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New Orleans • Drew Brees made easy work of Tampa Bay's league-worst pass defense and Josh Freeman's frustrating day only made things worse for the desperate Buccaneers.
Brees passed for 307 yards and four touchdowns, and the Saints recorded their first shutout in 17 years in a 41-0 victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday, virtually ending Tampa Bay's already slim playoff hopes.
Brees connected on his scoring passes with tight end David Thomas, running back Darren Sproles and receivers Lance Moore and Joe Morgan. Mark Ingram added an 11-yard touchdown run.
Freeman endured one of his worst outings of the season for Tampa Bay (6-8), throwing four interceptions and losing a fumble. Jabari Greer made two interceptions, Rafael Bush and Isa Abdul-Quddus the others. Cameron Jordan forced Freeman's fumble on a sack and recovered it.
New Orleans (6-8) also bottled up standout rookie running back Doug Martin, holding him to 16 yards on nine carries as the Buccaneers lost for the fourth straight time.
Although many fans had left in the fourth quarter, those remaining made as much noise as they could as the Saints allowed Tampa Bay to get into the red zone before preserving the club's first shutout since a 12-0 win in the 1995 season finale against the Jets in New York.
Brees had been in a bit of a rut during New Orleans' recent three-game skid, throwing nine interceptions during that stretch. That he would snap out of it against Tampa Bay made sense; the Bucs entered the game giving up 311.6 yards per game. Brees eclipsed 200 yards by halftime but eased off after his 34-yard touchdown strike to Morgan in the second half, when the Saints looked to run down the clock.
Ingram finished with 90 yards rushing and the Saints had their third-best total on the ground this season with 149 yards against a Tampa Bay rushing defense that came in first in the league, allowing 78.2 yards per game.
Brees completed 12 of his first 13 passes for 132 yards and his 9-yard touchdown over the middle Thomas.
He marched the Saints inside the Tampa Bay 5 before the second drive stalled with a false start penalty, followed by his second incompletion, which led to a field goal early in the second quarter.
At that point, New Orleans had outgained the Bucs 170-63 and had a 9-2 advantage in first downs.
The Bucs' squandered a chance to close the gap when Freeman missed badly on two straight passes, the first to an open Mike Williams in the end zone. The next was his second interception of the first half. Reserve safety Rafael Bush, who wears No. 25 as Reggie Bush once did, grabbed Freeman's errant pass at the 9 and looked like his namesake during a 40-yard return, coming to a complete stop near sideline to his left, then going backward and laterally to find more running room.
The Saints capitalized, thanks in part Brees completing a pass as he was flatted to Marques Colston for a drive-extending, 21-yard gain. That helped set up Brees' second TD toss, a 2-yarder to Sproles to make it 17-0.
Brees managed to put one more scoring drive together after Sproles returned a punt 37 yards to the Tampa Bay 38 with 1:04 left. Moore's 8-yard TD grab made it 24-0 at halftime, at which point Brees was 19 of 29 for 216 yards and three scores.
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Tampa Bay 0, New Orleans 41
Tampa Bay 0 0 0 0 — 0
New Orleans 7 17 7 10 — 41
First Quarter
NO • D.Thomas 9 pass from Brees (Hartley kick), 11:12.
Second Quarter
NO • FG Hartley 25, 13:23.
NO • Sproles 2 pass from Brees (Hartley kick), 4:57.
NO • Moore 7 pass from Brees (Hartley kick), :09.
Third Quarter
NO • Morgan 34 pass from Brees (Hartley kick), 9:05.
Fourth Quarter
NO • FG Hartley 36, 8:09.
NO • Ingram 11 run (Hartley kick), 4:54.
Attendance • 73,096.
TB NO
First downs 20 24
Total Net Yards 386 447
Rushes-yards 16-67 25-149
Passing 319 298
Punt Returns 1-39 3-38
Kickoff Returns 4-70 1-30
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 4-43
Comp-Att-Int 30-54-4 26-39-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 2-11 1-9
Punts 4-48.8 5-53.6
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 7-84 6-55
Time of Possession 28:12 31:48
Individual Statistics
Rushing • Tampa Bay, Blount 4-25, Tandy 1-18, Martin 9-16, Freeman 2-8. New Orleans, Ingram 14-90, Sproles 5-22, P.Thomas 4-13, Henderson 1-13, Brees 1-11.
Passing • Tampa Bay, Freeman 26-47-4-279, Orlovsky 4-7-0-51. New Orleans, Brees 26-39-0-307.
Receiving • Tampa Bay, Clark 8-42, Jackson 6-81, Williams 4-63, Underwood 3-46, Stocker 3-23, Martin 3-19, Ware 2-32, Owusu 1-24. New Orleans, Graham 5-69, Sproles 5-21, Moore 4-42, Colston 3-60, P.Thomas 3-26, Morgan 2-61, D.Thomas 2-21, Collins 1-4, Cadet 1-3.
Missed Field Goals • None.