Here are some quick stats from the Buc's last two games vs. the Saints
September 16, 2007
Jeff Garcia stats 10/16 for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns. Average pass going for 15.2 yards. Not to mention Galloway loves the Saints DB's
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December 2, 2007
The second meeting had backup Luke McCown starting at quarterback for the Buccaneers in place of the injured Jeff Garcia. McCown would pass for 313 yards, 2 TD's, and connected on his first 15 consecutive passes of the game as the Bucs won 27-23.
That's all I need to know considering the Saints have done nothing to improve the secondary with the exception of adding two rookies who will take time before they learn the system and can make any impact. They put all the money up front with the defense with Jonathan Vilma and I expect the Tampa offensive line can hold them off.
Now lets look at what the preseason has showed us.
The trend continues,
The Saints defense in the first two preseason games allowed the opposition's starting quarterbacks, Matt Leinart of Arizona and Matt Schaub of Houston, to complete 21 of 24 passes for 278 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The fact is there is only a handful of QB's, most of them on running based teams, that did not throw for 2 TD's and over 250 yards last year against the Saints. Yes he is not a stud QB but he is solid enough to get you good stats without interceptions. Jeff Garcia also threw for 13 TD's and only 4 INT's in 2007. That is the lowest amount of interceptions for any QB in the NFL last year that played a over 13 games and is only second overall to David Garrad of Jacksonville who played 12 games with 3 INT's.
David Garrad
While we are on David Garrad lets go ahead and place him as a solid QB1 or QB2 this year. He has a decent cast of wide outs with Troy Williamson, the trade from the Vikings, Jerry Porter from Oakland and Dennis Northcutt. Throw Matt Jones, a solid end zone threat in the mix and I like Garrad's chances to be a top 12, maybe top 10 quarterback by the end of the season. He does not throw picks and he gets enough rushing yardage and TD passes to keep him in the mix. If Garrad or Garcia are available off the wire in your league I would pick them up for further insurance, a bye week fill in, a possible starter or good trade bait down the road. They are much more valuable to your roster then a 4Th or 5Th RB or WR.