They need to win one more game. Two absolutely seals it.
Dude's fishing ... no way can
MLBrandow logically convince others that the Saints will drop four straight. That's what would pretty much have to happen for the Saints to miss the playoffs.And ... newsflash -- Haslett, Venturi, and Aaron Brooks are long gone. There's no "bad history" mumbo-jumbo to invoke here. The Brees-and-Payton-led Saints have no history of December chokes. 2002 doesn't matter at all.
Maybe, but I expect CAR to win out.I expect NO to drop at least two of its next three.
So, it will come down to the Week 17 showdown for the division.
That said, I expect CAR to win that game and the division.
NO, at 8-8 misses the playoffs, and NO at 9-7 defaults to a 6 seed, pending none of the current 6-6 or 5-7 teams wins out.
NO needs its defense to play more consistently. Through the last six weeks, three games they have held opponents under 15 points, and three games opponents have racked up over 30.
Those three losses were against real teams, and the three wins were against inconsistent and struggling offenses.
DAL, WAS, NYG and CAR all have offenses that are coming alive right now, and it's not unreasonable to expect that these games will develop into 50+ point affairs.
We shall see though, but I remain skeptical until NO can prove to me it has a defense that will consistently perform.
Fox and the Panthers are a seasoned playoff team and have made the stretch run twice in the past few years.
NO is in the middle of a cinderella-esque campaign and I don't see it leading anywhere when these games start to really matter. Few members of that team have any profound grasp of the gravity of such a late season push or a postseason run.
You might think stuff like this doesn't matter, but it does a great deal. This isn't college basketball, it's pro football.
These games are in December.
Feel free to bump this if the Saints go 12-4.... I'll gladly eat my words because I'm not a believer.