Drew Brees threw three touchdown passes and the visiting New Orleans Saints recorded four interceptions in a 34-17 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon.
The Saints improved to 8-2 a week after a 26-9 loss to Atlanta. That loss ended a six-game winning streak in a game in which they failed to score a touchdown and Brees was sacked six times.
Against the Buccaneers (3-7), Brees completed 28 of 35 for 228 yards, he wasn't sacked and he didn't throw an interception.
Michael Thomas, the leading receiver in the NFL, caught eight of Brees' passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Marcus Williams intercepted a Jameis Winston pass and returned the ball 55 yards for a touchdown to complete the scoring with 5:07 remaining.
Tampa Bay threatened to score on the next possession, but P.J. Williams intercepted Winston in the end zone.
The Saints scored the first 20 points, but Matt Gay kicked a 55-yard field goal on the first possession of the second half to pull the Buccaneers within 20-10.
Brees responded on the ensuing possession with a 75-yard drive that ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr.
Winston threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin to cut the Saints lead to 27-17 at the end of the quarter. Winston completed 30 of 51 passes for 313 yards with two touchdowns.
After Wil Lutz kicked field goals of 44 and 26 yards on the Saints' first two possessions, linebacker Demario Davis gave them another scoring opportunity at the Bucs' 16-yard line when he intercepted Winston.
On the next play, Brees threw a touchdown pass to Thomas for a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Brees threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jared Cook to increase the lead to 20-0 with 5:13 left in the half.
Tampa Bay finally scored when Winston threw a third-down touchdown pass to Peyton Barber from 6 yards to cut New Orleans' lead to 20-7 with 2:42 left in the half.
The Saints beat the Buccaneers 31-24 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome last month.
--Field Level Media