Brees and Saints find groove in rout of Buccaneers

Published November 20, 2014

By Simon Evans

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints found their Super Bowl winning offensive game after a shaky start to the season and crushed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-6 in their NFC South clash on Sunday.

Brees dismissed concerns about his form with a confident display passing for 263 yards and three touchdowns while rookie running back Chris Ivory rushed for a career best 158 yards on 15 carries.

The Buccaneers, now 3-2, looked more like the team who managed three wins last season and their disappointing display was compounded by two field goal attempts from Connor Barth that both hit the right upright.

After a sloppy defeat at Arizona last week, the Saints' second loss of the season, many pundits questioned whether Sean Payton's team were anywhere close to last year's level.

But with Ivory stepping up in the absence of the injured Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas, and Brees looking like the Super Bowl MVP he is, the Saints offered a resounding response to any of their doubters.

Brees threw a textbook 42-yard pass to wide receiver Lance Moore to open the scoring in the first quarter. A similar pass found Robert Meachem, who brushed off an attempted tackle, to extend the lead in the second quarter.

A 27-yard field goal from Garrett Hartley made it 17-0 at halftime, giving the Saints points on each of their first three possessions of the game and more than double Tampa Bay's total yards in the first half.

New Orleans tried to put the game out of reach on the opening drive of the second half but a Brees touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham, which could have made the score 24-0, was nullified by a pass interference penalty. Two plays later Jeremy Shockey dropped a potential touchdown pass.

But with Tampa Bay's offense posing little threat, the Saints were in total control of the game and Heath Evans added a fourth touchdown on a four-yard pass from Brees late in the third quarter.

The Buccaneers finally got on the board with less than six minutes remaining when Josh Freeman connected with Micheal Spurlock on a two-yard touchdown pass, but by then most of the home-team supporters had left the stadium.

Even that consolation was quickly wiped out as the Saints (4-2) promptly marched down the field and Ladell Betts scored on a one-yard touchdown run.

(Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Frank Pingue)

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/brees-and-saints-find-groove-in-rout-of-buccaneers