Tampa Bay (3-2) at New Orleans (2-3)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, Fox
BetMGM NFL Odds: Buccaneers by 3 1/2.
Against the spread: Buccaneers 3-2, Saints 2-2-1.
Series record: Saints lead 41-24.
Last meeting: Saints beat Buccaneers 23-13 on Dec. 31, 2023, in Tampa Bay.
Last week: Buccaneers lost to Falcons 36-30, OT; Saints lost to Chiefs 26-13.
Buccaneers offense: overall (19), rush (20), pass (T15), scoring (9).
Buccaneers defense: overall (30), rush (16), pass (28), scoring (T17).
Saints offense: overall (T17), rush (10, pass (21), scoring (T4).
Saints defense: overall (23), rush (7), pass (26), scoring (8).
Turnover differential: Buccaneers plus-2, Saints plus-3.
While WR Mike Evans is on the verge of becoming the 11th player in NFL history with 100 or more touchdown receptions in a career, fellow WR Chris Godwin has enjoyed a lot of success against the Saints. In 14 games vs. New Orleans, Godwin has averaged 13.9 yards per catch on 68 receptions. He’s scored seven TDs, and 45 of those 68 receptions have been for first downs.
Versatile running back Alvin Kamara has 602 yards and six TDs from scrimmage in five games this season.
Bucs receiver Mike Evans against Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore. This matchup has been a centerpiece of numerous games between these NFC South foes since Lattimore was drafted in 2017 and sometimes has resulted in scuffles, ejections and fines.
The Bucs are monitoring the progress of three starters — DL Calijah Kancey (calf), RT Luke Goedeke (concussion) and S Antoine Winfield Jr. (foot) — who have missed significant playing time. Kancey has yet to play this season but was expected to start Sunday after practicing all week. Goedeke also practiced and was questionable after being inactive the past four games. Winfield, injured during the closing minutes of the season opener, was limited in practice and was listed as questionable. C Graham Barton (hamstring) is out. ... QB Derek Carr (oblique) was ruled out early in the week and will be replaced by rookie Spencer Rattler. ... TE Taysom Hill (ribs), RG Cesar Ruiz (knee), G Lucas Patrick (chest), S Will Harris (hamstring) and LB Pete Werner (hamstring) all missed multiple practices this week.
The Bucs have won three of the past four meetings. The Saints are 21-11 at home against Tampa Bay. The margin of victory has been seven points or fewer in 34 meetings.
The Bucs have won three straight NFC South titles coming on the heels of the Saints winning four in a row. Tampa Bay has held at least a share of first place in the division for 48 of the past 56 regular-season weeks going back to Week 4 of the 2021 season. … QB Baker Mayfield’s passer rating of 112.2 ranks third in the NFL. He’s tied with Sam Darnold for second with 11 TD passes (one behind Joe Burrow) and 10th in passing yards with 1,164. … Mayfield is coming off throwing for 180 yards and three TDs without an interception in last week’s loss at Atlanta. … In two games against the Saints last year, Mayfield passed for 555 yards and five TDs. … Evans, who has 99 TD catches, is tied for the league lead with five this season. He had two last week, his 22nd game with two or more TD receptions. Only six players — Jerry Rice (44), Randy Moss (36), Terrell Owens (32) Cris Carter (29), Marvin Harrison (29) and Davante Adams (23) — have done it more times. … Rookie Bucky Irving is Tampa Bay’s leading rusher with 247 yards and one TD. … DL Logan Hall has a team-leading three sacks, matching his total for the past two seasons combined. … Kamara is tied for second in the NFL with 602 scrimmage yards this season and leads all running backs with 23 catches this season. ... WR Chris Olave had just two catches for 10 yards last week, his only game in the past four with fewer than 80 yards receiving. ... WR Rashid Shaheed led New Orleans with 86 yards receiving last week, including a 43-yard TD catch, his third this season of at least that length. ... DE Chase Young had his 18th career sack last week. ... DT Bryan Bresee has four sacks in his past four games. ... DT Khalen Saunders made his first career interception last week. ... CB Alontae Taylor had two tackles for loss and his second forced fumble of the season last week. He is the only player with at least four tackles for loss and four passes defensed this season.
Evans hasn't always performed poorly against Lattimore, but has been shut down in that matchup several times in the past. If there was ever a week to sit Evans in favor of another receiver, this could be it. Meanwhile, if there's a chance to pick up Bucs kicker Chase McLaughlin, take it. The Saints' defense has the best red zone percentage in the league, allowing touchdowns on just 25% of opponent trips inside the 20, often forcing field goals in the process.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) runs way from Atlanta Falcons cornerback Antonio Hamilton Sr. (33) during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
New Orleans Saints tight end Foster Moreau (87) celebrates after scoring during the second half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans (13) celebrates with quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) after scoring against the Atlanta Falcons during the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
New Orleans Saints Rashid Shaheed, left, is congratulated by wide receiver Chris Olave after scoring during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The concern has been there all along, but now it's being talked about openly: Are some men reluctant to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris because she’s a woman?
The vice president rarely references her gender on the campaign trail, but her key supporters are starting to make more direct appeals to male voters, hoping to overcome ingrained sexism — or just plain apathy — as Election Day looms.
Former President Barack Obama said he was speaking to Black men in particular when he suggested some “aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” Actor Ed O'Neill implores in a new ad, “Be a man: Vote for a woman.” And Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is helping lead “ Hombres con Harris ” — “Men with Harris” — to help energize Hispanic male voters.
“I think, in many ways, it's other people who need to be the messenger,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. She added of appeals to men by the vice president, “I don't think she can get up and say, ”Shame on you."'
"It's sad, but I think she needs these outside validators," Walsh said.
The clearest example is Obama who, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, stopped by a Harris campaign field office to “speak some truths," especially for some Black male voters who aren't enthusiastic about supporting the vice president.
“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that," he said, adding: “You’re thinking about sitting out, or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable."
Keith Edmondson, a 63-year-old retiree from the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert who is Black and attended a Harris rally in Arizona on Thursday night, said he’s worried about whether young Black men will turn out for Harris. He said he’s trying to convince his three grandsons to vote for Harris even though their father, who is Edmondson’s son, is a supporter of the vice president's opponent, Republican Donald Trump.
“There are more Black folks supporting Donald Trump than I thought,” he said, blaming what he called misinformation surrounding Harris’ background as a former prosecutor.
Trump has a long pattern of disparaging women. At a rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, this week, Trump reacted to Harris’ appearance on ABC’s “The View,” by saying, “People are realizing she’s a dumb person. And we can’t have another dumb president.” He also criticized on his social media site “the dumb women” who host the ABC program.
Next week, Trump is set to participate in a Fox News Channel town hall focusing on issues impacting women. But he has more often prioritized doing interviews with podcasts that are popular with younger men. The former president also entered the Republican convention this summer to the sounds of James Brown's “It's a Man's World” and the proceedings were built around promoting masculine themes, including featuring personalities from the wrestling world.
The Lincoln Project, a Republican group that opposes Trump and often produces ads meant to irk him, produced an online spot voiced by O’Neill, of “Modern Family” fame, that urges men, when it comes to Harris to “let her lead," before concluding: “Be a man, vote for a woman.”
His message was far more direct than Harris often is. Despite making history as the first woman of color to lead a major party’s presidential ticket, she hasn't publicly embraced the trailblazing nature of her candidacy like Hillary Clinton did in 2016.
Instead, she used this summer's Democratic convention to lean heavily into her experience as a prosecutor and promise that the U.S. has “the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”
“She is speaking, in those moments, to the people that may well not be comfortable, or trusting, that a woman can lead at this highest level,” Walsh said.
In 2020, women made up a bigger share of the electorate than men. According to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of that cycle’s voters, 53% of voters were women and 47% were men. And in that election, men were more likely to support Trump, while women voters were more likely to support Biden.
Polling suggests that electing a woman president isn't a top priority for men or women, but men in particular don't see it as important.
A Pew Research Center poll released last year asked Americans how important it is that a woman be elected president in their lifetime, and found that only 18% of U.S. adults said this is extremely or very important to them. Some 64% said it is not too important or not at all so, or that the president’s gender doesn’t matter.
The same poll showed that 73% of men and 57% of women said the issue was not too important, not at all important or that the president’s gender doesn’t matter.
Among some key demographics, Harris’ support from men doesn't keep up with levels among women. A majority of Hispanic women have a positive opinion of Harris and a negative view of Trump, but Hispanic men are more divided on both candidates, according to a poll released Friday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The Harris campaign rejects the notion that Harris herself can’t deliver a winning message to male voters. Instead, it argues, she is working to reach them personally and also complementing efforts by top male supporters and campaign advertising pushes aimed at things like top sporting events.
Rather than simply appealing to masculinity, the campaign says, it is presenting arguments that can appeal to men built around key issues, like the economy.
Harris is on the digital cover of the latest issue of “Vogue” and recently taped an interview with the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, which is most popular with younger women. But she's also sitting next week for a town hall hosted by popular radio personality Charlamagne tha God.
Senior Harris campaign officials nonetheless admit to being worried about Trump’s support among men — including white, Hispanic and Black Americans. They note Trump’s brash appeals to “bro” culture have resonated with some, especially young voters — and made some would-be voters more likely to support Trump or sit out the election.
In response, aides have also urged the vice president to explicitly mention cryptocurrency in her speeches and interviews, knowing its salience among men. Trump has a crypto venture with his family, though he differs from Harris in believing that it should be more lightly regulated than she does. The Harris campaign is also expected to launch an aggressive effort to have the vice president and Walz appear in male-skewing media in the race’s closing weeks.
Walz has already done some of that, helping launch the “Hombres” group in Arizona and having one of his rallies there livestreamed via Twitch as a streamer on the site played “World of Warcraft” and offered commentary on the event — a forum popular with younger, largely male gamers.
Harris' running mate is also attending a Friday football game in Mankato, Minnesota, where he once was an assistant coach, and plans a hunting outing this weekend.
During a “White Dudes for Harris” fundraising call this summer, Walz said this about the prospect of defeating Trump: “How often in the world do you make that bastard wake up afterward and know that a Black woman kicked his ass?”
Associated Press writers Anna Johnson in Chandler, Arizona, and Josh Boak and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally supporting Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, at the University of Pittsburgh's Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
