The New Orleans Saints are playing for their playoff lives against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That is the biggest storyline heading into their Week 17 game. That urgency should be clear from the beginning of the game, not after halftime.
These two teams faced off earlier this season, and the Buccaneers absolutely dominated the Saints. It’s arguably the only loss the Saints have this year where they didn’t battle back to make it look close. It’s the only game they lost by double digits. New Orleans lost by a score of 26-9 and the game reflected that.
In the rematch, here are the 5 most important storylines:
1
Can the Saints keep their season alive heading into the season finale?
That loss to the Rams placed greater emphasis on this week. The Saints playoff hopes are now tied to this game. If they lose, the season is basically over. Week 17 could then be for evaluating young players like free safety Jordan Howden and possibly reserve quarterback Jake Haener. Just throwing it out there. If New Orleans wins, they keep hope alive for both a divisional title and a wild card slot.
2
Divisional title on the line for Tampa Bay
All the Buccaneers have to do win one of the next two games and they are your NFC South champions for the third season. The two sides obviously want drastically different things. New Orleans wants to keep their season’s playoff hopes alive and Tampa wants to go into the finale with nothing to play for. Each team will achieve their goal with a victory in Week 17.
3
Where is Antoine Winfield Jr.?
He’s on the field, and you must watch out for him. If you watch Tampa Bay play, it’s rare you don’t see Winfield Jr. make an impact play. The safety leads the team in pass deflections, interceptions, forced fumbles and fumbles recovered. Not to mention, he is second on the team in tackles and third in sacks. He’s everywhere and it’s important to locate him every play.
4
Baker Mayfield vs. Derek Carr
Don’t allow the versus to fool you, this is more of a comparison than a competition. New Orleans and Tampa Bay filled the quarterback void in different ways this offseason. Tampa went the bargain route while the Saints paid a pretty penny for Carr.
The results are drastically different. Mayfield has inspired enough confidence to spur talks of a new contract. Carr’s leadership and performance has Saints fans wanting out of the long term agreement.
5
Dennis Allen searching for the first winning season of his coaching career
A hidden impact of a loss is it would confirm another losing season. 8-9 would be the best record the Saints can hope for this season if they lose to Tamp Bay. This comes after ending with a 7-10 record a year ago. That would be back to back losing records to start the Dennis Allen era. The Allen era in Oakland consisted of two 4-12 seasons and an 0-4 start before being fired. Step one to finally having a winning record is winning Sunday.
