TAMPA. Fla. (WFLA) – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are meeting the New Orleans Saints for the second time this season – this time on a bigger stage.
The two teams battled back in September when the Buccaneers defeated the Saints 20-10. The last matchup resulted in the ejection of Bucs’ wide receiver Mike Evans and Saints’ cornerback Marshon Lattimore after a brawl broke out.
Last week, Bucs’ offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich said that Evans understands how important he is to the team and that emotions will be calm during the game.
“[He] understands how important he is to us. There was a lot of communication after the first game. He knows how much he means to us, he’ll be ok,” Leftwich stated.
To add to the divisional rivalry energy, Buccaneers fans will be showing up to the game decked out in red for the team’s “red out”.
Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Twitter, the Buccaneers are expected to have defensive linemen Akiem Hicks and Vita Vea.
Another outlier that fans have been wondering when he’ll return to action is Leonard Fournette after he was injured in Germany.
Ahead of MNF, Tampa Bay has ruled out seven players:
- QB Kyle Trask
- WR Breshad Perriman
- CB Sean Murphy-Bunting
- S Antoine Winfield Jr.
- CB Mike Edwards
- T Tristan Wirfs
- TE Cameran Brate
The Saints have also ruled out seven players:
- LB Peter Werner
- CB Marshon Lattimore
- CB P.J. Williams
- DB J.T. Gray
- OL Lewis Kidd
- TE Juwan Johnson
- DE Payton Turner
Fans headed down to Raymond James can say hi and take a photo with our WFLA crew! Use #BucsOn8 and we’ll RT and share your pictures on our social media sites!
Fans not headed to the game can stay tuned by following along for all live updates here.
