By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints had more confidence than Apollo Creed against Ivan Drago in their battle against the Brady bunch today. Well, the Saints started to rattle the GOAT by shutting him out in the first half. Out of a surprise, the Bucs started to break their former quarterback Jameis Winston by intercepting him a whopping three times in the fourth quarter. Ultimately, Brady’s frustration was rewarded with a victory against Who Dat Nation with a score of 20-10. With that said, I’m going to untwine five takeaways from the Saints-Buccaneers game.

• Jameis “loose cannon” Winston

The Saints mega-arm QB looked quite crisp with the pig skin for the first three quarters against the reigning NFC South Champions. In a tragic fashion, Winston forced a terrible throw into tight zone coverage in the 4th quarter – which resulted in an interception and arguably a death sentence for the Saints. I’m sure that Saints fans were tired of Drew Brees having pedestrian arm strength, but they may have missed his crunch-time decision-making after Winston had a dreadful mistake in a game of high stakes.

• lack of a pass rush

I’m really worried that the Saints pass rush will not be as scary as it was last season or the year prior. After the Saints registered a lousy zero sacks against Marcus Mariota, the Saints had a mere one sack on Brady in Week 2. Plus, the Saints were playing a bruised-up Bucs OL. Marcus Davenport and Cameron Jordan have both been healthy, yet the Saints edge rushers can’t manage to get home against opposing field generals.

• Marshon Lattimore and Mike Evans

Marshon Lattimore has been the true definition of hot and cold over these past two weeks. He locked down Kyle Pitts & Drake London in Week 1 — then proceeded to shut down Mike Evans until he was ejected in the fourth quarter. Yes, you read that correctly. Lattimore was stirring feathers with Tom Brady and Leonard Fournette, which prompted Evans (who may have used it as an excuse) to tee off on his ole pal in Lattimore. Each player was ejected for their miscues in the exchange. For Saints fans, it’s disappointing and annoying that Lattimore had this attitude after he had a personal foul in Week 1 that pushed the Falcons into field goal range.

• Breshad Perriman

It was blatantly a beautiful scene when Breshad Perriman hauled in a touchdown from Tom Brady to put his team up 10-3 in the fourth quarter. Chris Godwin was MIA for the contest, so it was pivotal that an under-the-radar wideout shined in the contest. Well, the former Ravens WR jumped onto the scene by beating P.J. Williams for a TD in the corner of the red zone.

• Shaq Attack

The former 19.5 sack man, Shaquil Barrett unleashed two sacks against the struggling Saints pass protection. Barrett proved his worth in a big showdown, while other Bucs stars decided to get tossed out of the exhibition.

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