Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26 New Orleans Saints 19 Sunday 20 September 2015 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium FOX COMMENTARY CREW Chris Myers and Ronde Barber
GAME SCORING TB 0:45-1Q Brindza FG55 NO 1:23-2Q Ingram 11 run (Hocker kick) TB 0:12-2Q Jackson 15 pass from Winston (Brindza kick) TB 13:02-3Q Winston 1 run (Brindza kick) TB 6:04-3Q Brindza FG35 TB 2:20-3Q Brindza FG22 NO 10:17-4Q Johnson 1 run (pass failed) NO 7:15-4Q Snead 16 pass from Brees (kick blocked) TB 1:51-4Q Brindza FG30
The 2015 Bucs won their first game of the season and ended a seven-game losing streak to the Saints with a victory in the Bayou. Jameis Winston and the Tampa offense played a totally different game to the one a week before and the rookie threw for a score and ran for another as the Bucs opened up a 23-10 lead going into the fourth quarter. Fumbles on consective plays allowed the Saints to close within a score but Henry Melton’s fumble recovery late in the game set up Kyle Brindza’s fourth fieldgoal of the game and a late desperation drive by the Saints came to naught when Drew Brees’ final pass was batted incomplete out of the endzone.
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports on what a difference a week can make Rick Stroud sees the rookie outplay the future Hall of Famer Martin Fennelly sees Grandma’s boy come good Jacquies Smith’s three sacks leads the defensive rush Greg Auman’s five things you may have missed from the game The running game started to find its legs in New Orleans Jameis and Jackson - a powerful passing combination Notes from the Buccaneer locker room Scott Smith’s detailed game report Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 94 Johnson LG 70 Mankins DT 93 McCoy C 62 Smith DT 98 McDonald RG 74 Marpet RDE 56 Smith RT 78 Cherilus SLB 51 Lansanah TE 87 Seferian-Jenkins MLB 58 Alexander TE 88 Stocker WLB 54 David WR 82 Myers LCB 21 Verner WR 89 Shepard RCB 27 Banks QB 3 Winston SS 23 Conte RB 22 Martin FS 30 McDougald PLAYED 2 Brindza, 5 Schum, 11 Humphries, 13 Evans, 18 Murphy, 26 Moore, 28 Jennings, 34 Sims, 36 Swearinger, 37 Tandy, 43 Rainey, 45 Lemon, 46 Lane, 48 DePaola, 50 Carter, 52 George, 64 Pamphile, 68 Hawley, 77 McDaniel, 83 Jackson, 90 Melton, 91 Brown, 92 Gholston DID NOT PLAY 8 Glennon INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 24 Jenkins, 25 James, 31 Wright, 60 Warren, 65 Masifilo, 96 Fatinikun
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Martin 21-78, Sims 8-38, Winston 6-23. SAINTS: Ingram 16-53, Robinson 5-48, Spiller 3-7, Johnson 1-1, Brees 1-(-1), Cooks 1-(-4). PASSING BUCS: Winston 21-14-207-0-1. SAINTS: Brees 38-24-255-1-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Murphy 3-82, Jackson 3-54, Sims 3-14, Seferian-Jenkins 2-29, Martin 2-20, Rainey 1-8. SAINTS: Cooks 5-62, Colston 4-69, Snead 4-44, Coleman 3-33, Ingram 3-5, Watson 2-12, Spiller 1-19, Robinson 1-9, Hill 1-2. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Conte 1-(-2), Verner 0-28. SAINTS: none KICK RETURNS BUCS: Rainey 1-37. SAINTS: Murphy 1-23. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Rainey 3-34. SAINTS: Murphy 1-0. SACKS BUCS: Smith 3-25, McCoy 1-11. SAINTS: Jordan 1-10, Kihaha 1-2, Edebali 1-1.