With the New Orleans Saints playoff hopes on the fringe with 4 games left, a road victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday would help in a big way.

Will they have enough healthy players to do it?

New Orleans will already be without head coach Sean Payton, who tested positive for COVID-19.

While the Saints have dealt with a loss of significant players this season due to injury (Michael Thomas, Jameis Winston, Wil Lutz, and others), in last week's win over the New York Jets, the return of All-Pro running back Alvin Kamara was a big difference-maker.

And while the team is still lacking legitimate threats at wide receiver, especially with Deonte Harris currently in the middle of his three-game league-mandated suspension, a healthy stable of running backs could go a long way to the Saints stealing a win at Tampa.

But what the running backs could use is great blocking against Tampa Bay's vaunted run defense. New Orleans will be shorthanded in that department.

The Saints have been missing All-Pro right tackle Ryan Ramczyk from the offense for the last month, and he still isn't able to get on the practice field due to knee injury. He is officially listed as OUT again this week.

All-Pro left tackle Terron Armstead played last Sunday, and has practiced sparingly over the last month, was also listed as DNP on today's report, and has an official status of  OUT for Sunday.

So in addition to not having their head coach, New Orleans will be without their All-Pros bookending the offensive line. They also have other players listed as either OUT or questionable.

Tampa Bay only lists cornerback Jamel Dean as out, Richard Sherman as doubtful, and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and running back Leonard Fournette as questionable.

LP - limited participant          FP - full participant        DNP - did not participate/practice

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

PositionNameInjuryWednesdayThursdayFridayGame Status
TRyan RamczykKneeDNPDNPDNPOut
TTerron ArmsteadKneeDNPDNPDNPOut
LBKaden EllissHamstringDNPDNPDNPQuestionable
TEGarrett GriffinHamstringDNPDNPDNPOut
WRLil'Jordan HumphreyHamstringDNPLPLPQuestionable
LBPete WernerElbowLPLPFP
SChauncey Gardner-JohnsonToeLPFPFP
DEMarcus DavenportShoulderLPLPLP
QBTaysom HillRight FingerFPFPFP

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

PositionNameInjuryWednesdayThursdayFridayGame Status
CBJamel DeanIllnessDNPDNPDNPOut
RBLeonard FournetteAnkleDNPDNPLPQuestionable
CBRichard ShermanAchillesDNPDNPDNPDoubtful
SAntoine WinfieldFootDNPDNPDNPQuestionable
SJordan WhiteheadCalfLPLPFPQuestionable
OLBJason Pierre-PaulShoulderFPFPDNP
PBradley PinionRight HipFPFPFP
QBTom BradyNIR-RestDNPFP
TERob GronkowskiNIR-RestDNP
DTNdamukong SuhNIR-RestDNP

Tampa Bay (10-3) is currently scheduled to host New Orleans (6-7) this Sunday night, and are currently an 11 point betting favorite.

Listen to the game locally on ESPN Lafayette and 97.3 The Dawg.

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