Check out the game action photos from the New Orleans Saints game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for Week 18 of the 2024 NFL Season on Jan. 5, 2025 at Raymond James Stadium.
Tampa, Fla. – The fact that the script was familiar didn't make it any less discomforting for the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
The Saints (5-12) ended their season with a 27-19 loss to the NFC South Division-winning Buccaneers (10-7) in a way that became more thematic than aberration this season.
New Orleans took a 16-6 halftime lead with clean play and execution, muddied up the second half as Tampa Bay posted three touchdowns and outscored the Saints 21-3, and had nowhere to look except the mirror in order to locate the chief cause of defeat.
OFFENSE: Rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler and the offense were spectacular in the first half, when he completed 21 of 28 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown and the offense scored on every possession – a touchdown and three field goals. New Orleans converted twice on fourth down to keep alive its touchdown drive. But the second half dissipation was thorough; Rattler completed five of 14 passes for 59 yards, only one field goal was added to the scoreboard and the Saints failed to convert on all six third-down attempts after converting three of seven in the first half. The running game wasn't expected to produce a ton, but 19 carries for 64 yards is unacceptable under any circumstances.
DEFENSE: The defense wasn't any better than the offense in the second half. After allowing two field goals in the first half – one of which wasn't the defense's fault, the Bucs kicked it after a special team penalty gave them five yards – the unit couldn't get off the field in the second half. On the lead-taking touchdown drive, Tampa Bay converted fourth-and-eight and scored on first-and-18 from the 32. The missed-tackle issue was compounded exponentially by several unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. New Orleans allowed 179 rushing yards (68 on nine carries by quarterback Baker Mayfield) and while the passing game was held intact for the most part, the pass defense failed when it most needed to help produce a stop. It certainly didn't help that Mayfield only was sacked once; the Saints were able to surround him several times, but couldn't get him on the ground nearly as often as they needed to.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Blake Grupe made all four field-goal attempts, including a 49-yarder, which is more work than you'd like for the kicker to have but nonetheless perfection when he was called upon. But Tampa Bay scored its first points of the game, a field goal, when Isaiah Stalbird ran into the punter on a fourth-and-10 from the Saints' 39-yard line. The extra five yards gave the Bucs the confidence to send out the field goal unit for a 52-yard attempt, and those three points weren't the difference on the scoreboard, but the play described a lot of what went wrong Sunday.