Following a 19-3 win over the Cowboys in their season opener last week, the Bucs headed to New Orleans for a matchup with their kryptonite. This time, though, Tampa Bay battled its way through some adversity and prevailed, using a 17-point fourth quarter to beat the Saints 20-10. The win snapped a seven-game regular season losing streak against New Orleans.

Defense was the story of the game on both sides. The Saints took an early 3-0 lead on their first drive, going 63 yards in 11 plays and nearly six minutes before Wil Lutz connected on a 31-yard field goal. Tampa Bay’s offense moved the ball well on its own opening possession, getting inside the New Orleans 30 before turning the ball over. A fumbled snap exchange between Tom Brady and Robert Hainsey killed the drive, and it wasn’t the last miscue of the day for Byron Leftwich’s offense.

Another drive deep into Saints territory ended with problems on a 4th-and-1 try from the New Orleans 8-yard line. Luke Goedeke didn’t pick his defender up on the pull, leaving Carl Granderson free to drop Leonard Fournette for a loss on the play.

Bucs WR Russell Gage and Saints DB Justin Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The two offenses continued to sputter for the rest of the half, with the home team taking a 3-0 lead into halftime. Scoreless through two quarters on Sunday, Tampa Bay ran its streak of scoreless quarters against New Orleans up to six.

Todd Bowles’ defense kept the Bucs in it, though, holding the Saints to three points, 121 total yards of offense and a 2-of-9 mark on third downs in the first half. Lavonte David, Shaq Barrett and Antoine Winfield Jr. all tallied first-half sacks of Jameis Winston, who was 13-of-19 for just 70 yards before the break.

Already without Donovan Smith entering the game, the offensive line was down to its third-sting left tackle – Brandon Walton – to open the third quarter after Josh Wells left in the second quarter with a calf injury.

The Bucs finally put points on the board at the 6:44 mark in the third quarter. Going from its own 43 after a New Orleans punt, the offense converted a big 3rd & 8 with a 10-yard pass from Brady to Breshad Perriman. A 10-yard catch from Russell Gage moved the chains again before a seven-yard pickup by Perriman on 3rd & 11 set up a Ryan Succop field goal try. His successful 47-yarder knotted the game at 3-3 after a nine-play, 28-yard drive. Those points were the Bucs’ first in their last 104 minutes of play against the Saints.

The New Orleans offense ran all over Tampa Bay on its ensuing possession, driving down to the Bucs’ 20-yard line. But Bowles’ defense put a stop to the momentum, with Logan Ryan punching the ball loose from Mark Ingram’s arms. Carl Nassib recovered the fumble, giving the ball over to Brady and the offense at the 10-yard line.

The turning came point on the next drive. Brady threw incomplete on third down and everything went into chaos. He wanted a pass interference on Marshon Lattimore, who looked to have been holding Scotty Miller’s arm on the play. Lattimore and Brady chirped at each other, Fournette stepped in and Lattimore threw a punch at Fournette. That led Evans to fly in and drop Lattimore, starting a full-on brawl. By the end of it, Evans and Lattimore were ejected.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

A bad punt by Jake Camarda then gave the Saints possession at their own 45, but the Buccaneer defense continued to dominate. Winston looked deep for Chris Olave, but Jamel Dean brought the ball in for an interception in the end zone.

The offense looked to go three-and-out again, but an unnecessary roughness call on Bradley Roby brought up a fresh set of downs. Another penalty got the Bucs into Saints territory and then finally, someone found the end zone. The offensive line gave Brady plenty of time to throw, allowing him to find Perriman for a 28-yard touchdown. With Succop’s PAT, the Bucs had a 10-3 lead with 7:41 to go.

Tampa Bay put the game away from there. After Devin White and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka split a sack on the first play of the Saints’ next drive, Dean intercepted Winston for a second time in as many drives. The ensuing drive went nowhere, but Succop nailed another 47-yard field goal to extend the visitors’ lead to 13-3 with 5:50 left.

The points then came in bunches, with Tampa Bay going up 20-3 with 4:11 to go thanks to a 67-yard pick six by Mike Edwards. New Orleans responded with a six-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Winston to Michael Thomas. That cut the game to 20-10, but that’s where it ended.

Brady finished the day just 18-of-34 for 190 yards and a touchdown, while Fournette ran 24 times for 65 yards. It was the defense that took this one, as it held the Saints to 10 points and forced five turnovers. Tampa Bay totaled six sacks, putting Winston under pressure constantly.

The Bucs (2-0) now head back to Tampa in Week 3 for their home opener against the Packers. Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m.