Buccaneers 'Off Kilter From The Start' in Loss to New Orleans Saints

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers squandered a golden opportunity and now have to win on the road or face playoff elimination.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were one of the hottest teams in the league entering Week 17, but after a thorough whooping handed out by the New Orleans Saints they face the unfriendly task of winning on the road or possibly hanging it up for the year.

Excitement for a third-straight NFC South Division title quickly faded on Sunday as the Saints jumped out to a 20-0 lead before the Buccaneers put up their first points of the day.

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Those points didn't come until a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Baker Mayfield to rookie receiver Trey Palmer with three and a half quarters gone.

“Our coaches have got to come up with a better gameplan on both sides of the ball, and the players have to play it better," Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said after the loss. "We were off-kilter from the start. They did a good job manufacturing a drive down the field keeping us off balance. They did a good job getting turnovers. They did what they were supposed to do, and came in here to do it, and we didn’t.” 

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

What the Saints did was put up 17 first-half points behind two Derek Carr touchdown passes including one to quarterback/tight end/waterboy Taysom Hill that came with less than two minutes left in the second quarter.

Mayfield brought the Bucs offense onto the field at that point and was off of it again less than 20 seconds later leaving New Orleans enough time to add a field goal after usually reliable punter Jack Camarda moved the ball just 28 yards on fourth down.

The Buccaneers quarterback was also intercepted in field goal range in the first half costing his team points, and again near midfield on a 1st and 10 play with all but 30 seconds of the fourth quarter remaining.

To say the team wasted opportunities would be putting it lightly and doing so has made every Saints fan in existence Carolina Panthers fans entering Week 18.

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"Obviously, we wanted to win the one today. We didn’t win the one today," Bowles said. "We have to come back on Tuesday, and we have to be really focused. We’ve got to be ready, and we have to execute. [It] doesn’t matter who we played today – a good team, a bad team, a college team, a high school team – we wouldn’t have won the game.”

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