NEW ORLEANS -- Against the 1-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Saints seek to go 10-0 and seek to fashion the first 10-game winning streak in franchise history.
They also seek to allay growing fears that they are recently becoming the team they truly are. They seek to provide reassurance that they can once again become the team they once were earlier in this unbeaten season.
In their last five games the Saints have scored exceedingly fewer points: 48 against the Giants, 46 against the Dolphins, 35 against the Falcons, 30 against the Panthers and 28 against the Rams. Their 5-point victory last Sunday in St. Louis was their slimmest of the season.
Over the last four games Drew Brees has been mortal: six touchdowns and seven interceptions. In the first five games combined, the Saints had a total of five turnovers. In their last four games combined, they have turned it over 13 times.
Through nine games the Saints have a total of eight fumbles lost. They had a total of seven fumbles lost for the entire season in 2008.
The challenge against their second one-win opponent in the last two weeks is to get back to playing Saints football, instead of reinforcing the growing fear that what we’ve seen recently is Saints football.
A 9-0 record is nothing to sneeze at. But in their last three games the Saints have had the sniffles, critics are detect an on-coming cold that non-believers suspect may worsen into pneumonia.
Drew Brees makes a house call to Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.
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