2012 · Week 7 · Division

Final

Saints

New Orleans

QB Drew Brees

35·28

Buccaneers

Tampa Bay

QB Josh Freeman

Raymond James Stadium · outdoors · grass · 77°F · wind 8mph

Closing spread

NO -1

Total

49.5

Model margin

-0.3est.

TB perspective

Push chance

2.2%est.

Win probability

  • Buccaneers
  • Saints

How each play moved the game.

Buccaneers winsSaints wins

Matchup

Where the edges are

Season-long league percentiles for both sides, mirrored. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge.

Saintsedge mapBuccaneers
  • +0.094EPA / play+0.018
  • 47.2%Success rate41.0%
  • +0.160EPA / dropback+0.053
  • -0.039EPA / rush-0.038
  • 8.9%Explosive rate9.8%
  • +0.89CPOE-4.01
  • 43.1%Third-down rate35.9%
  • 73.6%Red-zone TD rate63.4%
  • 2.17Points / drive1.74
  • 2.1%Turnover rate1.9%

Bar length is league percentile, already oriented so longer is better. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge; rows within ~12 points are washed as even.

The rivalry

NO lead 28–23 since 1999

Meetings average 44.2 points. TB are 24-27 ATS in the series.

Previous meetings
SeasonMatchupScoreWinner
2025 · W14NO @ TB2420NO
2025 · W8TB @ NO233TB
2024 · W18NO @ TB1927TB
2024 · W6TB @ NO5127TB
2023 · W17NO @ TB2313NO
2023 · W4TB @ NO269TB
2022 · W13NO @ TB1617TB
2022 · W2TB @ NO2010TB

Box score

Individual performances

Saints

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Drew Brees27/3737741

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Pierre Thomas13322.51
Darren Sproles5275.40
Mark Ingram7213.00
Drew Brees111.00

Receiving

PlayerRecTgtYdsTD
Lance Moore9101210
Devery Henderson33750
Marques Colston710731
Joseph Morgan12481
Darren Sproles44321
David Thomas24271
Pierre Thomas0100

Buccaneers

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Josh Freeman24/4242030

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Doug Martin16855.31
Josh Freeman11313.00
D.J. Ware144.00
Arrelious Benn122.00
LeGarrette Blount5-2-0.40

Where this game is likely to land

  • Model
  • Smooth (normal)
  • Betting line

Probability of each final margin. Football scoring clusters — the spikes at 3 and 7 are real, and a smooth model misses them.

line -12.7%4.5%2.9%7.4%7.3%2.9%4.4%2.7%

Positive margins favour Buccaneers; negative favour Saints.

Half-point at risk

2.16%

outcomes that flip if the line moves 0.5

Model home win

48.3%

Expected total

47.4est.

Model

Where the number comes from

Each component is additive, in points of expected margin.

  • Team ratings (opponent-adjusted EPA)-2.21
  • Home-field advantage+2.49
  • Quarterback adjustment0.00
  • Rest differential-0.56
  • Expected margin-0.29