Tampa Bay wins fifth straight game to remain in playoff search

The second-year quarterback led the streaking Bucs (8-5) to their fifth straight win Sunday, a 16-11 victory over the New Orleans Saints that bolstered the young team’s growing confidence and playoff prospects. Make it eight of ten times.

The Saints incompetence wasn’t limited to actual play on the field.

The Bucs travel to Dallas (11-2) for a prime-time matchup Sunday night, then finish the regular season at New Orleans and home against Carolina. After a loss to Detroit, the Saints travel to take on Tampa Bay. Yeah, you read that right.

If you are searching for silver linings, give kudos to Vonn Bell, Cameron Jordan and Nick Fairley, all of whom played well. So, Dennis Allen is missing his top two tacklers. Not having Josh Hill did not help, either. He has averaged 335 yards in his past five at Tampa Bay. He threw a 3-yard TD pass to Emmanuel Sanders with 9:58 left and drove the Broncos to first-and-goal at the Tennessee 7 before rookie Aaron Wallace sacked him. He is perhaps the best player the Saints have in kick coverage.

New Orleans entered the game ranked first in the National Football League in converting on third down – picking up firsts on 49.7 percent of their chances – but the penalties contributed to the Saints moving the chains on just 4-of-13 third-down opportunities against the Buccaneers. Atlanta plays two of their remaining three games at home.

Robinson, who leads the team with nine special-teams tackles, said the credit goes to Anger for placing the punts in position to be downed so deep in opposing territory. Brees actually looked a little better than he did last week, and would have had a first half touchdown if not for a Travaris Cadet drop.

The Saints had three turnovers and also hurt themselves with 13 accepted penalties for 104 yards, including a false start that backed them on second-and-goal in the final minute of the second quarter. Through the first quarter he was 2 of 3 passing for 11 yards.

Meanwhile, the often maligned Saints defense was playing with all the pluck it could muster against overwhelming odds. Explain to me why the Saints signed James Laurinaitis once again? Ward picked off Bryce Petty on the second snap of the game, returning the interception 8 yards to the NY 8-yard line. Brees locked in on Coleman early, Tandy read it and the rest is history.

Brees completed 25 of 41 for 257 yards while being picked off three times without throwing a touchdown for the second straight week. Frustrating, but it’s been a frustrating year, with the Saints losing 6 of their 8 games by less than a touchdown.

Tampa Bay has won five straight games. They increased their win total to 6-10 last season, but expectations have increased even more recently. The Bucs lost their last four games of the season and entering this year it didn’t begin so well as the got off to a shaky 3-5 start until they remembered how their season ended last year. “Us and Atlanta sitting there at 7-5, New Orleans at 5-7”. These two teams will be meeting twice in the next three weeks, with the return trip to New Orleans coming on December 24. He missed a wide-open Brandin Cooks in the second quarter that would have been an easy touchdown, and some of his other incompletions were either behind his receiver or too low.

Against a good defense, especially on the road, you can not leave points on the field.

The Falcons won easily against the Rams, which was a lot of fun to watch, but more importantly they stayed just ahead of Tampa Bay in the race for the division. You have to win when that happens. They fell 28-13 at home against the Lions, failing to get much going on offense. Saints RB Mark Ingram has six TDs in his past five road games vs. division foes. “We have to be ready to play”. Some will speculate that coaches are coaching for jobs as well.

All they have to do is close the door. Losers find ways to lose. The Pelicans struggle to get support in New Orleans WITH Davis, without him basketball in New Orleans might be DOA.