🏈Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints Prediction – 2021 NFL Playoffs (Jan 17)🏈

For the third time since joining the Buccaneers, Tom Brady is going to face Drew Brees’ Saints. In the previous two Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints matchups, the team from Louisiana won. Maybe third time’s the charm is going to come true in the battle for the NFC final?

Online sportsbooks don’t think so – they’ve given the role of the favorite to the New Orleans Saints. It’s no surprise, knowing that they finished the regular season in the 2nd place, with a 12-4 record (one win fewer than the #1 team, the Green Bay Packers). In the playoffs, the Saints beat the Chicago Bears pretty comfortably, 21-9.

Their opponent in the conference semifinal finished the regular season in the #5 place with 16-5. The Bucs got to this stage after beating the Washington Football Team in the Wild Card game by 31-23.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints Odds

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints Preview

• Date: Sunday, January 17, 2021
• Time: 6:40 PM (Eastern Daily Time)
• Place: Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana
• TV: FOX
• Stream: NFL Game Pass

Although the Green Bay Packers are main favorites for winning the Conference, the Saints and Bucs are just behind, with +225 and +300, respectively.

When it comes to 2021 Super Bowl betting, these two are the #4 and #5 favorites. Of course, the team that wins the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints game will improve their Super Bowl LV chances significantly.

That’s just one of the main reasons why our Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints prediction is that this is going to be a super-exciting game.

Another reason is that for both teams’ QBs, this could be the last chance to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. After all, Tom Brady turns 44 this summer, while Drew Brees turns 42 just a few days before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints 2021 matchup.

Tom Brady vs Drew Brees

If you’ve been living on the planet Earth, you must’ve heard about Tom Brady and Drew Brees. The two are absolute legends of the NFL, with plenty of achievements that have engraved their names in American sports history books.

Some of their biggest achievements include the following:

• Tom Brady played in the most Super Bowl games in the history of the NFL (nine)
• Drew Brees led the New Orleans Saints to winning their first Super Bowl in History (Super Bowl XLIV)
• Tom Brady won the most Super Bowls in NFL’s history (six)
• Drew Brees holds the NFL record for career pass completions.
• Tom Brady is the only QB with 200 regular-season wins in the NFL.
• Drew Brees holds the all-time NFL record for career passing yards.
• Tom Brady holds the NFL record for all-time touchdown passes.
• Drew Brees is the record holder for the highest career completion percentage in the NFL.

Obviously, with such QBs, both of these teams look capable of scoring a couple of TDs against literally any opponent in the NFL. Still, the recent matchups between Bucs and Saints did not see too many points.

In the most recent Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints game, we saw only 41 points. The game was played in November and the score was 38-3 for the Saints. Two months before, the Saints also won, but the game saw a bit more points – the final score was 34-23.  

Saints Defense Can Make a Real Difference

The reason why we didn’t see too many points in the previous two Tampa Bay vs New Orleans matchups is that the defense of the Saints did a fantastic job in those games. Actually, the Saints have been nothing short of brilliant in the defense in 2020.

In 16 games of the regular NFL season, they conceded only 337 points, which is way better than most other teams in the league. In fact, only four teams conceded fewer points in 2020, namely, the Los Angeles Rams (396), Baltimore Ravens (303), Pittsburgh Steelers (312), and Washington Football Team (329).

An even more impressive fact is that only in three games in the 2020 NFL season, the Saints conceded more than 30 points. The highest number of points they conceded in a game in the regular season was 37. It happened in September when they lost to the Green Bay Packers 37-30.

Furthermore, in their previous two games, the Saints allowed only 16 points. In the Wild Card game, they conceded only 7 points against the Bears. Speaking of that game, the Saints defense forced the Bears to five three-and-outs, which is something no other team has managed to do last year.

Bucs are More Than Just Their Quarterback

Even though Drew Brees has an NFL pedigree that everyone must envy, he hasn’t been too good lately. In fact, the key to the Saints’ success this season lies in their defense. Of course, a player like Brees can shine when you least expect him to do so.

It’s been a similar situation with Tom Brady. However, this guy has teammates that are in better form than those playing by Brees’ side. The Saints rely on running back Alvin Kamara for rushing and receiving – he’s their leader in both of those statistics.

Their best wide receiver this season has been Emmanuel Sanders, but his stats are no where near those that Tampa Bay’s WR have. Both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin had more receiving yards in the regular season than him.

On top of that, another Tampa Bay wide receiver seems to have woken up from his winter sleep – Antonio Brown did more than okay in the win over the Washington Football Teams.

The man who’s thought to be one of the best wide receivers of the last decade rushed for 22 yards and recorded 49 receiving yards. One of Brady’s passes ended up in his hands, resulting in a touchdown.

FatCatBet’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints Prediction

Same as the Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills game, this one too should be super-exciting. Online sportsbooks have set the spread to -3 on the Saints, which suggests that the oddsmakers also think this is going to be a very close game.

We at the FatCatBet are certain the Bucs are going to give the Saints a run for their money. Even if they don’t win, the Buccaneers definitely have what it takes to make the game super-interesting until the very end. For this reason, our Tampa Bay vs New Orleans prediction is +3 Bucs.

When it comes to football prop bets, we say focus on Tom Brady. Sure, the Saints are superb in the defense, but Mr California Cool has plenty of options when it comes to passing the ball. We’re certain he can pass for at least two touchdowns on Sunday.