Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7 New Orleans Saints 38Sunday 22 November 2009 at Raymond James StadiumFOX COMMENTARY CREWSam Rosen and Tim Ryan
The good work done over the previous two weeks went for naught as the Bucs were comprehensively beaten in their own back yard by division rivals New Orleans. Although rookie QB Josh Freeman led the Bucs on an opening 95-yard drive that culminated in his scoring pass to Michael Clayton, the rest of the game was an unmitigated disaster with Freeman throwing three picks anbd losing a fumble as the Saints scored 38 unanswered points in the rout. "He was just off as a thrower," Raheem Morris said of Freeman. "He was never able to get into a rhythm. He just didn't have it." The Saints remained undefeated on the season and controlled the clock in th second half as the Tampa defense was unable to record a sack or a turnover.
GAME SCORINGTB 4:58-1QClayton 18 pass from Freeman (Barth kick)NO 1:04-1QMeacham 4 pass from Brees (Carney kick)NO 4:11-2QCarney FG38NO 0:28-2QMeacham 6 pass from Brees (Carney kick)NO 10:36-3QD.Thomas 11 pass from Brees (Carney kick)NO 4:50-3QBell 3 run (Carney kick)NO 10:12-4QBell 1 run (Carney kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHINGBUCS: Williams 11-32, Graham 3-31, Freeman 2-30, Ward 7-26.SAINTS: Thomas 11-92, Bell 13-75, Hamilton 9-19, Brunell 3-(-3).PASSINGBUCS: Freeman 33-17-126-3-1.SAINTS: Brees 29-19-187-0-3.RECEIVINGBUCS: Winslow 5-29, Bryant 3-40, Graham 3-16, Ward 3-14, Clayton 1-18, Stevens 1-5, Williams 1-4.SAINTS: Colston 5-74, D.Thomas 4-66, P.Thomas 3-11, Shockey 2-17, Meacham 2-10, Roby 1-6, Bell 1-5, Henderson 1-(-2).INTERCEPTIONSBUCS: none.SAINTS: Reis 1-33, Jenkins 1-14, Vilma 1-6.KICK RETURNSBUCS: Smith 4-106.SAINTS: Roby 2-51.PUNT RETURNSBUCS: Smith 1-11.SAINTS: Henderson 2-10, Colston 1-6.SACKSBUCS: none.SAINTS: Fujita 1-10, Smith 1-8, Harper 0.5-4, Torrence 0.5-4.
VIDEO CLIPSEarnest Graham breaks a nice run early in the first quarterJosh Freeman scrambles and hits Michael Clayton for a touchdownFreeman hits Antonio Bryant with a perfect back shoulder throw