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This is the time of year when you hear a lot about offseason workouts. This is when teams can begin conditioning drills and get out onto the field to start working on football and that continues through minicamps and organized team activities.

It’s a great time to build chemistry. You’ll also hear a lot of coaches bragging about how almost all their players are participating in the workouts, which is great. But, in some cases, there’s a lot of money to be earned just for showing up and working out in the offseason.

I just got a look at all the offseason workout bonuses scheduled to be earned (if the players take part in a majority of the workouts) by NFC South players this year and there were some eye openers. Tampa Bay general manager Mark Dominik doesn’t use a lot of workout bonuses in the contracts he negotiates. But, when he does use them, they’re significant. Tight end Kellen Winslow and cornerback Eric Wright have the largest workout bonuses in the division for 2012 at $500,000 each. Offensive tackle Donald Penn is right behind them at $400,000 and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is scheduled to collect $300,000. Linebacker Quincy Black has a $250,000 bonus and defensive tackle Amobi Okoye is slated to make $200,000. Those six are the only Buccaneers with workout bonuses this year, but they come to a total of $2.15 million.

Carolina general manager Marty Hurney and New Orleans general manager Mickey Loomis are much more liberal in their use of workout bonuses. The Saints and Panthers each have 21 players scheduled to earn workout bonuses this year.

Carolina’s scheduled workout bonuses add up to $2.055 million. I won’t list anyone under six figures. But here are the guys who can earn big money. Charles Johnson, Jon Beason, DeAngelo Williams, Ryan Kalil and Ron Edwards each are scheduled to make $250,000. Charles Godfrey, James Anderson, Olindo Mare and Garry Williams each can earn $100,000.

If all the New Orleans players take part in enough workouts, the Saints will have to pay out $2.381 million. Sedrick Ellis leads the Saints with a $250,000 workout bonus. Jahri Evans, Lance Moore and Scott Shanle each are scheduled to make $200,000 and Will Smith is slated to make $150,000. Marques Colston, Roman Harper, Jabari Greer, Jermon Bushrod, Jonathan Vilma, Malcolm Jenkins, Devery Henderson, Pierre Thomas, David Thomas, Korey Hall and Will Herring each are scheduled to make $100,000.

Apparently, Atlanta’s Thomas Dimitroff, who probably works out more (he rides a bike religiously) than any NFC South general manager, doesn’t believe in workout bonuses. Dimitroff has used them very sparingly in the past. This year, there’s not a single Atlanta player schedule to earn a workout bonus.

After ending last season on a 10-game losing streak, no team needed more out of the NFL draft than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

On the surface, it looks like they got at least three starters in safety Mark Barron, running back Doug Martin and linebacker Lavonte David. Add them to key free-agent pickups Carl Nicks, Eric Wright and Vincent Jackson and Tampa Bay should have a very different look come September. Let’s take a look at what I suspect at the moment will be Tampa Bay’s starting lineup.

OFFENSE

• QB Josh Freeman

• RB Doug Martin (LeGarrette Blount will get some carries, but Martin’s an all-purpose back)

• FB Erik Lorig

• WR Vincent Jackson

• WR Mike Williams (he may have to beat out Arrelious Benn for the starting job)

• TE Kellen Winslow

• LT Donald Penn

• LG Carl Nicks

• C Jeremy Zuttah

• RG Davin Joseph

• RT Jeremy Trueblood

DEFENSE

• DE Adrian Clayborn

• DT Gerald McCoy

• DT Brian Price (Amobi Okoye will factor heavily in rotation and could start if injury woes continue for McCoy and Price)

• DE Michael Bennett (might have to beat out second-year pro Da’Quan Bowers in training camp)

• OLB Lavonte David

• MLB Mason Foster

• OLB Quincy Black

• CB Ronde Barber (if he doesn’t switch to safety)

• CB Eric Wright (Aqib Talib could factor in, but his future is uncertain)

• FS Cody Grimm

• SS Mark Barron

SPECIALISTS

• K Connor Barth

• P Michael Koenen

• KR Preston Parker (rookie Michael Smith also could factor into return game)

• PR Sammie Stroughter

As we wait for the NFL draft to resume at noon ET, let's take a run through some headlines from around the NFC South.

— Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano said he believes Nebraska’s Lavonte David can play any of the three linebacker positions. But Schiano admitted he plans to use David on the outside. Go ahead and pencil him as the starter at one outside position because the Bucs didn’t trade back into the second round to have David spend his rookie season on the bench. His arrival probably means second-year pro Mason Foster will stay in the middle and Quincy Black, Adam Hayward and the rest of the linebackers on the roster will compete for the other starting job on the outside.

— Boise State running back Doug Martin, who the Bucs traded back into the first round to get, has a great nickname. His college teammates dubbed him "The Muscle Hamster." It’s pretty simple -- Martin is short, but muscular and he’s going to be running a lot. I like what the Bucs are doing. They’re adding character guys with personality. That’s great because this franchise really hasn’t had much personality in recent years.

— Defensive tackle Akiem Hicks talks about the long, strange journey that took him from a junior college in California to a brief stay at LSU to two years of playing in Canadia and back to Louisiana as the Saints draft him in the third round.

— Although he grew up in the heart of Green Bay Packers territory, Wisconsin center Peter Konz made a confession Friday night. He’s always been a fan of the Atlanta Falcons. That’s a plus because the Falcons drafted him in the second round Friday night.

— Scott Fowler writes that the Panthers need to add some defensive players in what remains of the draft. They did get linebacker Luke Kuechly in the first round, but they went with offensive lineman Amini Silatolu in the second round. Although some experts say Silatolu will take time to develop, the Panthers say he’ll have a chance to compete for a starting guard job this year. Fine, he may turn out to be something good, but the Panthers still need more depth on defense and they need to address that throughout the rest of the draft.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Greg Schiano has seen his team on the field for all of three minicamp practices and he hasn’t settled on a plan on how to sort out his linebackers. At least not just yet.

The Buccaneers went through the three-day minicamp with Mason Foster working as the first-team middle linebacker, Quincy Black on the weak side and Adam Hayward on the strong side. But Schiano said that doesn’t mean the Bucs will open the season that way.

‘It’s not enough to get guys on the bus,’’ Schiano said Thursday. ‘You’ve got to get them in the right seat.’’

Schiano said he and his staff will sit down soon to discuss the situation at linebacker, and next week’s draft also could factor into whatever direction the Bucs decide to go. Foster played the middle last season, but Schiano said he might consider moving Foster outside. Black played the strong side last year, but got an audition on the weak side.

Schiano said he may go back and watch more of Foster’s college tape to watch him play the outside before making a decision. But it’s not going to be too long before the Bucs come up with their plan.

“We can’t screw around too long,’’ Schiano said.

There has been a lot of talk that the Buccaneers could look to overhaul their linebacker corps in free agency and the draft.

That makes sense because Geno Hayes is a free agent, Quincy Black didn’t have a great season in 2011 and the new coaching staff has implied Mason Foster may move to the outside after spending his rookie season in the middle.

We’ll find out soon enough if the Bucs are going to do anything at linebacker in free agency. But we already know one guy they’re looking at in the draft. That’s TCU’s Tank Carder.

According to a league source, Carder will have an official visit with the Bucs the first week of April. I always say not to read too much into which teams interview or visit with draft prospects and that remains true. Lots of teams do lots of interviews and visits with lots of prospects. But we know Carder is at least on the Bucs’ radar and he plays a position where the team could be making some moves.

Most scouts view Carder as an outside linebacker. He’s viewed as a mid- or late-round prospect. Carder was the Defensive Most Valuable Player in the 2011 Rose Bowl. He also comes from an interesting background. Carder was a BMX champion racer as a child and overcame a broken back suffered in a car accident after being told the only way he could play football would be as a kicker.

We’ve been talking about needs for the four NFC South teams this offseason and we’re about to do it again. Let’s turn to this Insider post by Gary Horton.

He lists three needs for each team and I’m picking one of those for each team to discuss here.

— For the Falcons, Horton lists the offensive line as the top need. No argument here. The Falcons have to get better up front if they’re going to truly have the kind of explosive offense they like to talk about. Horton speculates the Falcons could go after guard Carl Nicks as a free agent or sign tackle Marcus McNeill if he is released, as expected by the Chargers. I’m not totally ruling out the Falcons pursuing Nicks. He’s the best guard in the game and taking him away from New Orleans would weaken a division opponent. But I don’t know if the Falcons can afford to spend so much money on a guard when their biggest weakness is at left tackle.

— Horton lists wide receiver as Carolina’s top need. I’d put defensive tackle and outside linebacker ahead of receiver, but I see his point. There’s a school of thought the Panthers should go get another top receiver to pair with Steve Smith. I can see the Panthers adding a receiver, but not in the early rounds of the draft and not an expensive free agent. All indications I’ve been getting are that the Panthers are happy with the progress of Brandon LaFell and are expecting David Gettis back from an injury.

— For the Saints, Horton has outside linebacker at the top of the list and I couldn’t agree more. Scott Shanle is aging and the Saints never found a solid replacement for Scott Fujita. They have high hopes for Martez Wilson, but I think they’ll add another linebacker in the draft or free agency.

— Horton also has outside linebacker on Tampa Bay’s list. That’s a definite area of need. Geno Hayes and Quincy Black didn’t step up last season. The team played rookie Mason Foster in the middle and that could have had a negative impact on the outside linebackers. But the Bucs have to upgrade this position.

Atlanta linebackers Curtis Lofton and Sean Weatherspoon almost never left the field during the 2011 season.

According to playing-time numbers obtained by ESPN.com, Lofton participated in 986 of Atlanta’s 996 defensive plays (99 percent). Weatherspoon was right behind him, taking part in 976 plays (97.9 percent). Those two and Carolina’s James Anderson (97.3 percent) easily outdistanced the rest of the NFC South linebackers in playing time.

In fact, only Cleveland’s D'Qwell Jackson, St. Louis' James Laurinaitis, Chicago’s Lance Briggs and Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan, who each played all of their team’s defensive snaps, and Minnesota’s Chad Greenway (99.3 percent) participated in a higher percentage of plays than Lofton, Weatherspoon and Anderson.

Here’s a list at the rest of the leading NFC South linebackers in percentage of playing time:

• Mason Foster, Buccaneers, 82.5
• Scott Shanle, Saints, 77
• Geno Hayes, Buccaneers, 69.1
• Jo-Lonn Dunbar, Saints, 68.7
• Quincy Black, Buccaneers, 62.9
• Jonathan Vilma, Saints, 60.2
• Jonathan Casillas, Saints, 51.4
• Dan Connor, Panthers, 46
• Jordan Senn, Panthers, 38.9

Time to take a look at the NFC South players that are scheduled to have the highest 2012 salary-cap figures.

Let’s be clear, these numbers are not what the players will actually make in 2012. These numbers simply reflect what they’ll count against the salary cap. And let’s also be clear that this list isn’t quite complete. You can bet Drew Brees will be on here once the quarterback signs a new deal with the New Orleans Saints. There also are some guys that probably will be cut or have their contracts restructured before the start of the year. Tampa Bay defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth is a perfect example of that.

He’s scheduled to count $7.2 million. The Bucs can release him without any salary-cap hit. It’s a similar situation for Carolina linebacker Thomas Davis, who is scheduled to count $5.9 million. Davis is coming off his third torn ACL in two years and is due a big bonus in March. I seriously doubt he’ll get to collect that bonus.

Anyway, as it stands right now, Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan is the easy winner for the NFC South’s highest cap figure. He’s scheduled to count $13.5 million toward the cap ($11.5 million in base salary and another $2 million in prorated bonus money). Aside from Ryan, 30 other NFC South players are scheduled to count more than $5 million toward the salary cap. Let’s take a look:

• Jordan Gross, Panthers, $11.5 million

• Charles Johnson, Panthers, $11 million

• Steve Smith, Panthers, $10.7 million

• Will Smith, Saints, $10.15 million

• Chris Gamble, Panthers, $9.75 million

• Davin Joseph, Buccaneers, $9.5 million

• Gerald McCoy, Buccaneers, $9.44 million

• DeAngelo Williams, Panthers, $8.7 million

• Josh Freeman, Buccaneers, $8.545 million

• Roddy White, Falcons, $8.03 million

• Jonathan Vilma, Saints, $7.63 million

• Travelle Wharton, Panthers, $7.6 million

• Sedrick Ellis, Saints, $7.6 million

• Albert Haynesworth, Buccaneers, $7.2 million

• Dunta Robinson, Falcons, $7 million

• Jermon Bushrod, Saints, $6.9 million

• Donald Penn, Buccaneers, $6.43 million

• Roman Harper, Saints, $6.35 million

• Jabari Greer, Saints, $6.25 million

• Jeff Faine, Buccaneers, $5.925 million

• Tony Gonzalez, Falcons, $5.92 million

• Thomas Davis, Panthers, $5.9 million

• Quincy Black, Buccaneers, $5.75 million

• Jon Beason, Panthers, $5.5 million

• Ryan Kalil, Panthers, $5.35 million

• Justin Blalock, Falcons, $5.3 million

• Jeremy Trueblood, Buccaneers, $5.25 million

• Jahri Evans, Saints, $5.2 million

• Cam Newton $5.01 million

ATLANTA -- Raheem Morris has his schedule all set for Monday.

“There will be a 10 o’clock meeting,’’ the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers said. “There’ll be another 11 o’clock one. We’ll have a 12 o’clock press conference and I’ll see you there. I’ll go to the Outback Bowl in the afternoon. I’ll come back and do a radio show and be ready to deal and be ready for this offseason and be ready to attack it.’’

Sounds good, but other than the Outback Bowl, everything else on the itinerary could get disrupted. By 10 a.m. Monday, Morris might not even be the coach of the Buccaneers. His fate is in the hands of the Glazer family, which owns the Bucs. The Glazers have a reputation for moving slowly and deliberately, which means Morris still might be employed Tuesday or Wednesday. (UPDATE: Morris was canned Monday morning.)

But it’s hard to imagine him lasting much longer than that.

That’s what happens when you go out and basically lose like the Bucs did on Sunday — 45-24 to the Atlanta Falcons — 10 times in a row. When you start a season 4-2 and are in first place in the NFC South and then you go to London and never win (or really even come close) again, there are bound to be questions about your employment.

“If I was in the business of worrying about my future, I wouldn’t be coaching,’’ Morris said. “I’m going to go to work tomorrow, until they tell (me) to stop. This is not the time to talk about that type of stuff. That’s for mental midgets. For us, we’ve got to go out and play football and do what we’ve got to do.’’

The Glazers just might tell Morris to stop. It’s not what they want to do. The Glazers thought they were anointing the next great coach when they replaced Jon Gruden with Morris. The Glazers like Morris, who is a genuinely nice guy.

But what the Glazers want to do and what they need to do look like two different things.

How can they possibly bring Morris back?

In his third season, the third year of a youth movement, the Bucs took a major step back. The collapse was epic — and we’re talking about a franchise that was epically bad for most of its first three decades of existence. A season after going 10-6 with the league’s youngest roster, the Bucs finished 4-12, which was good for last place in the NFC South.

And it just kept getting worse. Over the past five games, the Bucs allowed an average of 40.6 points a game. They weren’t even in any of those games for long. That was especially true Sunday in Atlanta, where the Falcons jumped out to a 42-0 second-quarter lead and pulled quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner to rest them for the playoffs.

“I admire the moxie, guys coming out there in the second half,’’ Morris said.

Yep, the Bucs held an offense led by backup quarterback Chris Redman to a field goal in the second half and they did score 17 (meaningless) points in the third and fourth quarters. If New Orleans coach Sean Payton, who follows his own guide on running up the score, was coaching the Falcons on Sunday, Atlanta might have scored 100.

“To watch Elbert Mack go out there and give that kind of effort, that to me was outstanding,’’ Morris said.

Elbert Mack? Where did that come from? He’s a backup cornerback who was forced to play against Roddy White and Julio Jones after veteran starter Ronde Barber went out with an injury. But what about the other 52 guys? And what about the past 10 games?

If Morris sounds like a man who is desperately grabbing for anything positive, that’s only because that’s exactly what he is and his options are slim.

There was nothing positive at all about this season. The Bucs ended up allowing a franchise-record 494 points; the last time Tampa Bay lost 10 consecutive games in a season was 1977. That was the second year of an expansion franchise.

Virtually every player that was on the roster in 2010 regressed in 2011, with the possible exception of Mack.

Quarterback Josh Freeman threw three interceptions Sunday to finish the season with 22; he threw only six last season. Freeman’s the biggest example, but there are plenty of others. Running back LeGarrette Blount, receiver Mike Williams and linebacker Quincy Black were among the other notable underachievers.

When you’ve got a fan base that’s only sold out your stadium twice in the past two years, how can you not do something dramatic? You really have no choice but to fire Morris if you want to show your fans you care at all about the product.

The Glazers have been accused of many things, particularly of being frugal. They’ve had one of the league’s lowest payrolls in recent years, so there may be some truth to that. But the Glazers really do care about winning.

Aside from the fictional owner of the Cleveland Indians in the movie “Major League’’ and former Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse, has there ever been an owner in any pro sport that didn’t want to win? The Glazers also don’t like to be embarrassed.

There’s no denying this season was an embarrassment, and much of that falls on Morris. His team often looked ill-prepared and he questioned his team’s effort on three occasions. If a team’s not prepared and isn’t giving strong effort, that’s not a good reflection on the coach.

Besides, there’s also the fact that 2012 is the final season of Morris’ contract. There’s no way the Bucs could extend him without losing their remaining fans. If they let Morris go into a lame-duck season, they run the risk of the team getting even more out of control.

Morris was still talking about next season after Sunday’s game.

“We’re talking about rededicating yourself, getting back to the lab and coming out ready to work,’’ Morris said. “The only thing you’ve got now is to plan the offseason.’’

Umm, maybe not. Let’s wait a day or two and see who the Glazers say will be planning this offseason.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Back in the preseason, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were getting grilled about why they weren’t spending big money in free agency, team officials kept explaining the team’s philosophy of building through the draft.

It made sense because the young team was coming off a 10-6 season and the implication from team officials was that we’d see some significant contract extensions during the season as the team began locking up some of its core young players for the long term.

Well, that hasn’t happened. Other than adding a year to safety Tanard Jackson’s contract while they were in London in October and quietly signing backup Rudy Carpenter to a modest two-year deal when they elevated him from the practice squad, the Bucs haven’t added on to any contracts.

Can’t blame them for that. When a team is losing eight straight games, there obviously aren’t many guys showing they deserve extensions. Running back LeGarrette Blount and receiver Mike Williams, two guys who could have been up for early extensions, haven’t been as productive as they were last season. Plus, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to go signing players to extensions now when it’s uncertain if Raheem Morris will be coaching this team next season or a new coach with new schemes that could make some players irrelevant could be taking over.

With that in mind, let’s take a brief look ahead at Tampa Bay’s salary-cap situation for 2012. The Bucs currently have $92.873 million committed toward the cap. I’m seeing six other teams with less money committed toward the cap.

But you can pretty much go ahead and subtract $7.2 million from Tampa Bay’s figure. That’s the 2012 cap number for defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who basically was signed as a “rental" player after Gerald McCoy suffered a season-ending injury. There’s at least a chance Haynesworth could be back with the Bucs, but it won’t be at the $7.2 million figure because McCoy is expected back healthy and Haynesworth is aging and hasn’t shown any big flashes. The Bucs could cut Haynesworth and not have to endure any salary-cap implications.

There could be some extensions after the season, but they won’t come until after the Bucs have sorted out their coaching situation and reviewed film of this season to see who showed talent and effort, so there might not be a lot of candidates.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 salary-cap figures (reminder, these are cap figures, not actual salary) for 2012 for the Buccaneers:

• Davin Joseph, $9.5 million
• McCoy, $9.443 million
• Josh Freeman, $8.545 million
• Haynesworth, $7.2 million
• Donald Penn, $6.433
• Jeff Faine, $5.925 million
• Quincy Black, $5.75 million
• Jeremy Trueblood, $4.25 million
• Kellen Winslow, $4.144 million
• Michael Koenen, $3 million

TAMPA, Fla. – It’s too early to say for sure. But there might come a day when historians look back to find the precise time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers turned the corner. Sunday might end up being that day.

A team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since the 2007 season and is only slightly removed from a horrid 3-13 2009 season, did what didn’t seem possible as recently as a week ago. The Bucs pulled off their biggest win since Raheem Morris took over as head coach in 2009.

The defense created four turnovers, Earnest Graham stepped in at tailback and rushed for 109 yards, and Josh Freeman threw for 303 yards and two touchdowns as the Buccaneers defeated the New Orleans Saints 26-20 at Raymond James Stadium.

More importantly, Tampa Bay’s defense stood up to one of the NFL’s most frightening sights. That’s Drew Brees marching the New Orleans offense down the field in the final minutes of a game. That’s been the ruination of many a team and it looked like Brees was about to pull off another comeback win.

The Saints got the ball back with seven minutes and 19 seconds left. Ordinarily, that’s an eternity for Brees, who’s shown he’s capable of putting up two or three touchdowns in that amount of time.

“Nerve wracking,’’ Morris said.

Brees and the Saints started at their own 24-yard line and moved all the way down to Tampa Bay’s 4-yard line. With a fourth-and-2, Brees dropped back and his history prepared us for what should have happened next.

“The biggest challenge in the world is getting Drew Brees out there on fourth down and whatever,’’ Morris said.

What happened next is the play the historians might point to, the play that might end up turning the tide in an NFC South race that the Saints seemed poised to run away with. Brees threw to backup tight end John Gilmore. But linebacker Quincy Black stepped in to intercept the ball in the end zone with 3:16 left and effectively ended the game.

“That’s scary when Drew Brees is coming down the field,’’ Tampa Bay offensive tackle Donald Penn said. “I’m on the sideline and I’m like 'Oh man.' Drew Brees is one of the best quarterbacks in the league, especially with two minutes left. I was worried, but the defense came through.’’

The defense came through all day. That’s significant because Tampa Bay came up with three interceptions and recovered a fumble against one of the league’s top offenses. That’s significant because it came a week after Tampa Bay got thumped 48-3 by San Francisco.

“We left it there in San Francisco,’’ said Graham, who was filling in for the injured LeGarrette Blount.

What the Bucs found back home in Tampa Bay (before shipping off to London on Monday morning to play the Chicago Bears next Sunday) was a bigger win than they’ve had in several years. In a 10-6 season last year, the Bucs won a lot of games against mediocre teams. Even the biggest victory earlier this season, against Atlanta, wasn’t all that impressive because the Falcons have been up and down.

But Sunday was different. There’s no debating whether the Saints are a good team. There’s no arguing the Bucs played their most complete game since Morris has been around. Graham took care of the ground game, Freeman had his best game of the season and the defense was the story of the day.

“When our defense plays like that, there’s no one in the NFL that can beat us,’’ Penn said. “No one.’’

That may sound a little grandiose, but Penn just might be right. Tampa Bay’s two best defensive games this season have come against Atlanta and New Orleans. Those are division opponents and Tampa Bay’s defense is what could end up putting the Bucs ahead of the rest of the NFC South.

The victory put the Bucs at 4-2. That’s the same record as the Saints and Tampa Bay and New Orleans are one game ahead of Atlanta in the win column. The Bucs already have wins against the Saints and Falcons and they’re very much a player for the division title.

The Saints and Falcons each have had defensive problems. Tampa Bay’s defense is very young, but it’s showing strong signs it also is becoming very good.

You could make a case that Tampa Bay has the NFC South’s best defense. If that turns out to be the case through the rest of the season, the Bucs just might end up winning a division where Brees, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton can put up points, but none of their teams are doing much on defense.

The prospect of the Bucs winning the division isn’t that big of a stretch.

Last year’s motto from Morris was “The Race to 10.’’ The Bucs ended last season with 10 wins, but just missed out on the playoffs.

That’s why this year’s message is different. The Bucs aren’t shooting just for 10 wins. They’ve made it clear the NFC South title is their goal.

“That’s what we’ve said from the beginning,’’ Morris said.

If they keep playing like this, the Bucs might be standing atop the NFC South at the end.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Thoughts on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 26-20 victory against the New Orleans Saints at Raymond James Stadium:

What it means: The NFC South race is closer than anticipated. The Saints had a chance to run away with it if they could have collected a third straight road victory. They didn’t. Tampa Bay played its most complete game of the season and earned this one. The Bucs and Saints each are now 4-2, and the Falcons are only a game behind them in the win column.

Play of the day: Tampa Bay linebacker Quincy Black intercepted Drew Brees in the end zone with three minutes and 16 seconds left to seal the victory for Tampa Bay. It’s not often you see Brees not succeed when the game is on the line.

Bizarre scene of the day: With the exception of Joe Paterno, you don’t see many coaches getting hit on the sideline. But New Orleans’ Sean Payton took a big shot in the first quarter. After catching a pass, tight end Jimmy Graham was forced out of bounds and collided with Payton. The coach spent much of the rest of the first half sitting on a bench with his leg elevated. He appeared to still be calling plays. At halftime, the Saints announced that Payton had a torn MCL and a fractured tibia. The team also said Payton would coach the second half in an upstairs booth with some of his assistants.

Who needs practice? Not Tampa Bay safety Tanard Jackson. He was reinstated Tuesday after being suspended for 56 weeks for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He practiced Wednesday and Thursday, went through Friday’s light walk-through and got the start Sunday. Jackson intercepted a tipped Brees pass in the second quarter to give Tampa Bay’s offense good field position. Three plays later, the Bucs scored a touchdown to take a 20-7 lead.

What’s next: The Bucs play a “home’’ game with the Chicago Bears next Sunday at London’s Wembley Stadium. The Bucs will fly out Monday morning and spend the week practicing near London. The Saints host the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday night at the Superdome.

Let’s take a look at the latest news on the NFC South’s most significant injuries.

Carolina added Charles Johnson to the injury report Thursday. He did not practice and the Panthers listed him with a hip injury. Right tackle Jeff Otah (back) and linebacker Omar Gaither (knee) did not practice.

Atlanta defensive end John Abraham (groin) missed his second straight day of practice. Cornerback Christopher Owens (concussion) and guard Garrett Reynolds (ankle) also missed practice.

Tampa Bay defensive tackle Gerald McCoy (ankle) and running back LeGarrette Blount (knee) each missed their second straight day of practice and it’s looking as if they will miss Sunday’s game with New Orleans. Earnest Graham would fill in for Blount and the Bucs likely would rotate Frank Okam and Da’Quan Bowers in McCoy’s place. Middle linebacker Mason Foster (ankle) also missed his second straight day of practice. If Foster can’t play, Adam Hayward likely would take his spot. Outside linebacker Quincy Black (ankle) returned to full practice after being limited Wednesday.

The Saints are getting a bit healthier. Receiver Devery Henderson (calf) participated fully after sitting out Wednesday. Linebacker Jonathan Vilma (knee) also participated fully after being limited Wednesday. Right tackle Zach Strief (knee) and linebacker Will Herring (hamstring) continued to miss practice.

Time for a Saturday morning look at the top headlines from around the NFC South.

Chicago safety Brandon Merriweather was fined $20,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Carolina receiver Steve Smith last Sunday.

The Panthers are likely to use a new kickoff returner Sunday. Coach Ron Rivera said either Jordan Pugh or Kealoha Pilares will replace Mike Goodson.

The Buccaneers are ready to start Dekoda Watson if outside linebacker Quincy Black can’t play due to an ankle injury.

New Orleans left tackle Jermon Bushrod says Carolina has some good defensive ends.

The Falcons don’t want to see “The Belt’’ celebration from Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

The final injury reports are out, so let's take a look at the most important injuries around the division.

The Atlanta Falcons declared center Todd McClure (knee) out for Sunday, after he missed his third straight day of practice. That likely means Joe Hawley will return to the starting lineup. Defensive end John Abraham (hip) and defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux (knee) are listed as questionable. Both practiced on a limited basis.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers declared tight end Luke Stocker out with a knee injury. Linebacker Quincy Black (ankle) is questionable.

Carolina tight end Jeremy Shockey (concussion) should be able to play against his former team, the Saints. Shockey is listed as probable. Guard Geoff Hangartner (back) and tackle Jeff Otah (back) also are listed as probable.

The Saints have declared tight end David Thomas (concussion) and tackle Zach Strief (knee) out for Sunday. Receiver Devery Henderson (calf), linebacker Will Herring (hamstring) and center Olin Kreutz all are questionable after practicing on a limited basis.