Bucs open with Saints, have five prime-time games slated

TAMPA, Fla. _ Tom Brady and the Bucs won't have to wait long to see how they measure up against Drew Brees and the Saints this season.

In what is considered one of the marquee matchups of the NFL season, the Bucs will visit New Orleans in Week 1. The game will be played at 4:25 on Sept. 13 as part of the NFL on Fox double-header.

The Bucs then will host the Saints on Nov. 8 at Raymond James Stadium in a Sunday Night Football game. It's just one of five prime-time games for the Bucs, breaking the club record of four in 2002-03. In fact, Brady and the Bucs are the media darlings of the NFL, with three national telecasts in a row.

The Bucs begin their national exposure by traveling to Chicago on Oct. 8 for a Thursday night football game on Fox/NFL Network.

Then after hosting Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers at 4:25 on Oct. 18 on Fox, America gets a steady diet of Brady's team. Tampa Bay travels to Las Vegas on Oct. 25 to play Jon Gruden's Raiders at 8:20 p.m. on Sunday Night Football on NBC.

Eight days later, the Bucs travel to play the New York Giants for a Monday Night Football game on ESPN.

On a short week, the Bucs then host the Saints on Nov. 8 at 8:20 on NBC's Sunday Night Football.

The Bucs host the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football Nov. 23 on ESPN, and then six days later, the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs visit for a 4:25 p.m. game on CBS.

Following a bye week, Tampa Bay hosts the Minnesota Vikings at 1 p.m. at RJS before spending the next two weeks on the road: at Atlanta (Dec. 20) and at Detroit (Dec. 26 or 27).

The season concludes as it did in 2019 with a 1 p.m. game against the Atlanta Falcons at RJS.

That may come into play if the league has to reduce the regular season from 16 to 14 or 12 games.

The Saints have won the NFC South three consecutive seasons and are considered the biggest hurdle for the Bucs to win a division title.

Brees, 41, could be playing his last season. One of his backups is former Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston, who signed a one-year, $1.1 million contract with the Saints.

But the Bucs are hopeful that the addition of Brady, the six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, will give them an edge.

The Saints could garner a big advantage over the Bucs with the Week 1 game in New Orleans. Brady will be playing his first game with a new team after 20 seasons in New England. He has plenty of weapons in Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rob Gronkowski and O.J. Howard.

The Bucs, however, were swept by the Saints last season, losing 31-24 at New Orleans and 34-17 at Raymond James Stadium.

On the other hand, with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL season could be delayed. Or, at the very least, the Week 1 game at the usually loud Mercedes-Benz Superdome may be played without fans.