Tom Brady takes on the New Orleans Saints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. The 44-year-old has some bad memories of the Saints’ defence.

Munich – Tom Brady is an elephant.

No, we’re not talking about his running game. But his memory.

The quarterback superstar proved that this week when he talked about the worst defence he played against during his time with the New England Patriots.

That was in the early 2000s, when the Miami Dolphins defence bugged him beyond belief, regularly playing poorly. He even still had his passing yards about right. And that’s a good 20 years later. The Dolphins of 2001 to 2005 left an impression.

Fresh memories of a bad smackdown

Quite fresh are his nasty memories of the defence of their upcoming opponents, the New Orleans Saints. Because the division rival got on Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ nerves in 2020.

First, Brady lost 23-34 in his Bucs debut, throwing two interceptions. It got even worse in week nine, when the Buccaneers lost 3:38 at home. “A poor performance”, as Brady himself said at the time. Which was also due to the ruthless opposing defence.

The Saints accounted for five of Brady’s 12 interceptions in 2020, and he was sacked six times in both games (21 times total). His quarterback ratings: 78.4 and 40.4.

“They make it very difficult for you to move the ball effectively and efficiently,” Brady said. “They have good continuity in their secondary. Their linebackers are very athletic, and they have a very strong defensive line. And they obviously have very good coaches, a very good coordinator, so anything against them is a challenge.”

After all, the Buccaneers and Brady already learned from their mistakes in 2020, outscoring the Saints 30-20 en route to a Super Bowl victory in the Divisional Round.

But even though the Saints lost defensive end Trey Hendrickson to the Cincinnati Bengals and there was the biggest cut offensively with the retirement of legend Drew Brees and successor Jameis Winston, the defense is still a cut above 2020.

Little room for error

For example, it ranks third in points allowed and interceptions and eighth overall – stars like defensive end Cameron Jordan, linebacker Demario Davis, cornerback Marshon Lattimore and safety Malcolm Jenkins make sure of that. They are joined by defensive tackle David Onyemata after he served his six-game suspension.

Experienced guys who don’t allow opponents any room for error. “Sometimes you feel like you can get away with things against less experienced players, but not with these guys. You really have to be ready for anything,” Brady said.

Because the Saints defence keeps opponents guessing, is a strong collective with a good plan, has surprises up its sleeve. A key will be Brady’s O-Line, which has often been able to keep the pressure off Brady this season. And clearly, in a game between two division rivals, anything is possible anyway.

The Red Zone is where it’s at

The Saints are round and round in the Red Zone, where they have the best defence in the league. Only 35.7 percent of opponents’ drives inside their own 20-yard line result in a touchdown, quarterbacks come in with a passer rating of 37.5, and on third downs the conversion rate is 33.7 percent – strong numbers from a strong unit.

“It’s about every single play, execution and all of us being of the same mind and seeing things the same way,” Brady said, “That’s the only way to deal with it. We study everything and try to be prepared for everything.” To avoid old mistakes.

The bad memories can help with that. And Tom Brady, the elephant.