Sean Payton relied on old tricks to beat the Bucs and there was nothing Tampa Bay could do to stop the Broncos
Even though it's only Week 3, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos were two teams walking down two completely different paths heading into Sunday's matchup.The Bucs were 2-0 and riding high off a huge win in Detroit, while the Broncos were 0-2 and looking for some kind of spark after a bad 13-6 loss […]
Even though it's only Week 3, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos were two teams walking down two completely different paths heading into Sunday's matchup.
The Bucs were 2-0 and riding high off a huge win in Detroit, while the Broncos were 0-2 and looking for some kind of spark after a bad 13-6 loss to the Steelers. But, as we all know, it's a week-to-week league and things can quickly change.
Especially when it's a coach like Sean Payton running the show. Not only is Payton a future Hall of Famer, he has an extended history playing Todd Bowles' defenses thanks to his time in New Orleans, where he went up against Bowles on six regular season occasions and one time in the playoffs.
When it comes to the regular season, it's safe to say Payton dominated Bowles. He beat the Bucs in all six games, accumulating a 6-0 record. His offenses averaged 30.3 points per game in those contests and scored 31+ points in five of the six matchups. The Saints also handled the Bucs with three different quarterbacks in Drew Brees, Jameis Winston, and Taysom Hill over that span.
Bowles' lone victory came via the 2020-2021 Divisional Round of the playoffs and while that's a big win – it's clear Payton has his number.
Payton's history with Bowles allowed him to craft an excellent game plan and he had his team ready to execute from the jump. It's a big reason why he deferred the coin toss – a fast start would provide a huge spark for a struggling offense on the road.
Plus, Payton knew exactly how to attack the Bucs defense, so, why wouldn't he want to try and draw first blood?
"This is a team that, historically, is hard to run the ball against," Payton told reporters after the game. "We have played here a number of times and coached in a number of games against Todd [Bowles]. He does a great job. [The Buccaneers] provide some challenging pressure looks. There is a safety or a blitz every other play so if you are not careful you will end up with some minus runs. I felt like we wanted to be aggressive early and run it later in the game. All those things happened…
"… Todd [Bowles] is someone that I’ve worked with – it is almost like you know the kind of game that it has to be. [The Buccaneers] are counting on takeaways, they are counting on sacks, they are counting on disruption. We just had to do everything to prevent that.”
The Broncos offense made plays on the Bucs defense throughout all four quarters. Tampa recorded just two quarterback hits, nine overall pressures, and two tackles for loss on the day after amassing 10 QB hits, 18 pressures, and four tackles for loss in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions. Nix and co. routinely moved up and down the field with little resistance and scored on six of the offense's 10 possessions.
The running game was on point and backs were breaking tackles on every other run. The Broncos rushed for 136-yards and two touchdowns as a team and averaged just a tick under 5.0 yards per carry. The offensive line more than held its own against a very beat up Bucs defensive line and the receivers made plenty of plays on the Bucs' starting corners.
“Well, we put together a great gameplan this week," Nix said after the game. "We were very balanced. We came out early and threw the ball. Then, later in the game, we had to run the ball when everybody in the stadium knows we are running the ball, and we were able to get first downs that way. So, it was a complete offensive game, I thought. We ran the ball well and it got us in manageable third downs, and we were efficient when we threw the ball.
"Our guys made plays. They did a great job with yards after catch, and I think, moving forward, that’s what we continue to want to do. We want to stay balanced and be a good attack.”
It's easy to see why the loss is so frustrating when considering Bowles knows Payton just as well as Payton knows Bowles. But, obviously, Bowles is still way behind when it comes to "catching up" with Payton's offense.
“It’s nothing we haven’t seen. He’s very smart and calculated in how he does things," Bowles told reporters. "I think we defended some things very well. We didn’t make enough plays. I thought we bounced off too many people. We just didn’t make plays defensively and you can give him all the credit.”
Payton's prior experience also kept Mike Evans in check
One of the biggest matchups heading into the game was premier corner Pat Surtain II going up against Mike Evans. Surtain is arguably the best CB in the game and we all know who Evans is/what he can do.
But, when Evans goes up against Marshon Lattimore and the Saints defense, he is typically shut down. Since Lattimore was drafted in 2017, Evans has recorded just 42 receptions for 728 yards and three touchdowns on 73 targets across the span of 14 games against the Saints. His per-game average of three receptions for 52-yards and 0.21 touchdowns against New Orleans is a far cry from his per-game average of five receptions for 78-yards and 0.65 touchdowns in other contests.
Sure enough, Payton reached back into the Lattimore-Evans tape in order to show Surtain how he can defend the greatest receiver in Bucs history.
“We were talking about it [at] the start of the week, and I asked him, I said, ‘Hey, if [New Orleans Saints Head Coach] Dennis Allen wants to do a quick trade for one week, I’ll take [Marshon] Lattimore and you go there and then we’ll bring you back,’ you know, giving him a hard time," said Payton.
"Lattimore has always defended Evans well. So, we went and got 35 snaps, of bump-and-run Lattimore and Evans. I put it in his hot folder, [we] talked about it on the plane, and he responded, so it was good… No trade.”
It's actually quite sad how Payton was able to use prior knowledge from multiple seasons ago in the blowout win
We hear it all the time when teams go up against each other about how "it's a new season, this is a new team, so everything in the past doesn't really matter as much".
Well, that obviously doesn't apply to Payton and Bowles. Payton was able to dig into his experience from 3+ seasons ago and he still dominated Bowles and the Bucs. That's a bit scary, considering the NFL is a copycat league. Teams are going to be studying the crap out of the Broncos' tape from Sunday and hell, they may even start digging into Saints tape from 2019-on.
Obviously, getting healthy will help on both sides of the ball, but the Bucs really need to look themselves in the mirror after this one and get things straightened out. Or else that 2-0 start is going to feel pretty meaningless, and distant, quick.
