Bucs Takeaways: Returns and Breakouts Outweigh Sloppy Play
Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
It’s hard to call a game where a team scores the first 17 points, then finishes with a 24-point victory a “squeaker,” but man, did the Tampa Bay Buccaneers make things harder on themselves than they needed to. You hear about roller coaster games, but they’re rarely so pronounced as when you look at the Win Probability Chart from Tampa’s 51-27 victory over the New Orleans Saints. 
Wow. It makes sense that we saw a weird game, though, as this was a weird week for both teams. Tampa had to leave early to travel to New Orleans, many players taking their families with them, and practiced in Louisiana because of Hurricane Milton. New Orleans lost Derek Carr and had to thrust fifth-round rookie QB Spencer Rattler into his first NFL game. But just because it was a weird game doesn’t mean we couldn’t learn anything from it, so let’s take a look at what we can glean from Sunday.
Welcome Back Winfield
The injury train apparently will never stop in Tampa — cornerback Jamel Dean is the latest victim of the Banged-Up Carousel — but Antoine Winfield Jr. made his return from a Week 1 ankle injury and immediately made an impact. The most obvious injection of Winfield magic, of course, came when he scooped up a Chris Olave fumble to return it for a 58-yard touchdown, the first score of his young, but stellar career.
Catch. Fumble. And a touchdown for Antoine Winfield Jr.!
📺: #TBvsNO on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/mWrp01OUnD— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024
But more importantly, Winfield’s presence helped solidify a secondary that got shredded for 509 yards by Kirk Cousins in Week 5. Some of that is expected, given Rattler was making his NFL debut, but Rattler only threw for 243 yards on 40 attempts. More tellingly, the Saints receivers were shut down. Olave exited the game with a concussion early, so that perhaps can’t be fully credited to Tampa. What the Bucs did to Rashid Shaheed, who entered the game with 19 catches and 338 yards, can. The speedster was held to just one catch for 11 yards on seven targets.
Running Depth Shines For Tampa
No Rachaad White? No problem. While fans were no doubt hoping to see Bucky Irving finally assuming lead back duties, they got something better. Don’t get us wrong, Irving did well while playing in 64% of the snaps for Tampa’s offense. He gained 81 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown, adding two catches for 24 yards, as the rookie continued to thrive in space.
But this was arguably Sean Tucker’s game on Sunday. The undrafted second-year player out of Syracuse came into Week 6 with a total of 17 carries for 30 yards in 17 games. He left the game looking like a potential breakout player.
Tucker gained 192 yards total yards (134 rushing) on 14 carries and three catches and was a big-play machine all game. He had eight plays of over 10 yards, including two 36-yard gains, the biggest of which resulted in a touchdown to stem the bleeding and re-take the lead after allowing 20 previously unanswered points.
The first TD for @seantucker2020 🙌
📺: #TBvsNO on FOX pic.twitter.com/yK7Dl8ADPI
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 13, 2024
It was an out-of-nowhere performance for Tucker, but if he can keep this up, he might also have his supporters clamoring for him to get more playing time.
Way Too Sloppy
You don’t want to say that a team that put up 51 points and almost 600 yards was lucky to come away with a win, but at the same time, could Tampa have gotten away with this victory if they were facing Carr? You have to wonder, because the Bucs were itching to give this game away at times.
Yes, Baker Mayfield threw four touchdown passes, but his three first-half interceptions were the reason why the Saints were able to go into halftime with a lead. The Bucs committed 12 penalties, with nine coming in the first half. Their special teams allowed Shaheed to return a punt for a touchdown.
Credit to Tampa for cleaning up in the second half. Mayfield and the Bucs didn’t turn the ball over in the final 30 minutes, and their penalties went from 9 to 3. Still, there’s plenty for Todd Bowles’ squad to clean up for Week 7, as they can’t expect to win many games when making as many mistakes as they did.
Up Next