The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued on their winning ways, with a 23-3 win over the New Orleans Saints to move to 6-2 and head into their bye week in a good mood.

It was a defensive masterclass from Todd Bowles’ unit, keeping the Saints to just three points, while also forcing two fumbles and two interceptions to complete the rout.

Having been banged up with injuries on both sides of the ball, the Buccaneers have continued to fight, and now they will get a much-needed breather.

And Bowles knows what having the bye week now means for his team.

“Oh, it will be huge,” Bowles said. “It’s halfway through the season, we need it more than anybody. Credit those guys for fighting week in and week out, and people stepping up and people moving to different positions and helping us win, which you have to do in order to be a good team. So, we’ve done that in the first half.

“We got to rest up, and it’s going to be a hell of a second half. So, we got to get ready for it.”

More: Rachaad White injury update: Latest news on Bucs RB’s status in Week 7 game

Buccaneers aiming to get healthy during bye week

While Mike Evans is out until at least December, there might be a thought that both Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving, two big offensive weapons for Baker Mayfield, might be in position to return after the bye.

Granted, that might be wishful thinking, and the offensive skill group of Cade Otton, Tez Johnson, Sterling Shepard, Rachaad White, and Emeka Egbuka has all stepped up over the past couple of weeks, but getting Godwin and Irving back will give this unit serious juice.

Now comes a chance to reset, rest the body, and hopefully get reinforcements to give the Buccaneers a push towards the second half of the year.

At 6-2, Tampa Bay is in a good spot, and much like last season, it will hope the bye week will be the catalyst for what will be a second-half surge that powers the team into the postseason.

More Buccaneers news: