Every week, we'll provide a handy recap and accompaniment to the latest episode of "Quest For The Stanley Cup," the NHL docuseries about the playoffs, available exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+. The second episode for the 2020 playoffs is titled "Sevens are Wild."

Describe this episode in 10 words or less.

Colorado, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Boston: Your bubbles have been popped.

Best on-ice scene

This was focused in on Dallas Stars coach Rick Bowness after their overtime Game 7 win over the Colorado Avalanche. After Joel Kiviranta completed his hat trick to win the game, Bowness celebrated on the ice by bellowing, "The Finns, baby! The f---ing Finns!" Then in the handshake line, Nathan MacKinnon of the Avalanche told the 65-year-old coach "we're all cheering for you back home, eh?" It was a message from one of Nova Scotia's greatest players to a member of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

Best bubble life

The new episode of QUEST FOR THE STANLEY CUP has dropped on ESPN+ and it's terrific. And by that I mean @TBLightning coach Jon Cooper is in a kayak. #NHL

Link (sub required): https://t.co/YGk7IMyymH pic.twitter.com/yqjKhI4N0j

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) September 9, 2020

The episode's first off-ice segment featured the Tampa Bay Lightning getting in some post-series recreation in the Toronto bubble. Patrick Maroon attempted to fish in a harbor, and ended up hitting a camera operator with his hook. Coach Jon Cooper, seen here looking casual in a kayak, said he appreciated being out of the hotel but added, "I did find it odd that they gave us fishing gear for a lagoon that has no fish."

Best grooming

In the Edmonton bubble, we got a glimpse at the barber services available to the players. The "weekly trim true" was set up in the concourse of the arena, and players got a snip from "Craig Bowa, a respected Edmonton hair professional" (as if there's any other kind). It was interesting to see the COVID-19 protocols for the haircut, as the barber was basically wearing a hazmat suit.

Strangest moment

Referee Steve Kozari called Alexander Radulov of the Stars for a high stick in Game 7 against the Avalanche. As Radulov protested the call near the penalty box, Kozari said: "Get in there and sit down. I'll talk to you. Sit down. Raddy, I love you like a brother, buddy. But I had to call it." Is there a Lady Byng for referees?

Best mantra

The @Stars mantra, uttered by both Jamie Benn and Joel Kiviranta after the game. pic.twitter.com/8rD7LkAzdW

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) September 10, 2020

"We're not going home!" One of the most interesting bits in the episode was seeing captain Jamie Benn of the Stars behind the scenes, where was a lot more animated than he usually is in front of the cameras. "We're not going home boys! We're not going home!" he exclaimed as he read the lineup for Game 7. Later you realize that's also the mantra uttered by Kiviranta after getting player of the game honors in the dressing room.

Best regrets

Ryan Reaves of the Vegas Golden Knights was our MVP for Episode 1 of "Quest for the Stanley Cup," but in Game 7 against the Vancouver Canucks he was ejected after a hit to the head of Tyler Motte. We not only get to see Reaves nervously watching to see whether his team can pull out the win, but also get a glimpse of him going to his hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety the next day. (He was suspended for Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.)

Episode MVP

Lots of Oskar Lindblom coverage in this QUEST FOR THE STANLEY CUP episode pic.twitter.com/0fgX8j3WpW

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) September 10, 2020

Episode 2 will be remembered for its coverage of three thrilling Game 7s, but also for the emotional return of Oskar Lindblom to the Philadelphia Flyers' lineup since being diagnosed with and treated for Ewing's sarcoma. That included an on-ice view of the stick-tapping salute the Islanders and Flyers gave him when he hit the ice in Game 6, and the scene in the Flyers' dressing room when he was given a metallic helmet as their player of the game. Lindblom hadn't played a game in 271 days.

Constructive criticism

We're getting coaches cursing. We're getting conversations with referees. But we're still not getting those classic moments of player-on-player trash talking and mockery that used to define this series. Where's Matt Martin of the Leafs telling Drew Miller of the Red Wings to "go dye your hair"? Or Brad Richards telling the Flyers' Tom Sestito that his stint in the NHL was "fantasy camp"? We refuse to believe the bubbles are this tidy.

Any lingering questions after watching?

Socially distant reporter @s_ghost14 pic.twitter.com/VQFUeHwfa5

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) September 10, 2020

Was Shayne Gostisbehere the best socially distanced reporter in the bubble?

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Miguel Angel Jimenez completed a wire-to-wire victory Sunday in the Sanford International, the PGA Tour Champions' first event with fans since returning from a break for the coronavirus pandemic.

Jimenez closed with a 5-under 65 at Minehaha Country Club to beat Steve Flesch by a stroke. The 56-year-old Spanish star won for the second time this season and 10th on the 50-and-over tour.

Tied for the second-round lead with Steve Stricker, Jimenez eagled the par-5 12th for the second time in three days and played the four par-5 holes in 4 under with birdies on Nos. 4 and 16. He parred the final two holes to finish at 14-under 196.

Flesch eagled the 16th in a 63.

Stricker shot a 67 to tie for third with Bernhard Langer (65) at 12 under. Stricker won the inaugural event in 2018, then skipped his title defense last year. He was only player at Minehaha set to play next week in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot,

Scott Parel was 11 under after a 62. Jerry Kelly (66) and David Toms (67) followed at 10 under.

Fred Couples, a stroke back entering the round, followed a second-round 64 with a 72 to fall into a tie for 25th at 6 under.

Country singer Colt Ford was last in the 81-man field in PGA Tour Champions debut. Playing on a sponsor exemption, he shot 74-78-72 to finish at 14 over - a stroke better than fellow sponsor exemption Gary Nicklaus.

Scottie Scheffler has withdrawn from the U.S. Open after testing positive for COVID-19.

The USGA confirmed the news on Sunday evening, adding that the 24-year-old Scheffler is back home in Dallas and is asymptomatic.

Scheffler is coming off a spectacular rookie season on Tour in which he posted seven top-10 finishes, including tying for fourth at last month's PGA Championship and finishing fifth two weeks ago at the Tour Championship. He shot 59 in the second round of The Northern Trust, the FedExCup playoff opener.

The former Texas standout has quite the USGA resume, as well. He won the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur at Martis Camp, where he defeated Davis Riley in the final, and was a member of the victorious 2017 U.S. Walker Cup team. He also has made three U.S. Open starts, including in 2017 at Erin Hills, where he was low amateur.

“We are sorry to lose a member of the USGA family in this year’s U.S. Open field,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA's senior managing director of championships. “Scottie has had a phenomenal rookie season and we look forward to welcoming him back to the U.S. Open Championship for many years to come.” 

Branden Grace, who withdrew during the Barracuda Championship in late July and then missed the PGA after a positive COVID-19 test of his own, replaces Scheffler in the field.

As Phil Mickelson prepares to return to the site of one of his biggest heartbreaks, he admits that there is work to do.

Mickelson broke par in all four rounds at the Safeway Open, finishing the week at 10 under and at one point playing 48 straight holes without a bogey. But that score still left him in a tie for 44th in Napa, 11 shots behind winner Stewart Cink, and came after a week during which Mickelson struggled off the tee. He hit only 12 of 56 fairways, a stat that's in part due to the tight confines at Silverado Resort & Spa but also ominous given what lies ahead next week.

"I've got some things to work on, but it's not far off," Mickelson said. "I've got to drive the ball well, my short game needs to be sharp, putting needs to get sharper on faster greens. Lag putting, that's going to be key. All those things."

Mickelson famously lost the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot with a double bogey on the 72nd hole, a collapse that started when he sprayed his tee shot wildly left. As he readies for a return to the brutish New York layout, which again serves as U.S. Open host next week, the southpaw admitted that the left miss is once again in play.

"The last couple of months I've been missing it more to the right and not worried about the left, and the left crept in again," Mickelson said. "For years I missed it left. I haven't been fearing that at all lately, but this week I missed it left, which, that's not good. I can deal with missing it right now, but not left."

Mickelson's close call at Winged Foot is one of six runner-up finishes in the U.S. Open, the most recent coming at Merion in 2013. But since then, when a win would close out the final leg of the career Grand Slam, Lefty has struggled in the event that has most eluded him: only one top-40 finish in five starts, that coming at Pinehurst in 2014 when he finished T-28.

With another chance to add a sixth major title next week at age 50, Mickelson remains optimistic that he can iron out his issues off the tee before Thursday's opening round.

"There was some positives, too," he said. "It's not that far off. It's not a complete mess, but I'm not striking it the way I've been striking it the last few months. It's not far off, but it's got to click in the next few days."

Marseille earned a smash-and-grab 1-0 win at Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain after forward Florian Thauvin struck in the 31st minute of a pulsating though ill-tempered match that ended with a brawl that saw Neymar sent off on Sunday.

Littered with fouls throughout, the clash boiled over in the last minute of stoppage time with referee Jerome Brisard sending off five players after a full-scale fight broke out on the pitch.

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PSG's Neymar, Layvin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes as well as Marseille's duo of Dario Benedetto and Jordan Amavi were given their marching orders after rival players threw punches and kicks at each other.

An angry Neymar, who'd clashed a number of times with Marseille's Alvaro Gonzalez during the match, tweeted after the game: "The only regret I have is for not being in the face of this a--hole."

Neymar later sent out a second tweet, calling for action to be taken after claiming he was called a racial slur at some point during the game.

"VAR catching my 'aggression' is easy," the tweet began. "Now I want to see the image of the racist calling me a 'monkey motherf---er'... this is what I want to see!"

The ugly scenes, however, did not bother Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas after the 1993 European Cup winners celebrated their first league win against PSG since November 2011.

Chris Woakes says that England's only option was "attack, attack, attack" as they turned the second ODI on its head in a thrilling fightback late in Australia's innings.

Woakes claimed figures of 3 for 32, including both of Australia's well-set batsmen, Marnus Labuschagne and Aaron Finch, as well as the dangerous Glenn Maxwell for 1, as Australia slumped from a seemingly impregnable 144 for 2 to 207 all out, and defeat by 24 runs.

He was one of three England seamers to pick up three in the innings, alongside Jofra Archer - who claimed the Player of the Match award after ripping out two early wickets in a fierce new-ball spell, and Sam Curran, who rose to the occasion after his senior team-mates had bowled out with 3 for 35 in nine.

And speaking to Sky Sports after the win, which has levelled the series at 1-1 with Wednesday's decider to come, Woakes was delighted that England both came up with a plan and then stuck to it, to script an improbable turnaround.

"If you held your length well, it was always going to be difficult for the batsman to score freely," he said. "We certainly found that with the bat, and then pressure builds and that's when you pick up wickets.

"The chances come when you're building dots regularly, so you're constantly trying to bash a good length, and make sure the batsman is going to play your best ball as many times as possible."

England had looked dead and buried once already in the contest, after slumping to 149 for 8 in their own innings, before the tail - led by Tom Curran and Adil Rashid - rallied to post a competitive 231 for 9.

And yet, on a used wicket that had already proven tricky for England's strokemakers, England still believed even when Australia seemed to be coasting to their target on 121 for 2 after 25 overs. It was at that point that Eoin Morgan turned back to his new-ball pairing, Woakes and Archer, with devastating effect.

ALSO READ: England level series after sparking dramatic Australia collapse

Neither man struck immediately, but after drying up the runs for five overs in a row, Woakes then pinned Labuschagne lbw for 48. And with Morgan now intent on bowling out his strike pairing, Archer was primed to barrel through the defences of Mitchell Marsh, bowling him for 1 in his next over to send panic coursing through Australia's ranks.

"At that point, we were just thinking 'attack, attack, attack'," said Woakes, who bowled Finch for 73 four balls later and Maxwell with first ball of his subsequent over. "Try and get as many wickets as possible. We used cross-seam quite a bit to get that ball to go reverse and thankfully we got a bit of that.

"It was moving off the straight, and we always felt that if we could pick up a cluster of wickets in the middle, it was going to be difficult for the new guys coming in. Eoin bowled me and Jof out, and we sensed that was the moment we had to make the most of the ball going sideways."

After a difficult time in the Test series against West Indies and Pakistan, when Archer's game plan never quite seemed fully attuned to the format, there was no doubting his readiness for the challenge of transforming this particular contest.

"We were quite versatile," Archer said during the post-match presentation. "We went seam-up for the first two or three overs, and then Morgs said 'give it a go and see what happens' and it worked.

"This is a second-day wicket as well, so you don't have to do too much," he added. "If you keep banging it in, it's hard enough to bat as it is, so you don't have to get too funky with the variations."

Even so, England's work was not done by the time Woakes and Archer had finished their spells. Australia were rocking on 155 for 6 after 36 overs, but that left the back-end of the innings in the hands of Sam Curran, a relative novice when it comes to the dark arts of death bowling.

"It was unbelievable really," Woakes said. "Him going into the last 12 overs with six to bowl, that's a tough gig. So credit to him, he held his nerve.

"He kept saying ' I'm worried about bowling length' and I said, 'well, mate, it's what's working on this surface, just keep sticking to it'.

"If you stick to the process, Morgs is always happy for you to do that, but it showed great character for him to pick up three great wickets as well."

Finch, Australia's captain, also paid credit to England's resolve in overturning the odds.

"We knew it was always going to be tough for a new batter to start on a wicket like that," he said. "England squeezed, they bowled really straight, a really good length, it was hard to take them on down the ground and it was hard to hit boundaries in that middle period. They bowled well but, yeah, we're still very disappointed."

Pat Cummins admitted a sense of concern remained among Australia's middle and lower order even as Aaron Finch and Marnus Labuschagne were taking the tourists to within touching distance of an ODI series victory over England at Old Trafford, foreshadowing a hellish collapse to allow Eoin Morgan's team to square the ledger.

On a used pitch that Cummins described as being more like a "day four or five Test wicket", the Australians had failed to finish off the England tail, allowing them to wriggle from 149 for 8 with 59 balls of the innings remaining to 231 for 9. That meant that even as Finch and Labuschagne were hoisting the visitors to 144 for 2 in the 31st over of the chase, plenty of anxiety remained in the Australian viewing area.

Morgan clearly sensed it too, as he brought back Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer, tightened the field and let the pressure of the pitch and the scoreboard take its course. The loss of eight wickets for 63, including the first four for three in 21 balls, duly fulfilled the prophecy.

ALSO READ: Eoin Morgan's gambler instincts engineer England's remarkable comeback

"I think having fielded 50 overs on that wicket, we knew it was going to be really hard work," vice-captain Cummins said. "We were really happy when Marnus and Aaron were going along nicely, but I think I heard at one stage the commentators saying 'they're going along beautifully here, they're walking it home', whereas none of us were thinking that.

"We knew the last 80 or 90 runs were going to be hard work on that wicket, especially as the ball got a little bit softer and older. The mood was pretty good, everyone I'm sure came up with their plans and their ideas, there was no real nervousness or anything, we've all played a lot of cricket, so it was a tough finish in the end.

"It was a really tough wicket especially to start on, and unfortunately we just couldn't get through that period and couldn't finish it off. It was more like a day four or five Test wicket where it was a bit up and down. You saw some guys still bat quite well on it, once you're in you can get there, but also it felt like you could really squeeze [the run rate] and not that true bounce you expect over here."

Clearly crestfallen by the manner of the defeat, Finch had spoken similarly at the post-match presentation of how it was possible Australia had overthought things while waiting to complete the task. "Guys will have their own plans but at times we might not be 100% committed," Finch said. "I think at times we might overplay the situation in your head. We have to get better at that, obviously.

"We knew it was always going to be tough for new batters to start on a wicket like that. England squeezed, they bowled really straight, it was hard to take them on down the ground, hard to hit boundaries in that middle period but still very disappointed. We knew we'd be playing on a used wicket, it was getting more difficult as the game went on. Still no excuse for that collapse. Probably not the most view-friendly one-day game but it provides an even contest between bat and ball which at times in one-day cricket I think is missing a bit."

Looking back to the period in which Tom Curran, Adil Rashid and Archer scrounged 82 runs from the last 10 overs of England's innings, Cummins said that on pitches such as this one, the bowlers and captain needed to be open to changing plans, as opposed to how truer pitches more often prepared for limited-overs games generally left bowlers with only a couple of options.

"On that wicket for 40 overs it felt like good-length bowling was the hardest to hit, and then suddenly they started hitting them quite nicely. We'll have a review for sure. I think we went for 80-odd runs in the last 10 overs," Cummins said. "We're suddenly only chasing 200 and it's a different game. Adil and Tom are both really good batsmen, they might be batting nine and 10, but when they walked out we knew they could still hold a bat.

"On a really good wicket for your death bowling you go to yorkers, you might go slower balls or bouncers. Here it's about tossing up what's the hardest ball to hit. Is it a yorker or maybe it's the top of the stumps, maybe keep the fields in for longer, spinners might have more of an impact. I really enjoy it, it makes you think differently, come up and try and problem solve."

New York Jets coach Adam Gase, who was involved in an injury dispute with Le'Veon Bell in training camp, openly second-guessed himself Sunday for leaving the running back in the game after he injured his hamstring.

"I'm mad at myself that I let him go back in there in the second half," Gase said after the Jets' 27-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York.

Bell was hurt late in the second quarter when he fell awkwardly on an incomplete pass in which he drew a holding penalty on linebacker A.J. Klein. He returned in the second half, his hamstring wrapped. He stayed in for five plays before it became apparent that he had no burst.

He was replaced by Frank Gore and didn't return. The Jets declined to comment on the severity of the injury, and Bell wasn't made available.

"That play looked bad," Gase of the second-quarter play in which Bell appeared to pull up. "I'm watching, and I thought it was going to be a touchdown, then he got grabbed. And kind of the way he planted and torqued, it looked really bad.

"I saw him grab his hamstring and he wouldn't come out. We come in at halftime. I let him go back in there. I was worried about it, and we were eventually like, 'I can't put you in there. We can't take a chance on getting more hurt than you already are.'"

In camp, Gase and Bell had a miscommunication over an alleged hamstring injury, which adds another layer to this.

Bell was pulled out of a scrimmage because of hamstring tightness, Gase told reporters in August. Minutes later, Bell took issue with that, tweeting that there was no injury and that he wanted to continue. Gase, admitting he was "caught off guard" by the Twitter rant, requested a long sit-down with Bell and they cleared the air.

Afterward, Bell chalked it up to a miscommunication, suggesting he and Gase need to speak with each other directly on the sideline instead of involving trainers.

Until Sunday's injury, Bell had received almost the entire workload at running back. He ran six times for 14 yards and caught two passes for 32 yards.

If he can't play next Sunday, the Jets will lean heavily on the 37-year-old Gore, who will face the San Francisco 49ers, his team for the first 10 years of his career. The only other healthy back on the roster is Josh Adams, who scored a late touchdown Sunday. Rookie La'Mical Perine is recovering from a sprained ankle.

NEW YORK -- A US Open unlike any other finished unlike any other -- and Dominic Thiem constructed a comeback the likes of which hadn't been seen in 71 years.

After dropping the opening two sets against Alexander Zverev on Sunday at a nearly empty Arthur Ashe Stadium -- fans were banned because of the coronavirus pandemic -- Thiem slowly but surely turned things around for a 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory across more than four hours to earn his first major championship.

The 27-year-old from Austria is the first man to win the American Grand Slam tournament after trailing 2-0 in sets in the final since Pancho Gonzales did it against Ted Schroeder in 1949 at an event then known as the U.S. Championships and held in Forest Hills.

Not only that, but in a fitting finish to an unprecedented two weeks, this match was decided by a fifth-set tiebreaker, something that had never happened in this tournament's final.

"I wish we could have two winners today,'' Thiem said. "I think we both deserved it.''

When it ended on a groundstroke flubbed by Zverev, a 23-year-old from Germany, the weary Thiem collapsed on his back way behind the baseline. Zverev -- who himself came within two points of the victory -- walked around the net to offer a handshake and hug to his pal, two gestures rarely spotted in this era of social distancing.

"I wish you would have missed a little bit more so I could have held that trophy up,'' Zverev said, choking up when he mentioned his parents, "but here I am, giving the runner's-up speech.''

As Thiem stepped forward to pose for pictures with his shiny new bit of hardware, Zverev remained a few feet behind, one hand clutching his less impressive silver tray, the other hand on a hip.

Thiem had come in 0-3 in Grand Slam finals, but he always faced Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic in those others. This time, he was the favorite and came out jittery, but he eventually worked his way out of that, while Zverev went from cool and confident to passive and pushed around.

The fifth set was just as back-and-forth as the other four, the mistakes rising with the tension and the history in the offing.

Thiem broke in the opening game when Zverev shanked a pair of forehands. Zverev broke right back -- and pierced the silence with a rare cry of "Come on!'' -- when Thiem double-faulted.

Then it was Zverev's turn to nose ahead, breaking for a 5-3 lead when Thiem sent a down-the-line backhand wide and leaned over, gasping for air.

But with a chance to serve out the biggest win of his nascent career, Zverev faltered, getting broken right back when he pushed a volley into the net.

That began a three-game run for Thiem, who broke to lead 6-5, earning his own chance to serve for it when Zverev netted a backhand, followed by a long forehand.

After having a trainer check on his right leg during the ensuing changeover, Thiem couldn't seal the deal, either, and eventually needed a trio of match points to end it.

While this was the No. 7-ranked Zverev's first Slam final, this was the first one that Thiem was supposed to win, following losses to Nadal at the French Open in 2018 and 2019, then to Djokovic at the Australian Open this February -- back before the pandemic upended the world and put tennis on a five-month hiatus.

Instead of wild applause and loud shouts greeting great exchanges, the soundtrack at Arthur Ashe Stadium mainly came from outside the largest court in tennis, courtesy of roaring airplanes, rumbling trains, revving car engines, honking horns and wailing sirens. There was the occasional polite applause from the dozens of tournament workers allowed in the stands -- and, deep into the match, yells from the players' entourages.

But the louder crowd noise heard by TV viewers was fake, added by the broadcaster.

Unable to draw from support in what's always been an electric environment, on an evening that felt more like a glorified practice session than a match with so much at stake, both men were sluggish at times -- listless, even. The play was hardly perfect: They combined for 120 unforced errors to only 95 winners. In a curious parallel, Zverev balanced his 15 aces with 15 double faults, and Thiem had eight in each category.

Normally, the US Open closes each Grand Slam season, but what about 2020 has been normal?

"Strange times,'' Thiem called it.

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since World War II, while the French Open was postponed from its originally scheduled May start and now will begin in two weeks.

So the tennis world quickly shifts to European clay after an unusual two-tournament hard-court doubleheader in Flushing Meadows -- called "a crazy idea'' by U.S. Tennis Association CEO Mike Dowse on Sunday.

The US Open was preceded at its site by the Western & Southern Open, which moved from Ohio to New York as part of a "controlled environment'' to limit travel.

Another way in which this whole event was different: A member of the Big Three of men's tennis -- Roger Federer, Nadal and Djokovic -- had won the preceding 13 major trophies. But Federer and Nadal didn't enter the US Open, while Djokovic was defaulted in the fourth round for accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball he smacked in anger after dropping a game.

Thiem -- barely, just barely -- was the one who took advantage of the chance to sneak into the club of champions.

"I want to congratulate Dominic on the first of many Grand Slam titles,'' Zverev said. "I think this is not the only one.''

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have parted ways with former first overall draft pick Jameis Winston after five seasons because of turnovers. Yet with Winston in a New Orleans Saints uniform Sunday, it was new quarterback Tom Brady who struggled and turned the ball over in his Buccaneers debut.

The six-time Super Bowl winner threw two interceptions, including a pick-six, in a 34-23 loss to the host Saints.

"I've lost plenty of games in my career," Brady said. "I know I don't like it. But it happens. We just gotta do a better job."

Brady completed 23 of 36 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns, and he had a third touchdown on the ground. His first score of the day -- a 2-yard QB keeper up the middle to make it 7-0 in the first quarter -- was set up by a beautiful play-action pass to Chris Godwin for 29 yards.

But his two picks were costly. The first was the result of a miscommunication with wide receiver Mike Evans, who was bracketed heavily throughout the game and rendered catchless until the fourth quarter. The second interception came on a pass thrown too far behind Justin Watson on the outside that was returned for a touchdown by Janoris Jenkins.

But immediately after the pick-six, Brady found tight end O.J. Howard in the corner of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown to make it 24-14, before a 38-yard field goal by Ryan Succop brought the Bucs within one score. Brady also connected with Evans -- who played despite a hamstring injury -- for a 2-yard touchdown in the corner of the end zone.

"It felt like a scrimmage out there," Brady said. "But obviously it counts. And I think we're all disappointed it didn't go our way. ... We gotta look at each other in the eye. Work harder, put more urgency on the things we have to do. Get back to work and do a better job."

Brady tried to temper expectations this week, acknowledging that he still had work to do in learning coach Bruce Arians' offense and that the unit still had a ways to go when it came to communication and getting on the same page. When it seemed like he was being modest, he really was being realistic.

"We didn't do anything that great on offense today," Brady said. "We made a few plays but, in the end, we're all going to wish we had a lot of plays back. Certainly I do."

Brady wasn't alone in his struggles Sunday. He was sacked three times. Left tackle Donovan Smith, who has been plagued by inconsistencies throughout his career, struggled in pass protection, as did rookie right tackle Tristan Wirfs. And they weren't able to maintain a consistent ground game, with Ronald Jones II finishing with 66 rushing yards on 17 carries and Leonard Fournette getting 5 yards on five carries.

Special teams were equally disastrous. A 54-yard field goal attempt by Succup was blocked by Margus Hunt in the second quarter and recovered at the New Orleans 45. And in the fourth quarter, Jaydon Mickens and Mike Edwards collided on a kick return, and the Saints' Bennie Fowler recovered the ball at the Tampa Bay 18.

The Bucs also were plagued by penalties -- something they led the league in last season -- with nine for 103 yards.