New Orleans Saints: Players that must thrive to beat Buccaneers

2. Teddy Bridgewater

“But Teddy Bridgewater is taking over for Drew Brees, of course, he has to do good for the Saints to win,” you might think when reading this. While Bridgewater being good definitely is beneficial for the New Orleans Saints, he definitely did not have to be great the last two weeks for the Saints to win those games.

And that is exactly what we saw. I would not say that Bridgewater thrived in either game as he was good enough. He managed the game enough to lead the Saints to victory, a victory that was not pinned at all with his play.

Two non-offensive touchdowns and a great day from Alvin Kamara led to the win in Seattle. The stout defensive play led to the win against Dallas. Neither was necessary because of Bridgewater.

This game is different. The Saints are coming up against a Tampa Bay team that is actually really good at stopping the run and is coming off a game in which the Rams didn’t have any success running the ball.

Kamara will do as much as he can but the offense cannot lean on him as heavily as Seattle. And while the defense had a great showing last week, we cannot expect this defense, who did not impress much the three weeks prior, to only allow 10 points again.

This week it will be on Bridgewater, which does make this game dangerous for the Saints. However, after proving that he can manage the game in the last two weeks, I think Bridgewater will prove that he can win the game as well.