Say what you will about the AFC East or NFC East, the NFC South is just as tough. These Buccaneers vs Saints ticket will prove just that. Yes, the Bucs played so poorly last season that they got Jon Gruden fired. They also played well enough to win most games. Given a stable quarterback situation they could have been playoff material.
The New Orleans Saints played well enough to win most games. Given any kind of defense, they would have been playoff material. So here you have two teams in the NFC South who were both about a game and a half out of playoff spots. That means just a few tweaks could put either one of these teams back on top of the NFC South in 2009.
For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, change began at the top and worked its way down. Gruden is gone, along with Monte Kiffin, Derrick Brooks, and surprisingly, Jeff Garcia. It seems the new Buccaneers braintrust believes that Luke McCown or the freshly signed Byron Leftwich can hold down the fort until #1 pick Josh Freeman is ready. Welcoming Kellen Winslow into the fold at Tight End was a daring move. No doubt talented, Winslow brings some baggage along, which he’s hoping to shed in Tampa Bay.
The Saints figure to be at full strength on defense by the time they visit Raymond James Stadium. Defensively New Orleans will be a completely different squad than what the Bucs saw last season. A new scheme and better players figure to make things tough for whoever is under center in Tampa Bay. On offense, the New Orleans Saints can rarely be stopped. Opponents generally try to get to Drew Brees, and generally fail. But if you can stop the Saints ground game, you can at least slow things down.
Bucs vs Saints is an important game. Especially for the Saints. Two more division wins last season would have put them in the playoffs. Expect Sean Payton to place special emphasis on NFC South games in 2009. Saints ticket holders should be rewarded with a win by Buccaneers vs Saints tickets but it WILL be a battle.
