The Buccaneers' defense shut down Drew Brees when it had to and NFCSouth-leadingTampaBay ( 9-3) edged the Saints 23-20 on a rainy Sunday at Tampa.
The loss knocked he Saints (6-6) out of the race for the division championship and the Who Dats must win their remaining four games to have a chance for a wild-card spot in the playoffs. The Saints entertain Atlanta in the Superdome on Sunday.
The Saints threw 47 passes and ran 18 times in losing. As long as this type of offense continues, the Saints will remain in the .500 neighborhood. The Saints rushed for four yards in the first half and threw 29 passes and led 10-6.
The Saints must improve their defense if they plan to contend for a playoff next season.
The Bucs beat the Saints with just enough defense. They beat them with a touchdown run by Cadillac Williams. They beat them in and around rain drops. Rain drops? Try an occasional kind of deluge that once made Noah scramble for hammer, wood and nails.
The Saints overcame a 20-10 fourth-quarter lead and a Jermained Phillips interception off Brees set up the winning field goal.
Philip Buchanon sealed it with another interception in the final two minutes.
The Saints did shred the Bucs for a touchdown on a nice catch and run by Pierre Thomas that cut the Bucs' lead to 20-17 early in the fourth quarter.
The Saints were driving in the third quarter when Brees threw for Jeremy Shockey in the right front of the end zone.
But Ronde Barber got there and tipped the ball. Bucs linebacker Cato June snatched it out of the air for an interception.
The Saints have a 13-15 record after their past 28 games.
Brees was bothered by the Bucs' pass rush all day. He completed 25-of-47 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions. Jeff Garcia, 38, threw for only 119 yards but threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Bryant for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Brees hit the Bucs with three completions of 39 or more yards in their opening game, but the Bucs' secondary did a much better job this time. Marques Colston's 37-yard catch set up the Saints' first touchdown, though Brees' longest completion other than that was 22 yards to Colston in the first quarter.
The Saints' defense held the Bucs to 254 yards in total offense.
Special teams were a big part of the Bucs' success. Clifton Smith ran down Glenn Pakulak's 70-yard punt and raced 42 yards to the Saints 42 39 to set up a second-quarter field goal, then had a 12-yard return to the Saints 43 to position the Bucs for Garcia's TD throw to Bryant.
A healing Reggie Bush returned to the Saints and rushed three times for 0 yards, but caught five passes for 32 yards. He returned two punts for --16 yards.
Deuce McAllister did relief duty and carried three times for 13 yards.
Palulak averaged 49.4 yards as the Saints punter and kicker Garrett Hartley kicked two field goals (43 and 47).
Linebacker Scott Shanlee had 10 tackles and defensive end Bobby McCray had two sacks.
"This is probably one of the more disappointing losses I've ever been a part of," said Brees. "We deserved to win this game. We had a perfect chance to win and didn't take advantage of it."
Coach Sean Payton thought the defense played well considering the short field positions it faced during the afternoon.
SOME HITHER, OTHERS YON: Jeremy Shockey is avoiding the local media as the season progresses, He rarely appears in the locker room during the hours pressboxers are allowed access to the players on Wednesday and Thursday. The veteran tight end is supposed to speak to the media every Thursday, but he slips into a routine of '
hiding out' somewhere else in the training facility during the open locker room period then pops in in s few minutes before the 3 p.m. mandatory meetings, allowing him little a convenient excuse to dodge reporters. He is tarnishing an already tainted image around the league....Entering the Bucs game, the Saints had allowed just 9 sacks this season, an average of just one every 47.2 pass attempts. That was the best in the NFL, well ahead of the league average of a sack every 16.5 pass attempts. Credit the Saints' pass protection and Brees' unparalleled awareness under center...Trivia time: Who is the only man ever to play in the World Series and the Super Bowl?
Devery Henderson and Reggie Bush have a rival for the fastest man on he Saints team. Return specialist Courtney Roby finished fourth in the 100-meter dash of the 2004 Big 10 championships with a time of 10.92. Michigan All-American Braylon Edwards, now of he Browns, finished behind him in that heat. Roby was the second fastest receiver at the 2005 Combine with a time of 4.3 in the 40. Bush has been clocked at 22 m.p.h...Billy Cannon and former Saints Jim Dombrowski and Rueben Mayes will be inducted into the National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame during its annual awards dinner on Dec. 9 at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC, Dombrowski played at Virginia and Mayes at WashingtonState and are also members of he Saints Hall of Fame. Archie Manning is he newly elected chairman of the foundation...Trivia answer: Deion Sanders...From Jay Leno: "I'll tell you had bad the economy is. I saw Jack Nicklaus at a Clippers game."
HOLLYWOOD SOUTH: Brad Pitt is the cover boy for January's posh Architectural Digest. The magazine followed the actor to New Orleans where he owns a house on the French Quarter. His Make It Right Foundation, which is building $150,000 energy-efficient new houses in the Ninth Ward is drawing much attention. "He never had any idea so many people would show up or this,: said Pitt. The model works, and it's replicable." Pitt fell in love with New Orleans while making movies here and said, "New Orleans has a mind of it's own. It is it's own thing. It has a real spirit. It's the most authentic of all American cities." Pitt's new movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons" opens here on Christmas Day
MORNING LINE: Saints 3 1/2 over Falcons, Florida 10 1/2 over Alabama, Oklahoma 14 over Missouri, Navy 10 1.2 over Army, Tulsa 13 over East Carolina, Boston College 1 over Virginia Tech, and L-Lafayette 4 1/2 over Middle Tenn. St.
