Rams, Saints remain thorns in Tom Brady’s side entering 2022 season
TAMPA — They know where the variations of the kryptonite are embedded throughout the 2022 schedule. They’ll come upon them at least three times this autumn, maybe once more in the winter.
Of course, the Bucs have encountered them with eyes agape in the recent past, yet couldn’t avoid stumbling over them, or even being mortally pierced by their jagged edges.
Even now, they seem flummoxed by their failure to navigate — much less neutralize — the Saints and Rams, who have combined to win seven of the eight meetings against Tampa Bay in the Tom Brady era.
“It’s a million-dollar question,” veteran tight end Cameron Brate said.
“I really don’t know,” cornerback Jamel Dean said. “I just think that when we play those two teams, we get so emotional towards them that we just don’t play our game.”
Many greats have been rendered mortal by the same unlikely foil. Ken Norton was pummeled by assorted heavyweights, but gave Muhammad Ali fits. Clay confounded John McEnroe, who flourished on every other surface. Someone named Bruce Bochte hit nearly .400 for his career against Nolan Ryan.
Brady’s Bucs? Subtract the playoff win in New Orleans two seasons ago, when Drew Brees couldn’t throw a screen pass without wincing, and Tampa Bay is a combined 0-7 against the Saints and Rams with their Canton-bound quarterback under center. Five of those defeats have been decided by at least nine points.
“I wish I knew,” Bucs veteran edge rusher Shaquil Barrett said. “‘Cause we would’ve gotten it fixed a long time ago.”
Actually, the answers are pretty glaring, and presumably reparable.
In their last four defeats to the Saints — two of them Sunday night embarrassments at home — the Bucs have amassed a minus-9 turnover margin and have allowed 13 sacks of Brady while recording only five of their own. They possess a plus-2 combined turnover margin in their last three meetings against the Rams, but have allowed seven sacks while recording only three.
By contrast, in the 30-20 playoff romp of the Saints on Jan. 17, 2021, the Bucs forced four turnovers, committed none of their own and surrendered only one sack.
“In the games where we do force turnovers, we are able to be in the game or even win the game,” Barrett said. “And the Rams, it might just be sacks, honestly. I’ll take all of (the responsibility), because we don’t get sacks ... when we play (either) of those teams, really.”
In the case of the Saints, who actually have won the last seven regular-season meetings against Tampa Bay, penalties are just as complicit as the pass rush (or lack thereof) when assessing the Bucs’ futility. In the teams’ four regular-season meetings of the Brady era, New Orleans has totaled 17 penalties for 198 yards. Tampa Bay: 28 for 271.
No such discrepancy existed in two of the recent three losses to the Rams, though the Bucs were whistled for seven penalties to the Rams’ one in Los Angeles’ 34-24 victory in Week Three last season.
“When you play those games, it’s all about who makes the least amount of mistakes in there,” Dean said. “We just get so emotional like, ‘OK, this feels like a rivalry game.’ So they just keep their composure and we lose ours.”
Brate notes the Bucs have struggled to establish the run in those matchups, a theory partially supported by stats. In four of the past eight meetings against the Rams and Saints, the Bucs were outgained on the ground.
In their 38-3 home loss to the Saints in a Sunday night game two Novembers ago, an early deficit forced them to abandon the run early, resulting in 8 rushing yards on five attempts.
“Sometimes we’ve just got to be a little more patient, I think, on offense,” Brate said.
“You see the game we won against the Saints in the playoffs in 2020, we ran the football (127 rushing yards to the Saints’ 104). I think that’s the No. 1 thing you have to do against a defense like that, you have to have them respect the run. And for whatever reason, last year against those teams, we just couldn’t do it.”
The first nine weeks of 2022 will determine whether kryptonite has a shelf life, whether poise — and power runs — can be established. The Bucs travel to New Orleans in Week Two, and host the Rams on Nov. 6. The second meeting against the Saints will be staged on a Monday night (Dec. 5).
“This year, we’ve just got to make sure that we’re preparing the right way,” safety Antoine Winfield Jr. said. “And we’ve got to go out there and just play our best.”
Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls
Two years of torment
A look at the Bucs’ eight matchups against the Saints and Rams the last two seasons:
Sept. 13, 2020: Saints 34, Bucs 23. Brady’s two INTs include a pick-six
Nov. 8, 2020: Saints 38, Bucs 3. Bucs amass 8 rushing yards
Nov. 23, 2020: Rams 27, Bucs 24. Rams QB Jared Goff throws for 376 yards
Jan. 17, 2021: Bucs 30, Saints 20. Bucs intercept Drew Brees three times
Sept. 26, 2021: Rams 34, Bucs 24. Rams QB Matthew Stafford throws 4 TD passes
Oct. 31, 2021: Saints 36, Bucs 27. Bucs collect 99 yards in penalties
Dec. 19, 2021: Saints 9, Rams 0. Leonard Fournette, Chris Godwin exit with injuries
Jan. 23, 2022: Rams 30, Bucs 27. Bucs go Cover Zero, allow decisive pass play down stretch
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