No offense, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense needed to step it up a notch Sunday in their road game against NFC South Division rival New Orleans. And did it ever, producing a dominant effort on an afternoon in which there frankly was no Buc offense to speak of.

Six days after being roughed up Monday night in Detroit, the unit responded with a suffocating,  big-play display reminiscent of Buc D’s of old – just when the team needed it most.

There were none of the offensive heroics that marked Tampa Bay’s previous five wins this season, no dramatic Baker Mayfield moments against a struggling Saints team. In fact, this was an afternoon in the Big Easy when moving the ball effectively was downright hard for Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield and Co. for the second straight game.

Instead, the show was stolen by an opportunistic defense that produced four turnovers in an otherwise drab 23-3 drubbing of the 1-7 Saints – one that sends the Bucs into the bye week with the comfort of 6-2 record. And without a doubt, the headline performer was an understudy – 6-foot-7, 271-pound outside linebacker Anthony Nelson.

Filling in for starter Haasan Reddick, injured in the 24-9 loss to Detroit, the seventh-year pro responded with a first-half tour de force – a Spencer Rattler pass that he batted to himself at the Saints’ 3-yard-line and returned for the Bucs’ first touchdown of the game after a scoreless first quarter, a forced fumble and a one of his two sacks for the day.

Call that a Full Nelson.

For the record, it marked the first that an NFL player has accomplished that particular feat in the same half since 2018 – not bad for a fill-in who has seen limited action over his career with the Bucs. But the Nelson Show was only part of the defense's act under the Superdome Big Top.

Safety Antoine Winfield contributed an interception that should have resulted in a 47-yard return for a touchdown (only to have it mysteriously negated when a referee on the far side of the field blew the return dead – a ruling the head official acknowledged was "erroneous" after the game). In addition, cornerback Jamel Dean forced his second fumble of the season, and the defense tallied five sacks in all. Notably, it was the first time they have recorded four takeaways and five sacks in the same game since 2022 – also at New Orleans.

It was precisely the sort of outcome the defense has been aiming for in recent weeks – stopping big plays, cutting down on yards after catches, and changing the flow of the game with takeaways. Mayfield, for one, was immensely grateful for the defense’s dominance and clutch kicking of Chase McLaughlin, who booted three field goals – including from 52 and 55 yards – making him seven-for-seven in attempts from 50 or longer this season.

“Winning is hard in this league and we’ll take that whenever we can – by no means was that up to our standard offensively,” said Mayfield, who finished 15-of-24 for 152 passing yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, along with three sacks and a lost fumble. “But you know what, when your defense and special teams are playing like that, my goodness, I can’t say enough about those guys. … They were lights out and that kept us in the ball game.”

The victory also gave the Bucs some crucial breathing room in the division, given outcomes earlier in the day: Carolina’s 40-9 thumping by Buffalo, and Atlanta’s 34-10 loss to Miami. The Bucs now have a two-game lead over the 4-4 Panthers, and the expected return to the lineup of star tailback Bucky Irving after the bye week should provide a welcome boost to the running game down the stretch.

Granted, the win came against a Saints team that is going nowhere. But showdowns between the two division foes have traditionally been intense. That said, the Bucs now have notched double-digit victories in each of their last four trips to the Superdome – only the second team ever to do so in NFL history (the other being San Diego between 1977-1997). And it was also the first time in Tampa Bay’s 50 years that it has won four consecutive road games at New Orleans.

All of that brought a smile to the face of Bucs head coach Todd Bowles, whose defense now has logged multiple takeaways in five games this season – the most in the NFL this year. And he was especially pleased with the game Nelson turned in.

“(It’s) his anticipation, his length, the strength that he plays with,” Bowles said. “And he’s a very smart player and a very tough player. He just has a nose for the football, and he makes those plays look routine.”

Nelson, as he did with his key interception, largely deflected personal praise after the game. Informed that that his “hat trick” of decisive plays hadn’t occurred in seven NFL seasons, he replied, “That's an awesome stat, (but) it was a good team win. … We did what we needed to do. We were flying around on defense, creating turnovers, really putting pressure on them, doing everything we could.”

Suffice it say, until that point, the Bucs were definitely not having much fun at all. That was most evident at the start of the second quarter when Mayfield marched the Bucs 91 yards in 17 plays to the New Orleans 1 yard line. But five straight running plays failed to get into the end zone – the first by Sean Tucker fell short but was negated by a New Orleans offsides call, moving the Bucs half the distance to the goal and still with a first down.

Then came four more attempts – three by Rachaad White, one more by Tucker – and all were stuffed by the Saints’ fired-up defensive front. After a drive of more than 10 minutes, the game remained scoreless.

New Orleans took over and the game’s pivotal play was about to unfold. Rattler, who had completed all eight of his passes until then, dropped back to pass on second and 1 from his 10-yard line. He rolled to his right and tried to loft a throw above Nelson, who was closing in unblocked.

But the Bucs’ 2019 fourth-round pick out of the University of Iowa reached up and tipped the ball with his left hand. He corralled it easily against his chest, bowled over Rattler attempting to stop him, and strolled in for his first career interception – in the pros and college combined.

The Saints’ defense, meanwhile, kept the heat on Mayfield, and forced a fumble late in the first half that set up a 48-yard field goal by Blake Grupe as time expired. At 7-3, it was still very much anybody’s game – especially when the Saints once again threatened to stop the Bucs from their 1 to open the second half.

Mayfield had marched the offense down the field from its 27 in nine plays, but an endzone pass to Sterling Sharp fell incomplete, Tucker was stopped for no gain, and a third-down pass to Emeka Egbuka was knocked away in the end zone. But on fourth down, Tucker got the call again and this time bulled his way over the goal line for a 14-3 lead. The Saints were never in it after that, as Rattler was eventually replaced by rookie Tyler Slough, who couldn’t get any points on the board.

“That (Tucker scoring) was huge, because they stopped us in the first half,” Bowles said. “So to get in in the second, we (had) to be determined and have some resolve.”

After two consecutive road games in a short week, the Bucs can feel good about their bounce-back win in the face of frequent injuries – most notably losing All-Pro wide receiver Mike Evans last week for the duration of the regular season with a fractured collarbone.

“This team is resilient – it really is,” Mayfield said. “You can’t fake it. You can’t really do anything else besides watch the guys on tape, watch how hard they play for each other. That’s what it’s all about.”