Game Overview ::
By Mike johnson >>
- Tampa looks to rebound from a tough Monday night loss to the Lions on a short week while dealing with a litany of injuries. The Bucs have a bye in Week 9.
- New Orleans has the worst record in the NFC at 1-6, but have been extremely competitive in their four home games to date.
- The Saints lost running back Kendre Miller to a torn ACL last week, which could put Alvin Kamara in store for his biggest workload of the season against a pass funnel Bucs defense.
- The Saints passing game has funneled primarily through three players in recent weeks – Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, and Juwan Johnson.
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How tampa bay Will Try To Win ::
The Bucs enter Week 8 just trying to survive and get to their bye week, then they can regroup and hopefully get healthy. They are still without several key members of their skill group that will affect their game plan and expected efficiency. With Mike Evans out for the season and Chris Godwin sidelined by a fibula injury, the Buccaneers’ primary pass catchers for their Week 8 matchup are rookie Emeka Egbuka, Cade Otton, and rookie Tez Johnson. Veteran Sterling Shepard will also be on the field a lot and probably see several targets, but they are likely to be of the short area “just get some yards” variety. We should also expect WR Kameron Johnson to get some snaps in this spot as he can add some much needed downfield juice. Overall, however, the rookie Egbuka will effectively operate as the “alpha” of this passing game while Otton’s role is likely to be central to the game plan as we have seen over the past two seasons when this team is shorthanded at wide receiver. The rookie Johnson, Tez, is dynamic and will certainly be used as a downfield threat and on some manufactured touches, like he was Monday night when he scored on a screen pass against the Lions.
As for the backfield, Rachaad White played 90% of the snaps Monday night, compared to only 10% for Sean Tucker. White is by far the more accomplished and trusted player in the passing game, however, and the Bucs trailed throughout the game which is not the expected situation for this week. Given the fact that this is a much easier matchup on the ground and the state of the Bucs receivers, it would not be surprising to see Tucker play a bigger role this week and the team attempt to become more balanced in their approach. Overall, however, the Saints run defense has been adequate this season and has been strong against weaker units but struggled against higher end rushing schemes. The Bears got them for 222 rushing yards last week and on paper don’t look like a great rushing offense for the season, but Ben Johnson’s offenses are historically very good on the ground and Chicago’s running game has looked great in consecutive weeks since their bye. That is a long way of saying the Bucs are likely to try to be more balanced here and should have moderate success on the ground, but it isn’t a situation where they are just going to run all over the Saints.
New Orleans has a beatable defense, but they are not a pushover. The Bucs have enough pieces missing that offensive success is far from a guarantee. We can expect White and Egbuka to be the primary offensive options here, but the Saints are likely strong enough to keep the inefficient Bucs running game from moving the ball too well. Meanwhile, New Orleans will certainly be keyed in on Egbuka as the clear top option through the air. This leaves Tez Johnson, Otton, and Shepard as players I would expect to be involved early on to move the chains and force the Saints to respect all areas of the field. Baker Mayfield has played great football this season and is not afraid to spread things around, taking whatever the defense gives him when he can and aggressively taking shots when he needs to.
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