Buccaneers Cornerback Zyon McCollum: "Bowles Put Together a Great Game Plan"

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers walked into the Caesar Superdome on Sunday afternoon against the New Orleans Saints expecting a dogfight for the top spot in the NFC South and were able to come away with a convincing 26-9 victory.

Following the win, Buccaneers' cornerback Zyon McCollum spoke with the media about how much the momentum means heading into the bye week being 3-1.

 "It's everything, really. The confidence, the buzz around the locker room. I know the coaches feel it, too. Bowles put together a great game plan and we're happy going into this bye."

The Buccaneers' offense has played well above what they were expected to coming into the season, but it is the work on the defensive side of the ball that is ultimately winning games for the Bucs so far this season despite the numerous amount of injuries that have piled up in the secondary.

VIDEO: Buccaneers' QB Baker Mayfield Suffers Nasty Late Hit From Saints

The Buccaneers' defense has only allowed one team to eclipse 20 points in a game thus far through four games and on Sunday did not allow a single touchdown to the Saints as they were only able to muster three field goals in the contest. Some of the top players on the day were Antoine Winfield Jr. who came away with a huge forced fumble and fumble recovery along with DL Vita Vea who came away with two sacks on the day - bringing his total on the year to 3.5 sacks.

Head coach Todd Bowles' mantra this season seems to be a "bend don't break" mentality and it shows.

The Buccaneers haven't been great on third downs this season giving up a first down 47% of the time, ranking in the bottom quarter of the league, but have amped things up when it comes to their defense in the red zone ranking second in the league only giving up touchdowns on 27% of trips inside the red zone.

The Bucs' play in the red zone is something that was much needed as they were one of the worst teams at stopping teams from scoring in 2022. Another large part of the team's success comes from the ability to create turnovers and the Bucs' defense has done just that as they are +7 in the turnover battle (second only to the Dallas Cowboys).

If the Buccaneers can keep up this type of play on both sides of the ball the sky's the limit and that momentum they are carrying into the bye week should continue to roll on throughout the season.

You can follow Caleb on Twitter @chsnole