Canal Street Chronicles
The New Orleans Saints will head to Raymond James Stadium to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 13 of the 2025 NFL season. To break it down, Evan Wanish of Bucs Nation joins us to preview Sunday afternoon’s matchup.
NJ: Prior to their recent victory over the Arizona Cardinals, the Bucs had lost three straight—what has been Tampa Bay’s biggest weakness over that stretch?
EW: The biggest weakness over this tough stretch for the Bucs has probably been the explosive plays allowed on defense. In their losses to New England, Buffalo and Los Angeles the defense allowed way too many splash plays and a lot of the time they ended up going for touchdowns. They have had other issues during this stretch like the offense going cold at times and turnovers being untimely but it’s pretty deflating when you have a defense that is giving up big play after big play.
NJ: Now that his MVP campaign has cooled off, what’s been your overall evaluation of Baker Mayfield since the Week 8 win over New Orleans?
EW: Very up and down. Mayfield has had some OK moments in the past few games but a lot of his issues have still come with accuracy when making throws over the middle of the field. The offense as a whole still has not been at full strength and they only recently got some semblance of that with Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving back in the mix but if Tampa wants to make the playoffs and potentially go on a run, Mayfield will have to be better than he has been lately.
NJ: Which positional matchup do you think will be the most critical in determining the winner of Sunday’s game?
EW: I think it’s all about the trenches on both sides of the ball. The Bucs pass rush has been very hot and cold this season but when they are on, it makes this defense so much tougher to game plan for because it allows the Bucs to not have to blitz as much. On offense, the Bucs offensive line put together a solid performance last week but they have struggled with consistency at times. Protecting a still banged up Mayfield and applying pressure on defense with four guys will be key.
NJ: Who’s a player on the Buccaneers defense that hasn’t gotten the recognition they deserve this season?
EW: Safety Tykee Smith has been arguably the best player on the entire Tampa Bay defense for most of this season. He was the team’s nickel corner as a rookie last season and did a solid job but the team decided to move him to safety for this season and that decision has paid off big time.
NJ: According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Buccaneers (-490) are currently 8.5-point favorites over the Saints (+380) in Sunday’s matchup; what is your final score prediction?
EW: That’s a pretty big line for a divisional matchup. I know the Saints have struggled mightily this season, but that...
