Aufträge » There's still a lot of work ahead for the Saints (10-2)

TAMPA Authentic DeSean Jackson Jersey , Fla. (AP) 鈥?The New Orleans Saints are a long way from where they want to be.For now, though, repeating as NFC South champions for the first time in franchise history feels pretty good."Goal No. 1 was to win the division again and we were able to do that," Drew Brees said Sunday after throwing for one touchdown and running for another to help the Saints rally from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28-14."I like the way we won this game. We didn't play well in the first half and (faced) a big deficit," Brees added. "We were able to come together with all sides making plays in that second half. I think that was the epitome of a great team win."Music blared in the winning locker room.with three weeks remaining in the regular season 鈥?is an accomplishment worth celebrating."This is what guys look forward to. This is fun," said Brees, who shrugged off a pair of turnovers to throw a 1-yard TD pass to Zach Line, then scored on a 1-yard sneak as the Saints avenged a season-opening loss to the Bucs (5-8) and also rebounded from a defeat the previous week at Dallas."This is the stuff you remember, especially road games 鈥?you know, road locker rooms, bus rides, back on the plane. Those moments together Womens Vita Vea Jersey ," Brees added. "It's hard to win in this league, it's hard to win on the road. We're going to enjoy these moments and continue to build on 'em."New Orleans' defense did its part after allowing two first-half TDs, too, sacking Jameis Winston four times and limiting the NFL's No. 1-ranked offense to 81 yards in the second half 鈥?most of that on the final drive of the game"We got dominated in the second half," said Bucs coach Dirk Koetter, whose team won a high-scoring shootout 48-40 at New Orleans in Week 1. "We haven't been shut down like that in a long time."Brees completed 24 of 31 passes for 201 yards and one interception. Michael Thomas had 11 receptions for 98 yards.A week after being held to a season-low 176 yards total offense in a 13-10 loss to Dallas that ended a 10-game winning streak, the Saints started slowly again.Winston threw a pair of TD passes to Cameron Brate, the latter a 1-yarder set up by Adarius Taylor‘s interception to put the Bucs up 14-3 at halftime. The fourth-year pro also threw an 11-yarder to Brate on the opening drive of the game.The game turned in the third quarter when Brees weathered losing a fumble at his own 27 and later took advantage of the Saints blocking a punt to set up his TD pass to Line, along with Alvin Kamara‘s 2-point conversion that trimmed Tampa Bay's lead to 14-11.In addition to missing a 40-yard field goal after Carl Nassib sacked Brees, forcing a fumble Jason Pierre-Paul recovered early in the third quarter, Cairo Santos also had a 46-yard attempt deflect off the right upright in the first half for Tampa Bay, which finished with 279 yards 鈥?more than 160 below its league-leading season average."Going into the second half I thought that we had an opportunity to put a fork into them, but they got a boost of confidence from a missed field goal www.tampabaybuccaneersteamonline.com , a punt blocked," Bucs tackle Demar Dotson said."We couldn't get anything going on offense," coach Dirk Koetter added. "Fourteen points isn't going to do it against the Saints."Brees' TD run put the Saints ahead early in the fourth quarter. Mark Ingram scored on a 17-yard run to make it 25-14. Will Lutz tacked on a 36-yard field goal in the closing minutes.Pressured relentlessly in the second while the Saints were taking control of the game, Winston finished 18 of 38 for 213 yards, two touchdowns and one interception 鈥?an end-zone throw picked off by Marshon Lattimore with 1 second remaining.The Bucs had 32 yards in the second half until Winston completed passes of 16, 12 and 21 to march into Saints territory on the final drive.And, penalties hurt Tampa Bay all day long, including an unnecessary roughness penalty on Bucs center Ryan Jensen late in the second quarter.At one point, a frustrated Winston was seen arguing on the sideline with Jensen."Brothers have disagreements," Winston said of the exchange. "It wasn't that much."PERSISTENCEThe Saints ran the ball nine times for just 3 yards in the first half. They stuck with the game plan, though, and finished with 100 on 30 attempts. Ingram had 52 yards on 13 carries, and Kamara rushed for 51 yards on 12 attempts.TAKEAWAYSSince failing to force a turnover on defense for seven consecutive games Tampa Bay Buccaneers T-Shirt , the Bucs have 10 takeaways over the last three weeks. The Bucs have seven interceptions over that stretch after only having one in the first 10.INJURIESSaints: LT Terron Armstead was inactive, replaced by Jermon Bushrod.Buccaneers: With WR DeSean Jackson (thumb) inactive for the second straight week, Chris Godwin started. Andrew Adams started in place of S Justin Evans (toe) and CB Carlton Davis II (knee) was replaced by Ryan Smith. … LB Kevin Minter left in the second quarter with a calf injury and did not return.UP NEXTSaints: at Carolina next Monday, last of three consecutive road games.Buccaneers: at Baltimore next Sunday. All things considered, this loss will sting for a bit when you look back at how close the score was despite the feel of the game rarely warranting a positive feeling as fans watched from afar. The Buccaneers defense dug the team a steep hole in the first half and the offense fought an uphill battle to get back into the game. The defense appeared to turn things around to start the second half, only to falter when it mattered most as the Falcons traveled down the field to the tune of 75 yards on a 10 play drive that ate up 5 minutes late in the fourth quarter. The touchdown via Coleman put the Falcons up for good and gave the team a 31-22 lead with 6:28 left to play. The Buccaneers ultimately fell to the Falcons 34-29, leaving another sour taste in the mouths of coaches, players and fans alike. The offense put up points and yards but ultimately failed to deliver some late game fireworks. Jameis Winston had himself a good ball game but two turnovers proved costly. Winston finished the ball game with 395 yards passing to go along with his 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. The first interception was an ugly overthrow while under pressure but the second interception despite being a bit of a fluke play given the ball being bounced up for grabs, was avoidable all together if Winston finds Adam Humphries over the middle who was open on the play. It was a very Jameis-like game with ups, downs and some late game heroic opportunities, ultimately it was not enough. Ahem, 395 yards, 4 touchdowns was simply not enough. The running game seemed to get a bit of an adrenaline injection with Winston back at the helm as Peyton Barber had his best game to date totaling 82 yards on the ground at a 6.3 yards per carry clip. Barber added 24 yards on 4 catches including a touchdown reception. Ronald Jones saw some action with a single carry going for 3 yards. The more encouraging sign was the willingness to utilize Jones as a receiver out of the backfield as Jones caught 3 passes for 16 yards hauling in all of his targets in this match-up. The receiving corps did their jobs as is usually the case with 4 receiving at least 4 targets in the game from Jameis. The group was headlined by Chris Godwin and DeSean Jackson who combined for 10 receptions on 18 targets for 133 yards with Godwin finding the end-zone. The tight ends each reached pay dirt as Winston hit Cameron Brate on his lone target for a 15 yard score. O.J. Howard returned from injury and caught all 4 of his targets for 62 yards and a touchdown. The offense moved the ball well and possibly the most encouraging sign of all is despite the success overall Tampa Bay Buccaneers Hats , there is still a lot of room for improvement which is scary to think of. The offensive line performed admirably as a whole with the left side really shouldering the load. It was good to see the line open some lanes for Peyton Barber to break out through and the pass protection was solid despite a few breakdowns that affected the first Jameis Winston interception as well as two sacks on the day. The defense again had no answer early on and when it mattered most late. Up front, Jason Pierre-Paul went to work and landed the teams 9th sack on the year, his 5th personally. Vita Vea made an impact here and there and otherwise did what he was brought in to do. Gerald McCoy injured what appeared to be his calf and was seen in a walking boot after the game but had a quiet game overall. Curry, Allen and the rest of the defensive line struggled to create any pressure and Matt Ryan took full advantage of the time he had. Ryan managed to start the game off with double digit completions in a row before finally tallying an incompletion.Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David had solid games overall in what turned out to be Kwon’s best game of the season. The two combined for 3 tackles for a loss and 16 tackles in total. While the two helped out in shutting down the Falcon’s rushing attack, there was little aid to be offered in stopping the air assault on this Buccaneer defense. The defensive backs had arguably there worst game of the season which is quite the statement considering the start to the season this defense has had. Wide open receivers were to be found in all levels of the defensive backfield. Evans failed to make a stop short of the goal line on Sanu. Several passes went for 20+ yards again against this defense. Ryan Smith struggled, M.J. Stewart was burned and Brent Grimes again looked every bit of his age in this ballgame. Despite 41 passes being thrown, the defensive backfield combined for zero passes defended and finished yet another game without an interception despite a multitude of passes being tossed. The defensive backfield is currently a cut artery with no sign of surgery to repair it on the way. The not so special teams... again. For a team that has had some kicking woes the last... well since Matt Bryant left the team, there is still no sign of a fix in the near future. Catanzaro missed an extra point but otherwise was able to make the rest. The team can’t seem to get any “automatic” points out of their kickers lately.Rodgers served as the kickoff return man and averaged 15.5 yards a return on his two attempts leaving the Bucs to start from inside their own 25 on both occasions. Jackson showed his shiftiness in making two men miss on his lone punt return that went for 9 yards and Humphries managed 6 yards on his punt return. In the end, there was very little to feel good about on special teams aside from Anger’s lone punt inside the twenty (2 total punts for 81 yards). The Wrap-Up. The Buccaneers cannot continue to play football this way. Turning the ball over simply can’t happen on offense because there is little hope to rely on the defense making a stop when it counts or forcing a turnover. The offense has to be elite in order to win and that’s sadly not a realistic way to win football games. Mike Smith (or somebody else?) needs to figure out a way to at least be below average to help this team win. Right now this team is in for another historically bad season on defense and it’s about to cost the entire staff it’s jobs if something doesn’t change.