Buccaneers Have a Chance to Erase Regular-Season Demons vs. Saints

The Bucs are breaking out their Holy Water, crucifixes, and cleanest cassocks as they look to exorcise their regular-season demons against the Saints on Sunday.

We'll just cut to the chase: Since Bruce Arians and Co. arrived in Tampa Bay, the Saints have dominated the Bucs outside of last year's playoff win.

Yes, winning in the playoffs -when it matters the most- certainly holds weight and it gives the Bucs and their fans bragging rights, but that eventually wears thin over the years. Especially if the Bucs keep losing to the Saints.

The results and the numbers don't lie. In the regular season, Arians, his staff, and even Tom Brady have yet to beat the Saints. And they aren't just losing games. They're getting their a---s kicked. Arians is 0-5 since 2019 and Brady is 0-3 since last year. The Saints average 34.6 points per game throughout this span compared to the Bucs' paltry 18.8 points per game.

The Bucs have also lost every game but one by more than one possession. The only game they didn't lose by nine or more points was the first regular-season meeting in 2019. But even then, Jameis Winston connected with Chris Godwin for a last-second, garbage-time touchdown to make it a 31-24 game at the final whistle. 

While the losses have all been tough, none were harder than the most recent matchup back in Week 8, where Brady had a chance to lead Tampa Bay on a game-winning drive, but instead threw a game-ending pick-six to P.J. Williams. 

That moment was probably Brady's worst as a Buc and there was plenty of disappointment floating around the locker room after that game. The Bucs thought they had cast the demons out with their playoff win, but instead found themselves in the same position they've been in during the prior regular season games: losing. 

And to a third-string quarterback in Trevor Siemian (for the most part), nonetheless. 

But despite all the tragedy that's been encountered over the last few years, the Bucs have a chance to stomp out these demons and send them back into the fiery pits from which they came. The Saints are hurting, are one game below .500, and have to play in Raymond James Stadium, where the Bucs have yet to lose a game this year. A win on Sunday doesn't just break the winless streak in the regular season, but it will also give the Bucs their first NFC South title since the 2007 season. 

How convenient is that? The Saints have won the NFC South for the past four years in a row. So, it makes all the sense in the world that the Bucs have to go through them for their first division title in almost a decade-and-a-half.

To make things even better, a Saints loss will make it 10x harder for them to make the playoffs at 6-8 as opposed to 7-7. Plus, how annoying would it be to get swept by the same team for three years in a row while coming off a Super Bowl win?

There's a lot riding on the line this weekend. So far, the Bucs have proven that they show up when the stakes are high, for the most part.

And as of this weekend, the stakes haven't been higher in 2021. To beat a division rival and win the division title all in one swoop is something the Bucs can't afford to pass up and they know this. But they also know that this week will be a big challenge, regardless of how the Saints currently stack up.

“I have so much respect for that team and especially that defense and what Sean [Payton] does with whoever they have playing quarterback," Arians said Monday. "It’s going to be a heck of a ball game. T-shirt and hat games are big. They’re fun locker rooms. Hopefully, we play [well] enough against them that we can put them on.”

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