Saints stay alive with 23-13 win over Bucs
The Saints aren't dead yet.
Derek Carr threw a couple of touchdowns in the first half and the Saints defense held Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers offense in check for most of Sunday's game in Tampa. The result was a 23-13 win that keeps the Saints' hopes of winning the NFC South alive into Week 18.
Those hopes will be extinguished if the Bucs rebound to beat the woeful Panthers, so it's not a very strong chance but it's the best the Saints could hope for coming out of Week 17. They will face the Falcons in Week 18 and a win could still result in a Wild Card spot if things break the right way in other games.
Carr finished the day 24-of-32 for 197 yards and hit tight end Juwan Johnson and tight end/quarterback Taysom Hill for his scores. Hill also caught another pass, ran twice, and completed one of his two pass attempts while Johnson had eight catches for 90 yards.
The Saints lost running back Alvin Kamara to an ankle injury, so that will be something to monitor as the team moves toward their matchup with the Falcons. Jamaal Williams had 19 carries for 58 yards to help keep the chains moving in Kamara's absence.
The Bucs fell behind 20-0 before Mayfield threw a couple of touchdowns to make the final score a bit more acceptable. It looked like they might get a chance to tie by recovering a late onside kick, but officials ruled wide receiver Chris Godwin stepped out before catching a two-point conversion and Mayfield was picked off after offsetting penalties gave the team a second try.
Mayfield threw two interceptions in the normal run of play and running back Rachaad White and wide receiver Trey Palmer lost fumbles to make it four turnovers overall. Those kinds of mistakes were missing from the Bucs' play during their four-game winning streak and they'll have to cut them back out if they want to assure themselves of a division title.
