When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints met in the Superdome in Week Two, it wasn’t yet obvious how the NFC South would shake out in 2022. The Buccaneers had won the division in 2021, breaking the Saints’ four-year stranglehold on that title, but New Orleans had still come through an injury-plagued season with a respectable 9-8 record. Those two teams were widely expected to battle for NFC South control this year as well, and both teams had won their opening games.
Now it is 11 weeks later…and the picture still isn’t particularly clear? The Buccaneers lead the division and have for most of the season, but their 5-6 record suggests their grip isn’t particularly tight. The Buccaneers won that September matchup but in a game that was tied until the fourth quarter. The Saints have won only three more times in the their 10 games since and are technically in last place in the division but that’s a tenuous position, too, given that all four teams in the division stand between 5-6 and 4-8.
So now the Buccaneers and Saints prepare to square off again and this time they will do so in front of a captive national audience on the Monday Night Football stage. The Buccaneers certainly haven’t enjoyed their prime time shows that have co-starred the Saints in the past two seasons, losing 38-3 on Sunday Night Football in Week Nine of the 2020 season and 9-0 on the same stage in Week 15 of last year, both at Raymond James Stadium.
Given the team’s records, this might not be the flashiest MNF matchup of the season, but there is no diminishing the magnitude of this week’s game to the Buccaneers’ playoff hopes. With the Falcons at home this week against a 4-7 Pittsburgh team, the Bucs could be fighting to stay in first place by the time their game kicks off on Monday night. With a Wild Card berth unlikely for whoever finishes as the runner-up in the division, the three most important remaining contests on Tampa Bay’s schedule are the Monday night affair, Week 17 against Carolina and Week 18 in Atlanta.
After winning two games before their bye to return to a .500 record, the Buccaneers had hoped to come roaring out of their week off the way they did in each of the last two seasons, and in particular in 2020 at a similar part of the season. They were mere seconds from a third straight win in Cleveland in Week 12 before David Njoku made a dazzling one-handed touchdown catch on fourth down to send the game to overtime. The Browns prevailed in the extra period and the…
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