Yahoo Finance Week 9 Fantasy Football Wrap: Saints @ Buccaneers
New Orleans Saints def. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 38-3
In a battle between two aging QBs who keep passing each other in the record books, Drew Brees had four TDs without a pick while Tom Brady finished with zero touchdowns and three interceptions. Brees connected with nine different receivers in the first quarter alone while putting on a clinic on the road against a Tampa Bay defense that entered ranked No. 1 in DVOA and allowing the fourth-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. Brady was constantly pressured and put up a goose egg (with some highly questionable throws) in primetime despite Antonio Brown joining Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, making the Buccaneers the first team with three Pro Bowl wide receivers on the field at the same time since 1994 (Houston Oilers). This was one to forget for the GOAT, as Brady finished with the third-lowest Passer Rating of his career.
[Week 9 Recaps: BUF-SEA | DEN-ATL | CHI-TEN | HOU-JAX | PIT-DAL | MIA-ARI | TB-NO | IND-BAL | CAR-KC | DET-MIN | NYG-WFT | LV-LAC]
This odd game made it hard to evaluate how the Bucs will divvy up touches at full strength, as Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette will likely total more than four carries moving forward. In fact, the Buccaneers set an NFL record with the fewest carries in a game in NFL history. Godwin had a drop likely because of his finger injury, while Evans was hobbling at one point, and his ankle issue might be here to stay over the rest of the season.
Michael Thomas was able to be eased back, and his return will likely be a small hit to Alvin Kamara’s value moving forward … Tampa Bay entered with its best point differential (+81) in franchise history through eight games, but the Bucs are now -35 with Antonio Brown this season (which would be worse if not for a 48-yard field goal with six minutes left to cowardly avoid the shutout).
Random stat of the game
The ground game was ... not working for Tampa Bay in Week 9:
The Bucs rushed 5 times tonight — the fewest carries by any team in a game in NFL history.
They had 8 rushing yards — the fewest by a team since 2017. pic.twitter.com/wsHUZsBLwu— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 9, 2020
