Chris Godwin and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will travel west to New Orleans this weekend. They will face the New Orleans Saints in a battle of 2-1 teams.
The matchup between Tampa Bay and New Orleans has been especially chippy in recent years and Sunday will be no exception. Both teams are in their first years with new quarterbacks. Both teams fully believe that they should finish atop the NFC South. It’s going to be a fun game.
A large part of what makes Saints games so rowdy is the fanbase. The Louisianimals down in The Big Easy are notoriously wild and create one of the best home-field advantages in the league.
75,000 fans pack into the Superdome for every single home game. It is always a sellout.
To make things even more intimidating, the Superdome is a windowless stadium. There is no light.
Godwin, who has been with the Buccaneers since 2017, knows a thing or two about road games in New Orleans. He’s played there at least once a year, every year for seven years.
The way that he described the Superdome makes it sound like something of a gladiator arena. Godwin made it sound like the most-intimidating environment in the NFL, which helps him and his teammates get up for the game.
When you go into that stadium, you know what you’re getting into. Those fans — they have that stadium rocking. There’s no windows. It’s like they go in and they lock the doors behind you, and it’s just like you and your guys going to battle.
— Chris Godwin, via Jenna Laine
There has been a lot of conversation about the Superdome over the years. Never has a player explained what makes it so different in such a manner. Godwin really put it in perspective.
New Orleans leads the series against Tampa Bay 39-24 all-time. However, the Buccaneers won both of last year’s regular season meetings.
Godwin will hope to continue that streak when he and his teammates go to battle inside of the locked doors at the Superdome on Sunday. Both teams have their eyes on the NFC South and this weekend will go a long way in getting a jump start on the rest of the year.