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Saints head back on road to face Buccaneers

Nov 25, 2008 - 5:50 PM New Orleans (6-5) at Tampa Bay (8-3), 1:00 pm, EST

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- After wandering on the road for more than 40 days and nights, the New Orleans Saints put on quite a show for their fans Monday night.

But now it's back on the road for the Saints, who visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday in a crucial NFC South contest.

Following a trip to London, a bye and three road games, the Saints returned to the Superdome on Monday and matched a franchise record for points in a 51-29 drubbing of the Green Bay Packers.

However, New Orleans (6-5) remains in last place in the rugged NFC South, where all four teams are over .500.

The Saints are two games behind co-leaders Tampa Bay (8-3) and Carolina (8-3) , making Sunday's contest a must if they want to keep alive any realistic hopes of winning the division.

New Orleans also is one game back of Washington (7-4), Dallas (7-4) and Atlanta (7-4) in the crowded NFC wild card chase.

The Saints have won consecutive games for the first time this season, scoring 81 points in victories over Kansas City and Green Bay.

"It doesn't become a win streak as much as just playing another good football game and really trying to play a balanced game and work each week to try and improve," New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. "We thought we made some strides last week in Kansas City."

While the Saints have been maddeningly inconsistent, Drew Brees has been nearly unstoppable in directing the league's top offense.

Brees completed 20-of-26 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns against the Packers.

He has passed for 3,574 yards this season, the most in NFL history through 11 games. He needs to average more than 302 yards per game to top former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino's single-season record of 5,084.

"I just have great respect for New Orleans," Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden said. "I know what kind of personnel they have. Sean Payton is a guy I got a lot of respect for."

Brees passed for 343 yards and three touchdowns in the Saints' season-opening 24-20 victory over the Buccaneers.

However, Tampa Bay has won three in a row, including a 38-20 victory at Detroit last week in which the Buccaneers rallied from a 17-0 deficit in the first quarter.

Gruden likes toe break down the season into quarters, and Sunday is an opportunity for the Buccaneers to complete the third quarter of the campaign 4-0.

"We have a theme around here: 'They remember what you do in November,'" Gruden said. "We'd like to close out the month of November with a big home victory against New Orleans."

Sunday's contest begins an important stretch for Tampa Bay, which plays at Carolina and Atlanta the following two weeks.