Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan remembers all too well the last tim

e New Orleans entered a season with a lot of hype.The Saints seemed like a good bet to make the playoffs for a fifth time in six seasons back in 2014. Instead Sheldon Rankins Jersey Salute to Service , they stumbled to a 7-9 record in what became the first of three straight frustrating, sub-.500 campaigns before they won the NFC South last season."Everyone's going to talk about potential. Everyone's going to talk about, 'on paper,' how good we look," said Jordan, an All-Pro in 2017 with a career-high 13 sacks. "We've been here before. We've seen this a couple years ago, when we looked great on paper. Paper doesn't play Sunday."The schedule seemingly sets the Saints up to win a season opener for the first time since 2013 this Sunday, when they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.New Orleans has nearly all key players back from a squad that came within a "Minnesota Miracle" of advancing to the NFC title game. Now the Saints are eager to move on from the 61-yard Vikings touchdown they gave up on their last play of last season.The Bucs, by contrast, are coming off a five-win campaign that extended their decade-long playoff drought and must play without starting quarterback Jameis Winston, who is serving a three-game suspension .Oddsmakers have made the Saints one of the most heavily favored NFL teams — by more than a touchdown — in Week 1."We recognize what kind of a football team New Orleans has," Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter said. "We're going to go out there and do everything we can to give it to them on Sunday."And why not? The last time these teams met, in their 2017 regular season finale, the Bucs won in an upset.Here are some key subplots that will play out when the Bucs and Saints renew their divisional rivalry:PREMIER MATCHUP: Bucs receiver Mike Evans is one of three players in NFL history — along with A.J. Green and Hall of Famer Randy Moss — to have 1,000 yards-plus receiving in each of the first four seasons of a career. Evans figures to be covered by Saints cornerback Marshawn Lattimore, last season's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year."I look forward to the matchup," said Evans, who was suspended one game last season for a blindside hit on Lattimore.Bucs quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, starting for Winston, doesn't sound inclined to look away from Evans just because of who is covering him."When you have a guy like Mike Evans, he's going to get his balls," Fitzpatrick said. "There is nobody that I am really going to shy away from, no disrespect to anybody, just because the talent level Mike has."SUSPENDED STARTERS: Each team is coping with the suspension of a prominent offensive player.The Saints are without Pro Bowl running back Mark Ingram, their leading rusher last season with 1,124 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was suspended four games for use of a banned substance. That raises the possibility that Offensive Rookie of the Year Alvin Kamara will play more snaps, but Kamara was careful not give away anything on that front."The way our team is trending, we're an unselfish group Limited Ryan Ramczyk Jersey ," Kamara said. "If my touches are low, then it is what it is, if that's what we have to do to win."Winston begins a three-game suspension stemming from an eight-month NFL investigation that concluded he touched a female Uber driver inappropriately in 2016."At this point, it's like any other injury that a guy's out for three weeks," Koetter said.ROSTER TURNOVER: One of Tampa Bay's top priorities was revamping a pass rush that produced a league-low 22 sacks a year ago. In addition to acquiring former New York Giants star Jason Pierre-Paul in a trade , two other new starters on the defensive line — Vinny Curry and Beau Allen — signed as free agents after helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl. Defensive coordinator Mike Smith said Pierre-Paul had a good training camp and has been everything the Bucs expected in terms of his drive to learn the scheme and make it tough for coaches to sub him out."The guy doesn't want to come off the field," Smith said. "He's a guy that's played, when's he's been healthy, 90-plus percent of the snaps on defense. That is unheard of a lot of times in the NFL."The Saints spent the bulk of their efforts in free agency trying to improve a defense that ranked 17th, bringing in linebacker Demario Davis, safety Kurt Coleman and cornerback Patrick Robinson. Meanwhile, receiver Cameron Meredith is expected to make his debut for an offense that ranked second a season ago, while tight end Ben Watson returns after a couple of seasons with Baltimore.GOOD RATINGS: Saints quarterback Drew Brees had a 121.1 passer rating against the Bucs last season, his best rating against any team in 2017. But Brees quickly dispenses with the notion that he has Tampa Bay's number."We know how competitive this team is regardless of what their record said last year," Brees said. "They've got a lot of really good players on defense. They went out and made some pretty significant moves through free agency and in the draft."It's going to be a tough, tough test."AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall contributed to this report.Saints lean on heavy dose of Alvin Kamara to power past Giants EAST RUTHERFORD — The New Orleans Saints have won three straight games after defeating the New York Giants on Sunday. They’re now 3-1 on the year, and picked up their first road win in East Rutherford since the 2006 season. More importantly, they sit on top of the NFC South as division leaders.The Giants won the coin toss and elected to defer. The first Saints offensive drive went 3-and-out, as New Orleans tried for three straight passes. They had a first down connection from Drew Brees to Michael Thomas, but it was negated by an offensive pass interference on Josh Hill. The first Giants possession was met with little resistance, as Eli Manning helped the offense go on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that finished with a 2-yard Sterling Shepard touchdown catch to put the Giants on the board.The ensuing Saints drive was destined for another 3-and-out, but those tricky special teams saw Taysom Hill connect with Justin Hardee for a first down to extend the drive. New Orleans drove down the length of the field, with some designed plays that saw Hill catch a pass from Drew Brees and be the lead blocker on an Alvin Kamara run, but ended up having to settle on a 42-yard field goal from Wil Lutz to cut the lead to 7-3. Lutz had to kick it twice because the game clock had run out at the end of the first quarter. The Saints defense was able to show up and force a Giants punt, and the Saints would get their second field goal of the game after a 9-play, 69-yard drive stalled out. Taysom Hill had a good 19-yard scamper on the drive, but it was extended after a really bad horse collar call on Janoris Jenkins.Red zone inefficiency continued for the Saints Authentic Alex Anzalone Jersey , after they looked to make short work of a P.J. Williams forced fumble on Wayne Gallman, in which Marshon Lattimore returned to the Giants 11-yard line. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, the Saints got penalized on the initial field goal attempt of 27 yards, and had to re-kick from 37 yards out to take a 9-7 lead.The Giants would have another 3-and-out, which saw the Saints get some luck after Brandon Tate muffed the punt return but ended up recovering it off a tip up from Ray-Ray Armstrong. Once again, the Saints offense would march down the field and get into a position to take it into the end zone, but a bad drop by Alvin Kamara and a catch that Benjamin Watson couldn’t hold onto resulted in another short Wil Lutz field goal to put the Saints up 12-7 entering halftime.To start the second half, the Giants picked up one first down, but the drive stalled out and ended up putting, to the displeasure of their fans. The Saints would finally cash in on this drive, going 80 yards in 7 plays for their first touchdown of the afternoon. Big plays to Michael Thomas, Benjamin Watson, and a B.W. Webb personal foul penalty helped set them up inside the 10-yard line, and Alvin Kamara would cap it off on a 9-yard rush.The Giants somewhat woke up, going 75 yards in 10 plays, getting big plays from Saquon Barkley and Sterling Shepard, but the bend, don’t break Saints defense held them to a 33-yard Aldrick Rojas field goal to trim the Saints lead to 19-10 late in the third quarter. Vonn Bell made an outstanding pass breakup at the goal line against Rhett Ellison to negate a touchdown.Entering the fourth quarter, the Saints were able to get off the field and force a punt, thanks to Demario Davis notching his second sack of the game. The Giants were put in a bad spot from a 7-yard tackle for loss from Marcus Davenport. The Saints turned in a 15-play drive that took nearly 7 minutes off the clock that ended in another Alvin Kamara touchdown to put the Saints up 26-10. The biggest takeaway was the Saints finding their third down offense, as they converted several drives.The Giants would add a late touchdown via Saquon Barkley and add a 2-point conversion to cut the Saints lead to 26-18 with 3:44 left in the game on a 10-play, 75-yard drive, and they even got the Saints pinned at their own 3-yard line after Ted Ginn Jr. muffed the kick return. Drew Brees came out passing immediately, connecting with Austin Carr for a first down. A big pass interference call on the Giants on a 3rd and 9 gave the team a first down, and Alvin Kamara would add the dagger on a 49-yard touchdown run to put the game away at 33-18.The Saints have an extra day in Week 5, as they host the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. nflshopoutlet.com