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Saints 42, Buccaneers 17

Saints homed in on playoff spot

Drew Brees headed downfield while being chased by Buccaneers defensive end William Gholston.Crystal LoGiudice/USA Today Sports
Saints42
Buccaneers17

NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees couldn’t quite suppress a smirk as he deadpanned the Saints’ prescription for playing better on the road, which is where they’ll be for the playoffs.

‘‘There’s three main things we need to do,’’ Brees began. ‘‘We’re going to change up the Gatorade flavor, we feel good about that. We’re going to change our travel sweats. We’re going to change, at the hotel, the beefy mac [and cheese] recipe the night before, just kind of give it a little extra kick. We feel like those three things are going to help pull us through.’’

The Saints open the playoffs next Saturday night in Philadelphia, facing the NFC East champion Eagles, who beat the Cowboys, 24-22, Sunday night.

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For one last time this season, Brees and the Saints proved how tough they are to beat in the Big Easy, clinching a wild-card spot with a 42-17 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Brees was his usual self, passing for four TDs and even running for a score as New Orleans (11-5) concluded the regular season 8-0 at home.

But the Saints went 3-5 on the road this season, and they had little time to celebrate before fielding questions about what they can do to change their fortunes on the road.

‘‘We’re going to be told all week long that we can’t win on the road,’’ right tackle Zach Strief said. ‘‘We all acknowledge why people say that, and yet, the other games don’t matter — not anymore.’’

If the Saints can indeed summon Superdome-like performances in the coming weeks, they’ll be a dangerous No. 6 seed.

Three of Brees’s scoring strikes against Tampa Bay went longer than 40 yards — 76 to Kenny Stills, 44 to Lance Moore, and 41 to Robert Meachem. Brees passed for 381 yards to finish the season with 5,162 yards to go with 39 TDs.

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Mike Glennon passed for 219 yards and two TDs for Tampa Bay (4-12). With doubts swirling about the future of second-year coach Greg Schiano, Tampa Bay closed with losses in its last three games, and four of its last five.

The Saints had lost three of four games to set up a season finale they needed to win to assure themselves of a playoff spot. They got back to the postseason for the fourth time in five seasons after missing out in 2012.

Schiano, meanwhile, coached like he had nothing to lose, trying a fake field goal, which failed, and going for it three times on fourth down, converting once.

Asked about his future, Schiano said: ‘‘I don’t think I have to say anything. That’s not being smug. I come in and do my job the best that I can.’’