It’s time for PewterReport.com’s 2-Point Conversion post-game column, which features two statements, two questions and two predictions based on the latest Bucs game. Tampa Bay quickly fell behind as New Orleans raced out to a 20-0 lead and never looked back in a 34-17 win that dropped the Bucs to a dismal 3-7 record this year. Quarterback Jameis Winston threw four interceptions, while Tampa Bay’s defense failed to produce a takeaway or pressure quarterback Drew Brees, who threw three touchdowns as the Saints swept the Bucs.

2 BIG STATEMENTS

STATEMENT 1: Bucs Were Outclassed By Saints

Before I rip the refs for an absolutely horrifically officiated game, let me first state the obvious. The outcome of Sunday’s game shows just how far away the Bucs are from the NFC South-leading Saints. New Orleans, coming off an embarrassing loss to Atlanta last week, looked like a division-winning varsity team, while Tampa Bay, which snapped a four-game losing streak to Arizona last week, looked like a clearly over-matched J.V. squad.

New Orleans came into Raymond James Stadium and bullied Tampa Bay from the start. The Bucs showed a little fight defensively at outset, holding the Saints to two field goals with red zone defense. But it was New Orleans’ defense that was dominant from the get-go, forcing a three-and-out on Tampa Bay’s first series and picking off Jameis Winston in the red zone on the second series. That turnover set up a Drew Brees-to-Michael Thomas touchdown on the next play to give the Saints a 13-0 lead, and they wouldn’t look back.

Saints WR Michael Thomas and Bucs CB Sean Murphy-Bunting – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

By the time New Orleans added another touchdown to go up 20-0, Tampa Bay only had 11 yards of offense, while the Saints had racked up 195 yards. New Orleans also had a 20:01 to 4:46 time of possession advantage until the Bucs finally answered with a touchdown of their own in the second quarter. The Saints took a 20-7 lead into halftime after Winston was picked off again and Tampa Bay never really threatened.

Even though they were 3-6 coming into Sunday’s game, the Bucs had never been outclassed the way they were on Sunday. The team’s largest margin of defeat coming into the Saints game was 14 points, but Tampa Bay only trailed by a touchdown with two minutes left in that before Winston threw a pick-six to push the margin to two TDs. And despite a minus-six turnover margin in London, the Bucs only lost to the Panthers by 11 points.

The Saints beat the Bucs by 17 points and it wasn’t even really that close.

“That’s a very well coached, very talented team,” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said.

After giving up six sacks in New Orleans, Tampa Bay’s offensive line was once again under siege against a fierce Saints pass rush. Winston was only sacked twice on Sunday, but was hit 12 times and was hurt late in the game when Smith gave up a pressure on third down that caused the Bucs QB to take a hard hit. A wobbly Winston, who hurt his ankle, threw a pick-six on the next play to push the Saints lead to 34-17.

Winston would throw another interception in the end zone when the Bucs failed to score a touchdown despite three tries from the 1-yard line. Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich called a bad game with many questionable play calls.

This was a complete butt kicking, as Tampa Bay couldn’t stay on the field offensively in the first half, and could get off the field defensively. The Saints had a decisive 14-minute time of possession advantage, and that and New Orleans’ plus-four turnover margin advantage also helped tell the tale of Tampa Bay’s defeat on Sunday.

STATEMENT 2: The Bucs Lacked Star Power On Sunday

This game was over by the time the Saints jumped out to a 20-0 lead. New Orleans was just too good of a team to come back against with that much of a lead – even at home where the Bucs are 1-4 this year with one of those home contests in London.

By halftime the Bucs trailed 20-7 after Jameis Winston threw his second interception of the game, which denied Tampa Bay points, and the reason New Orleans was ahead was because the Saints’ stars shined at Ray-Jay while the Bucs’ simply didn’t.

Saints QB Drew Brees and Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

New Orleans had 50 yards rushing and 37 yards receiving from Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara in the first half, while Pro Bowl wide receiver Michael Thomas had five catches for 47 yards and one score. Future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees had completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions after two quarters of play. Pro Bowl defensive end Cameron Jordan had a sack and safety Von Bell had an interception in the first half.

For Tampa Bay, running back Ronald Jones had just 10 yards on three carries in the first half and no receptions after catching a career-high eight catches for 77 yards last week. Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans had one catch for eight yards through two quarters. Tight end O.J. Howard and wide receiver Chris Godwin had zero catches. Winston completed 12-of-20 passes for 106 yards with two interceptions and one touchdown. Outside linebackers Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett had zero sacks and pressures, and the same applied to nose tackle Vita Vea.

For the Bucs to play better and have a chance of winning, their stars need to show up.

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: Do The Saints Get All The Calls This Year?

It certainly seems that way, and it’s a crime. One of the most egregious penalty calls this year was flagging Bucs receiver Mike Evans for offensive pass interference in the fourth quarter. After Evans caught a 6-yard pass on fourth-and-1, he was flagged for offensive pass interference when he did a swim move on cornerback P.J. Williams one yard off the line of scrimmage. That was a perfectly legal move by Evans to get off the line against press coverage one yard off the line of scrimmage, but when head coach Bruce Arians challenged the call, referee Bradley Rogers wrongly upheld the call.

“They didn’t tell me anything,” Evans said. “It was one yard – one-yard rule. Just a simple release. I was trying to make up for my third down drop in the previous quarter. I wanted the ball on the fourth down, and I got it. Jameis [Winston] threw a good ball – a good physical release, and then the back judge just said I pushed off, but the ball wasn’t even in the air yet. It’s just a B-release. What every receiver in the NFL does, but it cost us pretty big.

“It was one yard. So, I was told since I stepped into the league that at one yard you can pretty much get away with anything on both sides. The DB gets five yards to do whatever they want to us, and we get one yard – and I use that one yard. I’m a big physical receiver and I thought I made a good play.”

It’s one thing to blow a call. After all, officials are human, too. But to have a chance to right a wrong and overturn a blatantly bad call and not do it? It’s asinine and unforgivable.

“I have no comments on the officiating,” Arians said. “They already wrote up the letter for my fine. You guys saw it. You write what you saw. I’m not saying [anything] about the officials.”

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Getty Images

This isn’t the first time the Bucs have been screwed by the officiating when playing the Saints. This also happened in New Orleans, and I wrote about that in my 2-Point Conversion following that game in Week 5.

It seems like the league is doing everything it can to ensure the Saints make it to the playoffs and ultimately the Super Bowl this year. Make no mistake, New Orleans is a great team – and far better than Tampa Bay is. The Saints swept the Bucs this year, and beat them more decisively on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium than they did in Week 5 at New Orleans.

Despite that, the league should be ashamed of itself for the absolute crap officiating we’ve seen this year. It’s embarrassing and damaging the NFL. Al Riveron must be held accountable and fired, and the league needs to review each official and fire the officials that continue to make ridiculously bad calls. It’s absolute crap and it’s not fair to teams that teams that play the Saints this year have to also battle the officials, too.

QUESTION 2: Should The Bucs Really Feed Howard The Ball?

No, not if he continues to play like this. There has been a lot of debate about the Bucs not using tight end O.J. Howard enough in Bruce Arians’ offense. Howard came into the game with just 17 catches for 223 yards and one touchdown. On his first target on Sunday, Howard coughed up the ball for the third time this year as he was hit by a Saints defender and the ball went up in the air and into the arms of linebacker Demario Davis for an interception at the Tampa Bay 16.

The Saints would go up 13-0 on the very next play as Drew Brees found Pro Bowl wide receiver Michael Thomas for a 16-yard touchdown. That was monumental play in the first quarter that fired up the Saints defense, demoralized the Bucs offense and led to a 13-0 lead for New Orleans.

Bucs TE O.J. Howard – Photo by: Getty Images

Howard has now been involved in three turnovers this year, including that interception. Howard also had a costly fumble inside the 10-yard line against San Francisco, and had a pass bounce off his hands and into the hands of a 49ers defender. He’s made more costly plays than he’s made positive plays, and that’s not a good sign for a player who was drafted in the first round three years ago.

By the way, backup tight end Cameron Brate proved to be the better tight end on Sunday, leading the team with 10 catches for 73 yards. Howard wasn’t targeted a single time after his costly drop that resulted in Tampa Bay’s first turnover of the day.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1: The Bucs Will Finish In The NFC South Cellar – Again

Look out, the Atlanta Falcons have done something the Bucs haven’t this year, which is to win back-to-back games this season. After starting the season 1-7, the Falcons have had decisive wins over the Saints and the Panthers over the past two weeks, and will host the Bucs next week in Atlanta.

Bucs RB Peyton Barber – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

With supposedly winnable games coming up against the 3-7 Falcons (twice), the 4-6 Jaguars and the 3-6-1 Lions, the Bucs should have the chance to get as many as four more wins and finish the season 7-9. Yet Tampa Bay keeps finding ways to self-destruct. And the defense’s inability to consistently force turnovers to make up for Jameis Winston’s interceptions is worrisome.

I think the Bucs win two more games and split against the Falcons. I could see Atlanta finishing the year 6-10, while Tampa Bay finishes 5-11 for a third straight season. That kind of horrible record would once again make the Bucs NFC South cellar dwellers once again.

PREDICTION 2: Leftwich Will Come Under Fire

The heat will be turned up this week by fans and the Bucs beat writers that cover the team over several of Byron Leftwich’s questionable play calls – and deservedly so. Just a couple of examples would be lining up in the shotgun with five wide receivers on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter with no threat of the run, or not running a QB sneak on first-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line. Instead, Leftwich called for two Dare Ogunbowale runs for no gain and then called for a fade pass from the 1-yard line, which was picked off by cornerback P.J. Williams in the end zone.

Bucs OC Byron Leftwich and HC Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

That’s embarrassingly bad. I don’t understand why offensive coordinators that need their team to get one yard decide to go with a shotgun snap that automatically puts the ball back four or five yards past the line needed to pick up the first down or the touchdown.

The fact that the Saints played mostly Cover 2 on Sunday, as they did in Week 5, and Leftwich didn’t have any Cover 2-beater plays dialed up, was baffling. Cover 2 is one of the most basic defenses in the league, yet the Bucs only scored 17 points.

In my SR’s Fab 5 column on November 1 I wrote that Bruce Arians’ biggest mistake was not calling plays this year and turning the play-calling duties over to Byron Leftwich, who continues to make some real questionable calls. Simply put, Arians is this team’s best, most experienced play-caller – and he’s not the one calling plays. That’s hurting the Bucs, and that’s a shame.