It’s too early to put too much weight on the Saints’ 48-40 loss at home to the Buccaneers on opening day, as grotesque as it was and despite the many red flags it raised about a defense that already had redemption on its mind.
However, too early to gush over the Bucs and soak up the drama they've created for themselves over the next two games and, more important, the game after that?
Not at all.
It’s hard to even say nobody saw it coming, because clearly Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter spent training camp and the preseason pumping up Ryan Fitzpatrick, the very definition of an NFL journeyman quarterback, for his stint replacing Jameis Winston during the starter's three-game suspension. He made it clear Winston wasn't guaranteed to automatically get his job back when he returned. It was as much about how comfortable he was with Fitzpatrick and, of course “Fitzmagic."
Fitz brought the Magic to the opener. He got into a shootout with New Orleans' Drew Brees in the Superdome, and won. A man who has gone on some epic interception runs during his career on numerous teams threw none Sunday. He went for 417 yards and four touchdowns on 21-of-28 passing. In the nine Bucs possessions excluding the end of halves, they scored seven times, missed one field goal late in the game and punted just once.
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The Saints couldn't stop them, and considering the back-and-forth nature of the first half and the late charge to make the game close, they needed to stop them.
"It's fun to be out there thinking you're gonna score on every possession," Fitzpatrick said. "And it had nothing to do with who we were going against, it was just the confidence we had going into the game."
As good as Winston often has been, the sense that the Bucs could score at will has not been a constant presence. It’s delusional now to think Fitzpatrick hasn't earned even more of Koetter's trust now, even if he falls on his face the next two weeks.
Fitzpatrick’s primary targets were the ones the Bucs brought together to be Winston’s targets: DeSean Jackson, Mike Evans and O.J. Howard. Between them, they had 347 yards in receptions, with Jackson catching two long touchdown passes and Evans one.
"They feed off it," Fitzpatrick said. "Everybody feeds off the energy. I thought you could see that today. It was contagious out there."
Keeping it contagious won’t be easy next week, when the Bucs play at home against the Eagles.
Then again, it wasn't supposed to be this easy this week.
For the Saints, tightening up the defense — or at least eliminating the kind of mistakes that canceled their trip to the NFC title game last year — was a major offseason goal. They flopped. The offense did its part, except for the Mike Gillislee fumble that was returned for a touchdown and dug New Orleans an even deeper hole. But the gallant comebacks from Brees were supposed to be reduced to a minimum.
For Saints coach Sean Payton, it recalled an even more painful time than last January’s loss in Minnesota, and for good reason: “That’s not the type of game that suits us, and that’s the type of game we played in years past, when we’ve been a .500 team."
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In the long run, it likely won’t mean anything to the NFC South race — the Bucs have to prove a lot more than this, and the Saints are still a solid Super Bowl favorite regardless. Payton has time to fix this.
The Bucs are the ones on the clock. Two more games even closely resembling this one, and Winston walks directly back into a soap opera.
