Buccaneers at Saints
THE STORY: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had to expect to lose ground in the NFC South race last week. They were on their bye week and the New Orleans Saints were facing winless St. Louis. Instead, the Rams pulled off the upset, and the Bucs find themselves with a chance to take over the division lead when they travel to New Orleans for a key matchup Sunday at the Superdome. The Bucs won the first meeting this season, 26-20 on Oct. 16, and have won three of the past four meetings.
TV: FOX, 1 p.m. ET. LINE: Saints -9, O/U 50
ABOUT BUCCANEERS (4-3): Tampa Bay has had remarkable success at the Superdome, winning in its past two trips to the Crescent City. The rest of the NFL is 3-16 at the Superdome since the start of the 2009 season. The banged-up Bucs are slowly getting healthy. They hope to have RB LeGarrette Blount back after missing two games with a sprained MCL. If Blount can't go, the Bucs will be hurting in the backfield with RB Earnest Graham on injured reserve with a torn Achilles' tendon suffered in a 24-18 loss to Chicago in London two weeks ago. Bucs TE Kellen Winslow has a reception in 83 consecutive games.
ABOUT SAINTS (5-3): New Orleans didn't look like itself in its 31-21 loss at St. Louis, falling in a 24-0 hole before making the score look more respectable with a defensive touchdown and a touchdown pass with six seconds left. The offense was held to a season-low 283 yards and QB Drew Brees threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. The running game struggled without rookie Mark Ingram, who leads the team with 329 rushing yards. Ingram and will sit out his second straight game with a bruised heel.
EXTRA POINTS:
1. Bucs QB Josh Freeman had a 111.4 rating in his two starts against the Saints last season. When he starts and has a rating of 100 or better, the Bucs are 7-1. Freeman had a season-high 303 passing yards and two touchdowns in last month's meeting.
2. Brees has 20 or more completions in an NFL-record 28 consecutive games. He also has a touchdown pass in 35 straight and can tie Brett Favre for the second-longest streak in NFL history.
3. Bucs CB Ronde Barber has started 190 consecutive games, the most by a cornerback in NFL history.