Tom Brady got his revenge against Saints, thanks to the fact that the Buccaneers defense had its own

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  • Ivis AburtoESPN Digital

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      • NFL Editor and Columnist at ESPN Sports since 2015. • Started his career in 1996, has worked in radio and print media as an NFL reporter and editor with experience in covering several Super Bowls.

The most compelling story will be Tom Brady’s win over a Drew Brees who perhaps played his last game in the NFL and a New Orleans Saints defense that punished him twice in the regular season, but the Tampa Bay defense Buccaneers also managed to pull an overweight in the Divisional Round.

The Buccaneers’ defense forced 4 Saints ball losses, three of them interceptions to Brees, which resulted in 21 points to beat New Orleans 30-20 in the Divisional Round duel.

In both games of the regular season against the Saints, the Tampa Bay defense only caused two turnovers, both loose balls in the Week 9 duel, but their attack could not translate those steals into points.

At the same time, this Tampa Bay defense could not contain the Saints’ attack in those encounters when Tom Brady and company fell victim to forced ball losses by New Orleans.

In the Buccaneers’ two losses to the Saints, the New Orleans defense resulted in 4 turnovers, three of them interceptions to Brady and the attack led by Brees and company turned these steals into 28 points, 14 in each game. .

The story was contrasting in the Playoffs duel between these divisional rivals.

The Bucs ‘defense sent blitz packs to Brees in 53 percent of New Orleans’ pass-designed plays, the highest figure in the quarterback’s playoff career with the Saints, but that impacted the their performance in somewhat more relaxed situations.

Brees only completed nine of 16 passes for 42 yards with two interceptions when the Buccaneers pressed him only with defensive linemen.

The 21 points the Buccaneers scored after taking possession of the ball from the Saints are the third-highest total in the last 10 postseason, just behind the Cleveland Browns’ 24 points against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the last Round of Wildcards and the Carolina Panthers ’22 points in the 2015 NFC Championship Game.

In turn, the Saints defense stopped doing what their counterpart did with great success in the Divisional Round and gave them solid results in the two wins over Tampa Bay in the regular season: pressing Brady.

In their Playoff loss to Tampa Bay, the Saints defense put pressure on Brady in just 21 percent of his designed pass plays (7 of 34), a notable drop from the 36 percent they recorded. in the two regular campaign duels against the veteran passer.

Brady’s best exercise in deep aerial play since the third third of the regular season may have had an effect on the Saints ’decision not to send cargo packs.

Looking ahead to the Divisional Round game, the Buccaneers were 1-4 when Brady was pressured by four or more players in at least 20 percent of his air-designed plays.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.

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