With the Buccaneers coming into Sunday’s season opener as nearly double-digit underdogs, expectations obviously weren’t all that high. They were without their starting quarterback on the road against the defending NFC South champion Saints. The defense still had a ton of question marks. To add to that, veteran cornerback Brent Grimes was a late addition to the injury report. Tampa Bay had no chance.
But then the game started and the Bucs looked better than they have in years. The offense fired on all cylinders and the defense did just enough to help Tampa Bay to a 48-40 victory.