New Orleans Saints on two-game winning run with 35-28 defeat of Tampa Bay Buccaneers - NFL Recap
The dark clouds of a 0-4 start have well and truly subsided for the New Orleans Saints as they delivered another promising performance to win 35-28 against NFC South division rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New Orleans Saints are now 2-4 and suddenly look like the team many expected them to be at the start of the season.
The Saints defensively received a big boost in this game as suspended linebacker Jonathan Vilma made his first start of the season after he appealed against his suspension due to the Saints bounty scandal.
His presence on the field lifted the Saints defence which has struggled this year while the offence looked the well-oiled machine it is after once again being brilliantly led by quarterback Drew Brees.
The quarterback passed threw four touchdown passes in this game and notched up 377 yards passing to lead New Orleans to a major win while the defence held Tampa Bay’s last minute comeback attempt to win their second game of the season.
Speaking after the game Brees talked about the importance of a second straight victory and said:
"We want to get on a streak here. You've got to win more than one before you're on a streak. So now we've got two, and we want to keep that going."
The quarterback also spoke about the return of Vilma to the roster and said:
"He's just one of those guys, very vocal. He obviously knows guys very well, they know him, so his ability to say certain things at the right time and just provide a lift, whether it be just his productivity on the field or making a play, or something he
would say, that presence was definitely felt this week."
Tampa Bay are now down to 2-4 after the defeat but the team put in a brilliant fighting performance and even had an opportunity to tie the game late on.
The Buccaneers were down 35-21 with 13 minutes left in the final quarter.
Quarterback Josh Freeman who had a brilliant game led the Buccaneers forward and made it 35-28 after throwing a three-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Clark at 4:10.
The Buccaneers got the ball back soon enough and Freeman tried for a final scoring attempt to send the game to overtime.
On the final play, Freeman found wide receiver open at the corner of the end zone and connected with the pass but Williams had been pushed by New Orleans defenders out of the back of the end zone.
When he came back on to collect the pass his catch was nullified for illegal touching leaving the Saints to win their second in a row.
For Freeman though this was a huge performance as he passed for season highs of 420 yards and three touchdowns, sadly for him though the game ended in defeat for Tampa Bay.
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