The Bucs had the chance to claim the NFC South title by beating the Saints on Sunday Night Football, but failed miserably. Tampa Bay was embarrassed at home again on Sunday Night Football for the second straight year. After losing 38-3 to the Saints last November, the Bucs fell to their division rival, 9-0, this season. It was only the third time Tom Brady has been shut out in his career and the first time Tampa Bay has been shut out since Bruce Arians became head coach in 2019.

Adding injury to insult, the Bucs saw four key starters – receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, running back Leonard Fournette and linebacker Lavonte David – go down to injury in the game. New Orleans swept Tampa Bay in the regular season for a third straight year.

Here are this week’s most disappointing Bucs:

Bucs QB Tom Brady and OC Byron Leftwich

Leftwich called a poor game against the Saints, and Brady didn’t execute the plays that were called well enough. Two key plays to illustrate this point were Brady taking an ill-advised deep shot on third-and-2 in the third quarter to Jaelon Darden. That pass fall incomplete to force a punt. Then on the next possession on fourth-and-1, Brady inexplicably throws deep to Rob Gronkowski, who was well-covered by safety Malcolm Jenkins.

Brady was without four of his top weapons for much of the game on Sunday night as wide receiver Antonio Brown was suspended, and wide receivers Mike Evans (hamstring), Chris Godwin (knee) and running back Leonard Fournette (hamstring) all succumbed to injury during the game. While he did throw an interception and complete just 26-of-48 passes for 216 yards, Brady was not the reason why the Bucs didn’t score. He didn’t get much help at all – especially after Godwin and Evans went down.

WRs Tyler Johnson, Jaelon Darden and Scotty Miller

With Evans and Godwin out in the first half, Brady needed at least one of the team’s younger receivers to step up, especially without Brown or Breshad Perriman, who missed this game due to a positive COVID-19 test. Johnson was the most productive with four catches for 41 yards on seven targets, but had a big drop and failed to pick up first downs on some of his underneath catches due to his lack of speed. He also failed to separate often enough from the Saints’ aggressive man coverage.

Darden was targeted three times, but lacks the size and speed to separate downfield from man coverage and finished with zero catches. The rookie struggles as a route runner, too. Miller had two catches for 18 yards, but despite his vertical speed, he also struggled to separate and win routes on Sunday night.

TEs Rob Gronkowski, Cam Brate and O.J. Howard

Gronkowski had his worst game as a Buccaneer, catching just two of 11 targets from Brady for 29 yards. He had several drops in the game and had difficulty tracking some deep throws from Brady and also getting separation against safety Malcolm Jenkins.

Brate had a pedestrian night with two catches for 22 yards and two drops, while Howard was just invisible with only one target. Howard, a former first-round pick, has just vanished from the passing game. That’s quite shocking given how many injuries the Bucs suffered in the first half.

Bucs Offensive Line

Bucs QB Tom Brady and Saints DE Cam Jordan – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

On third-and-5 on Tampa Bay’s second possession, right guard Alex Cappa got absolutely schooled by defensive end Cam Jordan. Jordan lined up inside at tackle and sacked Tom Brady on third down, forcing a punt. The Saints pass rusher, who had a monster night with two sacks and a forced fumble, whipped right tackle Tristan Wirfs for his other sack, also on third down. Wirfs gave up a fluky sack against Jordan in New Orleans, but the Saints Pro Bowler earned this one.

Defensive end Marcus Davenport lined up inside at defensive tackle and looped inside and past center Ryan Jensen for a huge sack on third-and-4 inside Saints territory with less than a minute left before halftime and the Bucs trailing 6-0. In the fourth quarter, Jensen and Cappa both missed defensive tackle David Onyemata, who sacked Brady on third-and-10 with just over seven minutes left.

Even Tampa Bay left tackle Donovan Smith didn’t play well against the Saints. New Orleans’ defensive front was aided by great coverage in the secondary, who forced several coverage sacks.

RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn

With Leonard Fournette out in the second half, it was a golden opportunity for Vaughn to show how far he’s progressed as an NFL running back. The results were not pretty. Vaughn ran twice for two yards, and was stuffed for no gain on a key third-and-1 in the fourth quarter, which forced the Bucs to punt. He had a 17-yard run late in the game when the Saints were expecting a pass that inflated his average, but Vaughn did not play well.

He also dropped a perfectly thrown pass from Brady, which bounced off his hands, and fell down while running a route for his other target. Vaughn really disappointed on Sunday night.

Bucs Special Teams

The Bucs special teams units were far from being a strength on Sunday night. In fact, against New Orleans, Tampa Bay’s special teams were a weakness. Ryan Succop missed his only field goal attempt – a 45-yarder – in the first half. Bradley Pinion continues to struggle punting the ball, averaging just 37.3 net yards.

There were a couple of penalties on special teams, including a 15-yarder on linebacker Grant Stuard for roughing the kicker penalty with 3:17 left in the game. That cost the Bucs possession.

The Bucs also allowed a 34-yard punt return in the game, and rookie Jaelon Darden averaged just 5.9 yards per punt return and a feeble 16.5 yards per kick return with a long of 17. Special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong deserves to be on the hot seat this year with how un-special his unit has been.

OLBs Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul

Barrett and Pierre-Paul combined for two tackles (Pierre-Paul) and one QB hit (Barrett) versus two backup offensive tackles on Sunday night. On a night that Taysom Hill dropped back and passed 27 times, the fact that Barrett and Pierre-Paul couldn’t beat a backup tackle for a sack is a real cause for concern.

Tampa Bay’s defense played well enough to beat New Orleans, holding the Saints to nine points, but it was mostly due to the play of other Bucs defenders.

CB Sean Murphy-Bunting

Bucs CB Sean Murphy-Bunting – Photo by: USA Today

Murphy-Bunting got beat by Marquez Callaway for a 40-yard catch in man coverage in the first quarter. That big play set up New Orleans’ first field goal of the night. Then Murphy-Bunting played a part in giving up a 33-yard gain to Callaway on the Saints’ next scoring drive. Murphy-Bunting played well in run support and finished with five tackles – but no pass breakups.

SS Andrew Adams

While Adams played the run well on Sunday night, he had a golden opportunity for an interception with just over eight minutes left in regulation and dropped it. Adams’ drop was costly, as the Saints kicked a field goal to push their lead to 9-0. In a game without any takeaways by the Bucs defense, Tampa Bay needed that one.