New Orleans Saints: Complete roster breakdown vs. Buccaneers
By Jason Reed
The New Orleans Saints look to move to 3-0 without Drew Brees in Week 5 as they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fresh off of a 55-point showing.
The concerns around the New Orleans Saints have mellowed drastically in a two-week span. There was understandable panic around the team when Drew Brees went down with a torn ligament in his throwing thumb. But now, the Saints are on the right path.
The Saints beat to playoff teams, the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys, without Brees and now enter an easier stretch.
The one thing disrupting that is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who always give the Saints a fit and are coming off a 55-point game against the Los Angeles Rams. While you would think that fans are as confident as could be in this game, there definitely is some sort of uneasy feeling.
In order to clear that uneasy feeling, we are going to give you our complete roster breakdown of the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which should help ease those nerves.
Special teams: Advantage, New Orleans Saints
There really is no debate here if you are a fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The New Orleans Saints have one of the best kicker-punter duos in the NFL and that alone propels the team over the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Wil Lutz has made 10 of 11 field goals this season, including four last week, and Thomas Morstead is a top-three punter, at worst, in the league.
Meanwhile, the Bucs have Matt Gay, who showed extremely positive signs but has missed two extra points and field goals on the year, including the potential game-winning 34-yard field goal against the New York Giants.
Bradley Pinion has a leg of his own but he is still not the punter that Morstead is. Add in the fact that Deonte Harris averages the third-most yards per kickoff return in the league and it is obvious that the advantage goes to the Saints.