The battles between the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was highlighted by three head-to-head matchups between Drew Brees and Tom Brady, and the Bucs getting the last laugh. Lavonte David joined Terron Armstead's The Set, and the conversation naturally drifted to David winning the Super Bowl and beating the Saints en route to it.
The Saints falling to the Buccaneers in the playoffs was one of the more crushing defeats in recent memory, as it was also Brees’ final game of his career. The game is most infamously known for Jared Cook's fumble.
Armstead, like every Saints fan, knows that was the turning point of the game. Even David had to acknowledge the game probably would have been over if the Saints score instead of turning it over. From there, it all changed.
Saints were measuring stick for the Buccaneers all season long
David told Armstead the Buccaneers' mindset going into that final matchup between the teams was "if we get past the Saints, we going to win the Super Bowl." Using the Saints as the bar to clear didn't start when the playoffs started.
As divisional foes, the two teams played twice during the regular season. They opened up the season against each other. Without even playing a game in the season, the mission was beating the Saints. "That staff, they knew what it was from the get go with y'all.
The linebacker continued saying, "they already knew (the Saints) were the team we were going to have to beat." It failed to happen the first game, and it was a wake up call to the Buccaneers that they weren't ready. Despite feeling confident in the second matchup, things got out of hand. It wasn't until the third try that Tampa was able to shake the fleur de lis shaped monkey on their back.
The idea of "if we win this game then we will win it all" wasn't isolated to just Tampa Bay. Armstead told David that the Saints had the same thought process within their locker room. When looking at the rest of the playoff field, there wasn't anyone who the Saints felt could beat them.
Unfortunately for the Saints, they lost that game and never were able to find out. In reflection, Armstead views that as one of the missed opportunities at a Super Bowl in his career. Looking at the amount of mistakes the Saints had late in the game, the team definitely let one slip through their finges
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