Buccaneers vs. Saints: New Orleans Grades, Notes and Quotes

The New Orleans Saints hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday afternoon, and the home team came out on the losing end of a 26-19 score.

Head coach Sean Payton’s squad entered the Week 2 contest with hopes of garnering its first win of the season in front of the Saints’ home crowd, but the New Orleans offense was uncharacteristically flat for much of the contest.

With the victory, the Buccaneers (1-1) snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Saints.

The home team found the end zone first in this one, as running back Mark Ingram reached paydirt late in the second quarter to give New Orleans a 7-3 lead.

Tampa Bay stormed right back, however, and the Buccaneers recaptured the lead just before the half on a Vincent Jackson touchdown reception from rookie quarterback Jameis Winston.

Despite being on the short end of a 10-7 score, the Saints (0-2) came out lethargic and uninspired after halftime, and they turned the ball over on two consecutive possessions in the third quarter. The Bucs held a 23-7 lead late in the third quarter, as the stunned crowd at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome looked on in astonishment.

The Saints finally came to life at the beginning of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 23-13 on an Austin Johnson touchdown, but they came up inches short on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt.

In the final period, coordinator Rob Ryan’s defense enjoyed its most successful stretch of the season thus far, as the unit forced two straight turnovers.

Unfortunately for New Orleans, the offense was only able to capitalize on one of the Buccaneers' miscues. Following a Willie Snead touchdown reception, kicker Zach Hocker’s point-after-touchdown attempt was blocked. After another solid series from the defense, Ingram coughed up the football, thereby committing the Saints’ third turnover of the day.

The Saints had two shots at the end zone on their final possession of the game, but they were unable to come up with a score.

Read on for a closer look at New Orleans' Week 2 loss, complete with grades, notes and quotes.

Grades

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

QB	D
RB	C
WR/TE	C-
OL	F
DL	D
LB	C
DB	C-
Special Teams	F
Coaching	D

Offense

To put it mildly, the New Orleans passing game has seen far better days than Sunday’s lackluster showing in the Superdome.

The Saints air attack, which struggled in the red zone last week at Arizona, was unable to get off the ground against a Tampa Bay defense that was coming off an atrocious performance in Week 1.

New Orleans' difficulties began with quarterback Drew Brees, who missed on numerous throws that are usually routine for him. The misfires began on the game’s first series, but Brees was especially inaccurate after he got up slowly and grabbed his arm following a big hit he suffered in the first half.

The New Orleans signal-caller certainly wasn’t helped by shaky pass protection from his offensive line, as Tampa Bay rang up four sacks.

Three of them were credited to defensive end Jacquies Smith, who gave Saints right tackle Zach Strief fits for much of the contest. Smith finished with those three sacks and two forced fumbles, both of which resulted from hits on Brees.

While the offensive line struggled in pass protection, the group was finally able to get into a bit of a rhythm with the ground game in the second half. After struggling against the Tampa Bay front seven for most of the contest, New Orleans began to create some running room for Mark Ingram and Khiry Robinson in the middle of the third quarter, and the Saints relied on their running game throughout the final period.

The surge proved to be too little, too late, however, and the New Orleans offense finished the game with very pedestrian totals, especially by its own standards, of just 19 points and 323 yards.

Defense

The Saints defense was by no means stout on Sunday, as Jameis Winston passed for over 200 yards and a touchdown in just his second NFL start.

Tampa Bay’s running back tandem of Doug Martin and Charles Sims combined for 116 rush yards, and the duo finished the day averaging 4.0 yards per carry.

Rob Ryan’s group also gave up some key first downs to Winston and the Tampa Bay offense, and the tackling was shoddy at times, especially during an abysmal stretch in the early third quarter.

That being said, the defense unquestionably had the most positive impact on what was a largely disappointing outing for the Saints.

The New Orleans pass rush, which was inadequate a week ago against Arizona, again started out slowly against the Buccaneers on Sunday. As the game wore on, however, Cam Jordan and company warmed up, and the Saints ended up dropping Winston for three sacks while hitting him four times.

Rookie linebackers Stephone Anthony and Hau’oli Kikaha both stood out in their second NFL appearances. Anthony displayed his top-end athleticism with some impressive tackles, while Kikaha came up with a sack-fumble on Winston in the fourth quarter.

Rookie corners Damian Swann and Delvin Breaux each won some one-on-one battles in the secondary, while safeties Kenny Vaccaro and Kenny Phillips delivered big hits in a losing effort.  

 Special Teams

The Saints special teams were also subpar on Sunday. 

Just a week removed from nailing four field goals in his first NFL game, kicker Zach Hocker endured an awful outing against Tampa Bay. 

He missed a 42-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter that would've pulled New Orleans to within seven points. A short time later, just after a New Orleans touchdown trimmed the Buccaneers' lead to four, Hocker's extra-point attempt was blocked. 

Tampa Bay's Bobby Rainey accumulated 71 yards in the return game, while the Saints' Marcus Murphy managed 23 on his lone kickoff return.

New Orleans' Errors Prove Too Costly to Overcome

Jonathan Bachman/Associated Press

It became apparent in the early going that Payton’s squad would be in for a fight, but the Saints didn’t make things any easier on themselves with their surplus of errors.

New Orleans committed three turnovers in the game, all three of which came in the second half. In addition to a Brees interception, Willie Snead and Mark Ingram both coughed up the football in untimely fashion.

The Saints also racked up an excessive amount of penalty yardage. New Orleans was flagged 10 times for 125 yards on the day, which undoubtedly inflicted major damage to their chances of breaking into the win column.

Saints Drop Sixth Straight Game at Home

Bill Haber/Associated Press

A very short time ago, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome was known throughout the league as a feared venue that provided the Saints with one of the best home-field advantages in all of sports.

The deafening roar of the crowd noise in the building propelled the home team to many inspired performances throughout the Sean Payton era, including multiple playoff wins and an NFC Championship Game victory.

On Sunday, the Saints dropped their sixth consecutive game in the Superdome, which would’ve been unheard of just a couple seasons ago. In fact, New Orleans’ last home win was a 44-23 triumph over the Green Bay Packers back in October 2014. 

The Saints will get their next shot at snapping this peculiar streak in two weeks, when they host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

C.J. Spiller Makes Saints Debut

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

The New Orleans offense added a much-needed weapon Sunday, as offseason free-agent acquisition C.J. Spiller donned the black and gold for the first time.

The explosive running back made a minimal contribution to the Saints’ cause, rushing three times for seven yards and catching one pass for a 19-yard pickup.

Despite the modest numbers, Spiller’s presence in the New Orleans backfield can only be viewed as a positive at this point, especially when considering the glaring lack of playmakers on the Saints offense.

Look for New Orleans to increase the former Buffalo Bill’s workload in the coming weeks, as he attempts to fully recover from a knee injury suffered in training camp.

Drew Brees, on If His Passing Was Affected by a Hit Suffered in the First Half

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Brees was hit often Sunday, but he came up grabbing his arm after one particular hit he suffered in the first half.

The New Orleans quarterback was quoted as follows on NewOrleansSaints.com, regarding whether or not the hit altered his passing:

“I’d say it affected me on a few of the throws down the field,” he said. “They just didn’t come out very well.”

According to Mike Triplett of ESPN.com, it was Brees’ shoulder that was affected by the hit.

Several of Brees’ passes lacked zip and were inaccurate, and the ball sometimes came out of his hand in an awkward manner. He completed 24 of his 38 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown, but he also tossed an interception on a woefully underthrown deep ball.