the Saints win, they are still alive. If they lose, they aren't. What will it take to win? Here are four things to keep an eye on when the two NFC South teams meet at Raymond James Stadium.
Any fight left?
The Saints have shown some grit this season, battling back in games after falling behind early. Now they must show how much fight they have in keeping their playoff hopes alive. Their chance of making the postseason looks bleak. To win the NFC South, the Saints must beat the Bucs this week and the Atlanta Falcons next week, plus have the Bucs lose to the Carolina Panthers in the regular-season finale. The Saints also have a shot at a wild card, but that would take a miracle even bigger than the Panthers beating the Bucs. So will the Saints come out and play inspired like a team still wanting to make the postseason? Or are they looking ahead to the offseason? Motivation often plays an even bigger role late in the season, so we’ll see early in this one if the Saints are still hungry.
Revenge factor?
On Oct. 1, the Saints fell to the Bucs 26-9 in the Superdome. The 17-point loss is the largest margin of defeat in the Dennis Allen era. Allen has lost all three meetings against Tampa Bay since taking over as head coach in 2022. (He beat Tampa 9-0 in the 2021 season when he was filling in as head coach for Sean Payton.) This is a Bucs team most people picked to finish last in the NFC South after Tom Brady retired after last season. Instead, the Bucs have reeled off four wins in a row and are in first place in the division and can win their third consecutive crown with a victory Sunday. The teams seem to be trending in opposite directions. The Saints had never lost three straight games to the Bucs before this recent skid, so getting back on track would be a step in the right direction.
Can Saints’ offense click?
The Bucs are hard to run against. They allow just 92.1 rushing yards per game, which ranks seventh best in the league. The Saints have struggled mightily running the ball, as we saw last Thursday against the Rams. The Saints rushed for only 35 yards and averaged a measly 2.2 yards per carry. They’ll need to do much better than that to keep the Bucs defense honest. The good news for the Saints is that Tampa Bay's pass defense isn’t great. In fact, they rank dead last in the NFL, giving up 264.1 passing yards per game. So the Saints will need to try to take advantage of that. But they won’t be able to if the running game can’t get on track. Despite all those yards through the air the Bucs give up, they are good at putting pressure on the quarterback, something that has given Derek Carr problems this season.
Can Saints slow down Mayfield?
The Saints got lit up in their last outing against a team with plenty of weapons. The Rams torched the Saints for 325 passing yards and had two receivers with 80-plus yards. Now the Saints have to face Baker Mayfield and his two main weapons of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Evans leads the league in receiving touchdowns with 13. Making things even more difficult for the Saints is they are still without Evans’ nemesis, cornerback Marshon Lattimore (still on injured reserve). So expect the Saints’ secondary to be tested. Evans had three catches for 40 yards in the first meeting this season before getting injured. Godwin was even more potent, hauling in eight passes for 114 yards. The Saints can’t let the Bucs duo have a big day.