Tom Brady’s Week 2 clash with the New Orleans Saints is more important than one would think
Tom Brady will play at least one more season in the NFL. Ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Week 2 meeting with the New Orleans Saints, he will be looking to rectify one particular blot in his fairytale career.
In all his glory-laden years in the NFL, his record against the Saints has been rather poor, by his standards. With a tally of four wins and five defeats, the Saints hold an advantage over the veteran quarterback.
With Brady playing on through the 2022 season, there are very few points he has to prove. Rectifying his poor record against the Saints is one of them.
Why is Tom Brady’s Week 2 clash with the New Orleans Saints so important?
Tom Brady has a losing record against just two teams in the regular season. One franchise is the Saints and the other is the Seattle Seahawks. The former New England Patriots QB is known to set small targets for himself, almost like new records to break. There is no doubt he would love to retire with no single NFL team having a winning record against him.
The Buccaneers face the Saints twice in the 2022 regular season and the QB could move his record to 6-5 with two victories. Meanwhile, there is one meeting against the Seahawks so Brady could realistically end his career 2-2 with Seattle. Brady has nothing left to prove in terms of championships or his reputation in the NFL, but he still needs motivation to play. It’s been made apparent that he isn’t ready to retire, so on a week-by-week basis he will have to create a new target for himself.
In Week 2 Brady is able to draw level with the Saints and set up a chance for him to move to 6-5 over them later in the season. It may not seem like much to the average fan, but this helps motivate a player who has won everything there is to win multiple times over.
Why have the Saints got such a good record over Tom Brady?
Over the years, the Saints have had notoriously tough defenses, especially under the coaching eye of Sean Payton. At the same time, their offense has been able to produce dynamic, explosive displays.
Teams that have had success against Brady, especially during his spell in New England, are ones that have aggressively pursued the QB. Taking away time in the pocket isn’t necessarily what causes the veteran problems as he has such a quick release time. But when defenders are able to threaten a sack, his record suffers.
Cameron Jordan was a prolific QB wrecker during his Saints career whilst Will Smith and Charles Grant were also able to get to the QB with consistency. If you look at the current Saints roster, there are two standout players on the defensive side of the ball who can be classed as sack specialists.
Jordan is still present and as disruptive as ever and he now has a hunting partner in Marcus Davenport. Being able to repel such powerful defenders and still get the win would be a major feather in Brady’s cap, even at this stage of his NFL career.
What can Tom Brady do differently against the Saints?
Some of the worst defeats to the Saints have come in Brady’s career with the Buccaneers. They appear to be his kryptonite. What is interesting is that in the four regular-season matchups against them as a Buccaneer, Brady is yet to register a win.
This bothers him, and it’s clear that the veteran has been preparing for this game in an even more intense manner than usual.
“They’re a very physical team, I think they beat us up physically. They’ve kind of had a winning organisation for a long time, they know how to get the job done."
He continued:
“I think it’s about understanding why we’re losing these games, there are reasons why in each game. We’re going to have to play a lot better if we expect to win.”
The key for the Bucs is to try and avoid falling into the same traps against the Saints that they have in the last two years. The offensive line needs to be incredibly resolute and protect their quarterback at all costs. It doesn’t need to be for a long time each drive, it’s a matter of power rather than sustainability.
If they can delay the Saints for three seconds, Brady will have the ball out and into a receiver’s grasp. The problem will come if the Saints defense is able to break that line quickly and hit him before he even has a chance to throw.
Strength on the offensive line is what will win the Bucs this matchup. It’s something they haven’t managed to show in their recent defeats against New Orleans. In 2021 the two teams met in Week 15 and the former Patriot was sacked four times. If that happens on Sunday then the Bucs will lose, it’s as simple as that.
Tom Brady is desperate for that not to happen. He has a chip on his shoulder for losing to a team in four successive matchups and will be motivated to ditch that record. This makes this Week 2 matchup arguably one of the biggest of Tampa Bay’s season.
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