Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady throws 3 INTs in 38-3 loss to New Orleans Saints

TAMPA, Fla. — The bright lights of primetime TV — even on home turf — proved to be too much for Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who didn’t just flop on national television for the third time this season: They got throttled.

After narrowly escaping with a 25-23 victory last week over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football — a game they entered as 12.5-point favorites — the Bucs were decimated by the New Orleans Saints 38-3 on Sunday Night Football to fall to 6-3.

The Bucs entered the night looking to not only add cushion to their 1.5 game NFC South lead, but to cement themselves as the favorite to win the NFC. They had a chance to overtake the Seattle Seahawks, who lost to the Buffalo Bills today, for first place in the NFC. Instead, they have fallen to second in the division (the Saints are also 6-3 but hold the better division record and tie-breaker) just past the halfway point in a season where only the top teams secure first-round byes.

Brady completed 22 of 38 passes for 209 passing yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions for a QB rating of 40.4. He was pressured heavily with three sacks, could not get into rhythm and was off-target most of the night, with the Saints taking away his deep ball.

The offense – the league’s third-best scoring team averaging 29.75 points a game heading into Week 9, couldn’t even get a first down until their fifth offensive possession. But just as they did, Marcus Davenport batted down a Brady screen pass intended for Ronald Jones that was intercepted by David Onyemata.

2 Related

There were communication issues with Brady and his receivers much of the night. He attempted to hit Scotty Miller deep on third-and-3 along the left sideline in the first half but Miller stopped the route, which is also what happened with Antonio Brown just before halftime on a sideline pass that was intercepted by Marcus Williams. Brady not only missed Gronkowski on a deep post route working against Demario Davis on fourth-and-6, but failed to account for a wide-open Brown, who was running alongside him.

In the third quarter, after Mike Edwards recovered a Drew Brees fumble that was forced by Shaq Barrett, Brady missed Gronkowski in the back of the end zone, which would have given the Bucs their first points of the night. He also missed Mike Evans on two fade routes working against Marshon Lattimore – a play Brady and Evans had been 7-of-7 on in the red zone entering Sunday’s game.

Brady’s third interception came in the third quarter, on fourth down on a pass intended for Gronkowski.

In his much-anticipated Buccaneers debut and playing in his first game since Week 2 of the 2019 season, Brown caught three passes on five targets for 31 receiving yards, with his longest catch coming on a slant route for a gain of 15 yards. Brown was also responsible for the Bucs’ long third-down conversion of the night, coming across the backfield in motion and going to the flat for a 6-yard completion.

On defense, the Bucs struggled to pressure Brees and had multiple coverage busts and missed tackles, surrendering a season-high 420 yards of total offense.

The only bright spots of the night were takeaways and the solid kicking of Ryan Succop. In addition to Edwards’ fumble recovery, Jordan Whitehead knocked the ball loose from tight end Jared Cook, with Lavonte David recovering it. In the fourth quarter, Succop nailed a 48-yard field goal to avoid a shutout.