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The New Orleans Saints have starred in countless Big Games over the years, though you’re only starting to count since the last iteration of their NFC South dynasty was born in 2017, when the team picked Alvin Kamara, Ryan Ramczyk. and Marshon Lattimore in the same draft class.
These Tompa Bay Buccaneers have now played in a great game, although they didn’t stay long in their 38-3 home loss to the Saints on Sunday night.
The Bucs’ no-show was a shaken preview of the second half of this season, when games are gaining more weight every week. If there is one theme for the 2020 campaign so far well beyond the high scores and complications of COVID-19, it’s the predictability of it all. Most of the top teams are familiar and were the favorites at the start of the season. Potential new kings, like the Bucs, Cardinals and Dolphins, are just starting to test their mettle with meaningful plays.
A result doesn’t lower the ceiling for a Bucs team that remains as complete on paper as any football team, but it puts them in a track position, now dependent on Saints losses to win the NFC South. (The Bucs’ tougher schedule going forward won’t help.) It also reduces the likelihood of a team running away and hiding in an incredibly crowded NFC Playoff image.
Only one loss separates the current NFC seed, the Saints, from the Rams, seventh seed. The Big Games are just beginning with the No.1 seed more important than ever as only one team in each conference can skip the Wild Card round. Then again, the home court advantage isn’t what it used to be: Home teams have a loss record this season entering the Monday night soccer game of Week 9.
Add it all up, add in the growing weekly challenges provided by COVID-19 and injury, and it promises to be a complicated second half.
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