The Tampa Bay Buccaneers probably wish they could get back on the field immediately after the humiliating drubbing they took in Week 5. The San Francisco 49ers crushed the Buccaneers on Sunday, 48-3, but Raheem Morris knows that he has to get his team to forget about the debacle and instead focus on getting ready for a tough divisional opponent in Week 6, the New Orleans Saints.
"This is the National Football League," says Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris. "The schedule is tough every single year and every single game. We have to embrace the fact that we get to play tough teams. That’s fun football and we have to get better this week. We have to get ready to play a tough football game against the New Orleans Saints."
First place in the NFC South is on the line at Raymond Jones Stadium Sunday afternoon, as the winner will hold an early-season head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the other through six games. The Atlanta Falcons (2-3) can not match that even if they do win this coming weekend.
The Saints are playing good, though far from perfect football. On Sunday, the Saints won their fourth consecutive game by rallying in the final minutes to defeat the Carolina Panthers, 30-27. Quarterback Drew Brees completed 32 of 45 passes (71.1 percent) for 359 yards and two touchdowns in the Saints' victory, and has now thrown a TD pass in 32 consecutive games, the third-longest streak in NFL history. Brees also extended his NFL-record streak of consecutive games with at least 20 completions to 25 games in a row. Brees has passed for at least 350 yards in each of the past three contests and can become thefirst player in NFL history with 350+ passing yards in four consecutive games.
Needless to say, Morris' defense will have their work cut out for them this coming Sunday. The two teams have split their season series each of the past three years and the road team has won the previous four matchups. The Bucs hope to snap that streak as well as their one-game losing streak on Sunday.