TAMPA – On a day when the skies were gloomy in Tampa Bay – not just because of the rainy weather, but also because of an ESPN report that said that Monte Kiffin, Tampa Bay’s legendary defensive coordinator since 1996, would be joining his son, Lane, to coach with the Tennessee Volunteers at season’s end – the Buccaneers found a ray of sunshine on Sunday in the form of an important, 23-20 victory over visiting New Orleans.

The win, which was keyed by Kiffin’s defense that picked off Saints quarterback Drew Brees three times, pushes Tampa Bay’s record to 9-3 on the season and a half-game in front of Carolina, the Bucs’ next opponent and a winner at Green Bay on Sunday. For the first time since Jon Gruden has been head coach in Tampa Bay, the Bucs have had back-to-back winning seasons. Sunday’s win also marked Gruden’s 100th as an NFL head coach.

But after the game, all of the attention was on Kiffin – and not necessarily the masterful game his defense played in holding New Orleans’ top-ranked offense to just 20 points and 332 total yards, including 44 on the ground. Kiffin was asked repeatedly about the ESPN report about joining Lane’s staff at Tennessee, but only said, “It’s all speculation.”

However, Kiffin did not do much to quell the speculation, and clearly did not want to talk about the ESPN report after the game, saying it wasn’t fair to his players, who played so well against the Saints.

One of those players, strong safety Jermaine Phillips, returned from a broken forearm to play for the first time since the Dallas game a month ago. Phillips’ return was timely as he notched eight tackles and intercepted Brees at the New Orleans with 2:33 left in the game and the scored tied at 20-20. That play set up a 37-yard field goal by Matt Bryant, which gave Tampa Bay a 23-20 lead with 1:55 left in regulation. Phillip Buchanon’s interception with 1:40 left at the New Orleans 33 sealed the win for Tampa Bay.

Despite completing 25-of-47 passes (53.1 percent) for 296 yards and two touchdowns, Brees’ three interceptions, the first of which came in the third quarter when linebacker Cato June picked off a pass intended for tight end Jeremy Shockey in the end zone, were the story of the game. Despite the wet and sloppy conditions and those interceptions on Sunday, Brees still seemed to throw the ball much better than his counterpart, Jeff Garcia did.

Garcia completed only 9-of-23 passes (39.1 percent) for 119 yards and one touchdown while being sacked four times, but also scrambled for 42 yards on seven carries, including a 20-yard run right before the halftime that led to a Tampa Bay field goal.

The Bucs fared much better on the ground than they did through the air in the rainy weather, evidenced by the 149 rushing yards the team produced on 34 carries (4.4 avg.). Cadillac Williams had his most productive day since his return from a torn patellar tendon, rushing for 20 yards on four carries, including an 8-yard touchdown run, which was also another ray of light for the Buccaneers on Sunday. Williams and his teammates will return to the place where he suffered his severe knee injury next Monday as Tampa Bay travels to Carolina to play the Panthers. The winner of this game figures to be in the driver’s seat for the NFC South division title.

However, in order to beat the Panthers, the Bucs offense will have to perform much better than it did against the Saints as it converted just 2-of-15 (13 percent) third downs.

Brees started the game 7-of-9 for 59 yards on New Orleans’ opening possession, which ended at the Tampa Bay 30 on fourth-and-1 when middle linebacker Barrett Ruud, who led the Bucs with 10 tackles, stopped Devery Henderson for 3-yard loss on a reverse.

But after the turnover on downs, Tampa Bay gave the ball right back to New Orleans on third-and-3 from the Tampa Bay 40 when Garcia threw to a well-covered Michael Clayton, who was stripped of the ball by middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma. The Saints took over at the Tampa Bay 35 after Vilma advanced the ball eight yards.

However, the Saints could only get a field goal off the turnover, as Garrett Hartley’s 47-yarder after a three-and-out possession gave New Orleans an early 3-0 advantage with 5:37 remaining.

Tampa Bay would answer on its next offensive series. Garcia was 3-of-6 on the drive for 28 yards and scrambled twice for more 12 yards. The big play on the 57-yard scoring drive, which spanned 13 plays, was a 7-yard run by Williams on fourth-and-1 at the New Orleans 35. But on third-and-3 from the 21, Garcia’s pass, which was intended for Antonio Bryant, fell incomplete. That prompted a 38-yard field goal from Matt Bryant. With 14:50 left in the second quarter, the score was tied at 3-3.

The Bucs would pull ahead right before halftime thanks to a brilliant, 42-yard punt return by Clifton Smith. Smith had trouble fielding Glenn Pakulak’s 72-yard punt, but once he did, he weaved his way down to the New Orleans 39-yard line. After taking a sack on second-and-8 from the 37, Garcia hit tight end Jerramy Stevens with a 10-yard pass down to the 33-yard line. On fourth-and-4, the Bucs went for it and Garcia scrambled up the middle for a 20-yard gain down to the 12-yard line. After 6-yard run by Dunn, Garcia scrambled for no gain on second down. On third-and-4 from the New Orleans 6-yard, Garcia scrambled and threw an errant pass to Clayton in the end zone that fell incomplete. With 2:34 left in the first half, Bryant’s 23-yard field goal gave Tampa Bay a 6-3 lead.

New Orleans would answer on its next possession, thanks in part to a 37-yard strike from Brees to Colston, which gave the Saints a first down to the Tampa Bay 21. On third-and-2 at the Tampa Bay 13, Brees scrambled to his right and found receiver Lance Moore open in the end zone for a touchdown. With 33 seconds left in the second quarter, the Saints took a 10-6 lead.

Tampa Bay would re-take the lead on the first possession of the second half. Smith got the drive started with a 34-yard return out to the Bucs’ 39-yard line. A 15-yard facemask penalty on Leigh Torrence advanced the ball to the New Orleans 46. Dunn picked up a combined 10 yards on his first two carries of the drive. The key play was an 8-yard catch by Bryant on third-and-5 at the 27-yard line. Bryant caught a deflected pass and picked up the first down at the 19-yard line. An 11-yard scramble by Garcia on second-and-10 set up Tampa Bay with a first down at the 8-yard line. On his fourth carry of the game, Williams raced off right tackle and into the end zone for a touchdown to cap off an eight-play, 46-yard drive. With 10:14 left in the third quarter, the Bucs led 13-10.

Tampa Bay increased its lead on the second play of its next possession. On second-and-4 from the New Orleans 39, Saints safety Josh Bullocks bit on a play-action fake, and that allowed Bryant to drift wide open down the field to haul in a 39-yard touchdown strike from Garcia. Bryant caught the pass between safety Roman Harper and cornerback Jason David. With 8:36 left in the third quarter, the Bucs’ lead swelled to 20-10.

New Orleans was driving on its next offensive series with Brees hitting four straight passes for 50 yards in moving the Saints down to the Tampa Bay 20. But on second-and-2, a pass intended to Shockey in the end zone was tipped away by cornerback Ronde Barber and intercepted by June for a touchback.

The legs of Pierre Thomas picked up 24 yards on New Orleans’ next drive, and that combined with a 20-yard catch by Henderson set the Saints up deep inside Buccaneers territory. It appeared as if another interception in the end zone would kill a second Saints drive as free safety Tanard Jackson picked off a pass intended for Henderson. But an illegal contact call on Barber gave the Saints a first down at the Tampa Bay 28. Three plays later on third-and-2 from the Tampa Bay 20, Thomas took a swing pass from Brees and weaved through traffic for a touchdown to finish an 11-play, 82-yard scoring drive. With 12:09 left in the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay’s lead was cut to 20-17.

With 7:16 left in the fourth quarter, Bidwell shanked a punt for 18 yards, giving the Saints the ball at Tampa Bay’s 48-yard line. On first down, Brees found Shockey down the middle of the field for 21 yards down to the Tampa Bay 27. But on third-and-8 from the 25-yard line, Brees’ pass into the end zone for Colston was broken up by safety Sabby Piscitelli and cornerback Aqib Talib. With 5:34 remaining in regulation, Hartley’s 43-yard field goal on fourth down tied the game at 20-20.

Bidwell made up for his poor punt on his next one, nailing a 37-yarder down at the New Orleans 7. After Billy Miller picked up 10 yards on second down, Brees threw late across the middle and into the arms of safety Jermaine Phillips, who picked off the pass intended for Colston at the New Orleans 30, returning it 13 yards to the 17.

But Tampa Bay wound up losing two yards on the possession and had to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Bryant. With 1:55 left in regulation, the Bucs led 23-20. On New Orleans’ second play on its final possession, Buchanon picked off Brees’ pass intended for Moore to seal Tampa Bay’s ninth win of the year.

PEWTERREPORT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME
On New Orleans’ first possession, you could tell that Tampa Bay strong safety Jermaine Phillips missed playing football for three games because of his broken forearm. He recorded five of his eight tackles on the Saints’ opening possession, flying around the field, hitting anything that moved in white jerseys and black pants.

In addition to those tackles, Phillips also broke up a pass and came away with a huge interception with 2:33 left in regulation at the New Orleans 30, returning the pick to the 17-yard line. That set up Matt Bryant’s 37-yard game-winning field goal with 1:55 remaining. For his dominant efforts on defense, Phillips is this week’s PewterReport.com Player of the Game.

IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Only up by three points – 23-20 – with 1:50 remaining in regulation, Drew Brees and the Saints went to work at the New Orleans 27-yard line. On second-and-10 from the 27, Brees threw a pass downfield intended for Lance Moore, but Bucs cornerback Phillip Buchanon swooped in at the last minute and recorded a diving interception at the New Orleans 33. That interception, which was the third on the day for Brees, clinched the victory for the Buccaneers, which moved to 9-3 on the year while the Saints fell to 6-6.

STATS THAT COUNT
Head coach Jon Gruden (45 years, 105 days) became the third-youngest head coach in the NFL to reach 100 overall wins among those that began their coaching career in the Super Bowl era. Only John Madden (41 years and 232 days) and Bill Cowher (44 years and 208 days) have reached 100 wins at a younger age since 1966. Gruden has 95 regular season wins and five playoff victories. Earlier this year, Gruden became Tampa Bay’s all-time winningest head coach. … Tampa Bay’s 9-3 start ties the best start in team history (also 9-3 in 1979 and 2002). The last time the Bucs started off 9-3, the team won Super Bowl XXXVII. … Tampa Bay’s 6-0 record at Raymond James Stadium in 2008 is also the best start at home in franchise history. … Defensive ends Gaines Adams and Greg White split a sack against New Orleans. Adams leads the team with 5.5 sacks while White is second with five. … Antonio Bryant led all Tampa Bay receivers with three catches for 63 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown. The Bucs are 3-0 when Bryant catches a touchdown pass in 2008.

SUNDAY’S STARTING LINEUPS
The announced Tampa Bay starting lineup for Sunday’s game was as follows:

BUCS STARTING OFFENSE
WR Antonio Bryant
LT Donald Penn
LG Arron Sears
C Jeff Faine
RG Davin Joseph
RT Jeremy Trueblood
TE John Gilmore
WR Michael Clayton
FB B.J. Askew
RB Warrick Dunn
QB Jeff Garcia

BUCS STARTING DEFENSE
LE Kevin Carter
NT Chris Hovan
UT Jovan Haye
RE Gaines Adams
MLB Barrett Ruud
WLB Derrick Brooks
RCB Aqib Talib
LCB Phillip Buchanon
NCB Ronde Barber
FS Tanard Jackson
SS Jermaine Phillips

MISSING IN ACTION
Here is a list of Tampa Bay’s inactives for the Bucs game:

LB Matt McCoy
SS Donte Nicholson
OL James Lee
RB Noah Herron
DT Greg Peterson
WR Dexter Jackson
QB Brian Griese
QB Josh Johnson (emergency quarterback)

BUCS INJURIES
Bucs defensive tackle Jovan Haye suffered a knee injury in the first half and did not return to the game. That was the only reported injury by the Buccaneers. Fullback B.J. Askew left the game temporarily, but returned.

KICKOFF CONDITIONS
The announced attendance for the Buccaneers vs. Saints game at Raymond James Stadium was 64,430. The temperature at kickoff was 73 degrees with 80 percent humidity under cloudy skies. Rain poured throughout the game, especially in the second and fourth quarters.

UP NEXT
The Buccaneers (9-3) travel to Carolina to take on the Panthers (9-3) at Bank of America Stadium next Monday, December 8. Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

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