By John Hendrix | SI
The wait is almost over, as the New Orleans Saints open up their 2020 regular season campaign by hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's going to look completely different due to no fans being in attendance, but the sentiment of football being back is truly something special. Figuring out what to expect in this game is a lot like playing the table games at the casino. The action could be hot and hit on all cylinders, or could just be a giant strikeout and letdown.
It's easy to say we'll be paying attention to everything in this game, as the lack of preseason and only small sample sizes from training camp are what we've been shown. No matter how the first meeting goes between Tom Brady and Drew Brees this season, the second one in the prime time spotlight of Sunday Night Football in early November should be even more entertaining.
What to Watch For
How well does New Orleans move the ball? The Saints offense has a ton of returning cast members, and looks to be even better with upgrades like Cesar Ruiz and Emmanuel Sanders. We know how last year ended with the Saints, with the Vikings giving the offense tons of fits by blowing up the interior. What we should pay attention to is if the Buccaneers front seven tries something similar to throw the Saints off, and more importantly how Drew Brees can react and respond to it. As much praise of the Bucs get for improving, their secondary is still unproven and suspect, which means Brees could be in for a big day if the Bucs get overly aggressive. ...
Full Story - SI
The wait is almost over, as the New Orleans Saints open up their 2020 regular season campaign by hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's going to look completely different due to no fans being in attendance, but the sentiment of football being back is truly something special. Figuring out what to expect in this game is a lot like playing the table games at the casino. The action could be hot and hit on all cylinders, or could just be a giant strikeout and letdown.
It's easy to say we'll be paying attention to everything in this game, as the lack of preseason and only small sample sizes from training camp are what we've been shown. No matter how the first meeting goes between Tom Brady and Drew Brees this season, the second one in the prime time spotlight of Sunday Night Football in early November should be even more entertaining.
What to Watch For
How well does New Orleans move the ball? The Saints offense has a ton of returning cast members, and looks to be even better with upgrades like Cesar Ruiz and Emmanuel Sanders. We know how last year ended with the Saints, with the Vikings giving the offense tons of fits by blowing up the interior. What we should pay attention to is if the Buccaneers front seven tries something similar to throw the Saints off, and more importantly how Drew Brees can react and respond to it. As much praise of the Bucs get for improving, their secondary is still unproven and suspect, which means Brees could be in for a big day if the Bucs get overly aggressive. ...
Full Story - SI
