There will be a lot going on inside the lines when the Saints play with the Sunday Pirates in the Superdome.
The big picture of the Saints (4-2) keeps pace with the defending Super Bowl-Buccaneers (6-1), who are threatening to run away with the NFC South. A Tampa Bay win would pretty much separate the Buccaneers from the Saints, unlocking a 2//in progression in the division and leaving New Orleans chasing a berth for the wild card.
But the story within the story is that Saints quarterback James Winston plays against the team that drafted him #1 overall in 2015, then essentially kicked him out after four seasons.
Winston is in his second season with the Saints and his first.
You know who the Pirates quarterback is – Tom Brady and his seven Super Bowl rings.
If you don’t think this is one of the most important games in Winston’s life, you’d be wrong, no matter how much he tried to downplay it this week.
“This week is big,” he told reporters. “But, I mean, every week is big for me. ”
Not as big as this, though.
While Brady stunned and charmed everyone in Tampa and won another Super Bowl last season, Winston was supporting Drew Breeze in New Orleans, waiting for another chance to play.
“After a year, you’ll get a chance to see how much you miss out on that game,” Winston said.
Winston, to his credit, explained that he knows he needs to control his emotions on Sunday, because if he lets them get out of hand, his game will become erratic.
“I’ve always been a passionate footballer,” said Winston. “I think that’s something I try to work on — being present instead of being stuck in my feelings. Sometimes, excessive feelings can lead us to places we don’t want to go. Obviously, I want to beat them, I want to beat them badly.” ”
Saints coach Sean Payton told reporters that he believes Winston will be able to control his emotions, although it will be something to watch as the match begins.
“I think he’s smart enough and mature enough to focus on the things you need to do to win,” Payton said.
Winston, who played for the Buccaneers from 2015-19, led the NFL with 5,109 yards in 2019, but he also became the first player in league history with no fewer than 30 touchdown passes and 30 interceptions in a single season, a questionable record. in it.
Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians, a ‘Risk for the Biscuit’ mantra, loves to have his quarterbacks behind, so he may have been at least part of the reasoning behind some of those picks in 2019.
Payton asks Winston to do much less in the passing game in terms of deep throws, and seems intent on keeping him on a leash to avoid harmful interruptions. The Saints are ranked last in the NFL with only 25.8 pass attempts per game, and Winston averages just 185.7 yards per game. The main stats, however, are his TD-INT rate – 13 TDs and just three INTs.
“He probably throws it 15 times less than the game,” Arians said this week. “They play with a premise, and we didn’t have a lot of leaders [season]So we had to throw it away. So, yeah, he’s playing very well.”
The Buccaneers, who have won two of the past three on the road, enter the game after winning four in a row. Brady is going through a monster season, completing 67 percent of his passes for 2,275 yards, 21 TDs, and just three picks. The Saints, after winning in Seattle on Monday, have won three of their past four games.
The Buccaneers scored 24 or more points in six of their first seven matches. The Saints, in a short week, are ranked 29th in total crimes.
The Saints will be without Pro Bowl footballer Wil Lutz for the rest of the season with underlying muscle issues. So, their rookie would be Brian Johnson, who just signed to the Bears coaching staff two weeks ago. Johnson made both of his goal-scoring attempts in wet conditions in Seattle, including a 33-yard green light in the final two minutes.
Johnson is the fourth striker to be used by the Saints since Lutz underwent surgery during pre-season.
Saints full-back Demario Davis is playing a huge game against Seattle with ten tackles (four to lose) and two bags.
The Saints needed deep rear after releasing veteran Latvius Murray in September and losing reserve Tony Jones Jr. to injury, Mark Ingram, who rushed for 6,007 yards in his first eight seasons in New Orleans after the Saints recruited him in the first round in 2011, brought him back .
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