After a brutal loss last week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers badly needed a bounce back game to wash the bitter taste out of their mouths. They sort of got that on Sunday against the Saints, although it was hardly the game everyone was looking for.
Defensively, it was a gem. Tampa Bay's defense held New Orleans to just three points and forced a quarterback benching halfway through. Antoine Winfield Jr. had two touchdowns taken off the board while Anthony Nelson had one that did count.
It was a huge bounce back game in that regard, but it's not the side of the ball we wanted to see some juice out of. Tampa Bay's offense, which had been one of the best in the league to start the season, has gone cold and it's a troubling trend heading into one of the toughest stretches of the schedule.
Buccaneers offense remains cold at the worst possible time
The 20-point margin of victory makes it seem like things went a lot better than they did. Seven of those points belong to the defense by way of Anthony Nelson's first career pick-six, and nine belonged to the leg of Chase McLaughlin.
Points were scored, but there should have been a lot more.
Over the first six games the Bucs offense was averaging 27.5 points per game, which was better than what was happening under both Liam Coen and Dave Canales each of the last two seasons. Baker Mayfield was leading the MVP conversation, Emeka Egbuka was taking the league by storm, and all of it was happening without having had a fully healthy roster the entire year.
Since then, a pretty alarming trend has emerged. Notably, the Bucs' high-flying offense has come crashing back to earth. Tampa Bay is averaging just 12.5 points per game over the last two games which is something that can't continue.
One of the worst sequences of the game -- and a perfect example of the struggles -- came in the first quarter. The Bucs had five plays at New Orleans' goal line and failed to get the ball into the endzone. A combination of bad offensive line play and uncreative play calling played a major factor, and it set an uncomfortable tone from the jump.
The Bucs finally scored from the goal line later in the game but it took until their eighth attempt with the ball just inches away from the endzone to make it happen. That's atrocious for an offense that has looked as good as Tampa Bay's has this season.
Injuries have thrown a wrench in things but despite missing Bucky Irving, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin, the Bucs failed to put together a successful offensive attack with guys like Emeka Egbuka, Rachaad White, Tez Johnson, Cade Otton, and Sean Tucker all healthy.
Luckily there's time to iron things out. Tampa Bay heads into its bye week after beating the Saints, which couldn't come at a better time. The last eight quarters have been pretty unappealing on offense and the Bucs will get games against the Patriots, Bills, and Rams on the other side of their bye.
We know the Bucs are capable of playing at an extremely high-level on offense, and they need to figure out how to get back to that sooner rather than later.