While a lot of fans love the idea of taking the offense back to the early 2000s, the Buccaneers are at their best when they let Tom Brady throw.
This is a game that can be hard for some Buccaneers fans to get up for. Playing the Saints over the past few years has been a tough ordeal. New Orleans always seems to have Tampa’s number when it matters, and it feels like this is usually due to a lack of offensive success for the team in pewter and red.
When it is all said and done, this team will always be defined by its offense while Tom Brady is the quarterback. There just isn’t a way around that fact. The defense can play great, as seen in the Super Bowl and even against the Saints last season, but without a decent offense, a win will elude the Bucs.
This is why the first week was such a mixed bag for the Buccaneers. Yes, they won the game, but that run-heavy offensive game plan is not going to be what helps them beat the best teams in the NFL.
A 50/50 run-pass split is usually why the Bucs are in a hole when playing the Saints in the first place. The offense sputters due to wasting downs on first or second to establish the run, then Brady has to throw late to compensate for poor play calling.
The “run first” people usually get their way against the Saints, it’s just the end of the games that make it seem like Tampa committed to the pass first.
That can’t happen today. We all saw the Saints come back from a major deficit against a team that wanted to run the ball and control the clock. That isn’t going to work against the new Jameis Winston.
The Bucs need to throw the ball, throw it early, and not let up off the gas. The Saints are a better team than they get credit for, and the same strategies that beat the Cowboys are not going to work here.
Tampa has one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and one of the best wide receiver rooms in the NFL. If they want to win the game, then they need to let Tom Brady throw the damn ball.
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