The New Orleans Saints had the biggest upset of Week 14 with a 24-20 win at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On a sloppy field in almost constant rainy conditions, the Saints put on their most physical performance of the year in improving their record to 3-10. New Orleans started the game on a high note, with Mason Tipton returning the opening kickoff 54 yards to set up outstanding field position. From there, the Saints drove the remaining distance to score a touchdown on the opening drive for only the second time this season. The Buccaneers answered with a touchdown of their own, but both defenses took control after that as Tampa Bay took a slim 10-7 lead into the halftime break.

Alontae Taylor intercepted a Baker Mayfield pass at midfield during Tampa Bay’s opening drive of the third quarter. The Saints capitalized on the mistake, retaking the lead by getting into the end zone on a 34-yard Tyler Shough scoring run. Both Shough and Mayfield got the game off to hot starts. However, a combination of strong defenses and the weather stalled each quarterback considerably. Shough was the more efficient of the two in the most critical situations, scoring twice with his legs and hitting a few vital third down passes in the second half. That, along with an outstanding physical outing from the Saints defense, were the main factors to the upset. Tyler Shough had moments of good, bad, and ugly in this game but came through big in the clutch. Here is the good, bad, and ugly from the rest of the Saints. Since this game went the reverse of all the predictions of odds makers, we’ll also do our breakdown in reverse.

The Ugly: Taysom Hill

It has been clear for awhile that Kellen Moore has no idea how to use Hill. However, it’s becoming just as clear that Hill is no longer a viable threat. Against the Buccaneers, Hill botched a handoff from the quarterback spot that led to a big loss. He had one other rushing attempt for a minimal gain, which has been the typical occurrence this year. Hill was also targeted twice in the passing game, dropping both passes. Each throw was slightly low and behind him, but were plays that should have been made. In all, Hill was a non-factor. This has been a weekly thing for a player who adds little to the offense.

The Bad: Kai Kroeger

Kroeger punted three times for a 50.7 yards average with a long of 54 yards. These are better than what he’s been producing the majority of the year. However, Kroeger is not the punter you want on your team when they are in a close battle where field position will make the difference. The perfect example of this occurred late in the fourth quarter on Sunday. The Saints were in a position to run out the clock with a four point lead and less than five minutes remaining but their drive stalled. With Tampa Bay out of timeouts and facing a stout New Orleans defense, the Saints needed a punt that forced the Buccaneers to start deep in their own territory. What they got from Kroeger was a touch touchback on a poor kick that didn’t even allow their coverage a chance to pin the Bucs down. The Saints pulled out the game on another of five fourth down stops, but having a punter like Kroeger in a field position battle is flirting with disaster.

The Bad: Saints Offensive Line

Taking their weekly spot in the bad or ugly position is the offensive line. New Orleans rushed for 139 yards, their second highest output of the season. This was due more to the Hurculean efforts of Devin Neal and Tyler Shough. Neal and Shough picked up 126 yards on the ground through sheer power and determination, overcoming the lack of push in front of them. The Saints were laughably overpowered on a 4th down run to Neal in the first half and hurt the team with several brainless or careless penalties all afternoon. It is worth noting that all three sacks on Shough occurred because the quarterback either passed up short throwing options or lacked the necessary pocket awareness. However, the line did no favors to their rookie passer in giving him little time to go through progressions throughout the day.

The Good: Devin Neal

Neal was every bit as important to this win as fellow rookie Shough. He’d power for his first career touchdown on the opening drive. Getting most of the backfield reps for the second straight week because of the injury to Alvin Kamara, Neal helped the Saints to 139 rushing yards. It was their second highest rushing output of the year. Neal contributed 70 yards on the ground with his 19 carries, the third most for any Saints player in 2025.

Most impressive about Neal’s rushing yards was the fact that he did it with very little help from his offensive line. He often fought through contact just to push past the line of scrimmage, but more often than not carried tacklers for extra yardage despite poor footing on a sloppy field. Neal’s best play of the day actually came as a receiver. Facing a 3rd and 8 late in the fourth quarter, Shough escaped pressure to swing the ball out wide to Neal, who then broke two tackles to pick up 14 yards and a first down. Devin Neal isn’t a flashy runner, but his power and toughness gave the Saints enough of a running game to pull out the win.

The Good: Saints Defense

Baker Mayfield started the day by completing eight straight throws. After that, he completed only 6 of 22 passes for 38 yards and an interception against the Saints defense. The Buccaneers rushed for 179 yards, counting a few infuriating Mayfield scrambles. Taking away a 32-yard run from Bucky Irving, New Orleans held Tampa Bay runners to just over 100 yards and only 3.3 per carry. Mayfield wasn’t sacked, but pressured often enough into off-target throws.New Orleans was most dominant on third and fourth downs, holding the Bucs to 3 of 13 on third down and 2 of 7 on fourth down. The majority of those fourth downs were under five yards to go, where the Saints dominated the trenches. It highlighted the physical advantage New Orleans had most of the day in a physical contest.

Several New Orleans players stood out. After seven games of being completely invisible, Carl Granderson had a huge 4th down stop among 2 tackles for loss, batted down a Mayfield throw, and blew up two screen passes in the first half. Demario Davis had a thunderous 4th down stop and a few other vital tackles at the line of scrimmage. Bryan Bresee and Nathan Shepherd each had several big run stops and pressures. Cam Jordan had a tipped pass and had some nice backfield penetration in the second half. All are worth highlighting, but the biggest game ball goes to the entire New Orleans defense in their best win of the 2025 season.