Here’s an updated look at the Saints’ playoff picture. It doesn’t look promising.
The rest of the Week 16 schedule has plenty of coal waiting for the New Orleans Saints after their lackluster performance in Los Angeles on Thursday.
After losing to the Rams last week, the Saints’ hopes of making the playoffs were not entirely lost, but they were in the unfortunate position of requiring a lot of assistance to get there. They did not receive much of it in Sunday’s games, and they are currently ranked No. 11 in the NFC with two games left against Tampa Bay and Atlanta.
Coach Dennis Allen stated, “I think it’s safe to say we need to go out and win this week.” The only thing we can truly control is that. All those other factors are out of someone else’s control.
Though the coach was speaking from the standpoint of focusing on the immediate issue at hand, it is also safe to say the Saints need to win this week and the following week, as they will be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss in either.
They’re going to need a post-Christmas miracle to win the NFC South after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers blitzed the Jacksonville Jaguars 30-12 on Sunday. Now three things need to happen for New Orleans to end a two-year drought without a division title.
Not only must the Saints beat the Buccaneers on the road next week and Atlanta the following week in the regular-season finale to stay relevant in the division discussion, they must also hope the Buccaneers lose to the 2-13 Carolina Panthers in Week 18.
The Saints have no chance of winning tiebreakers, even if the Buccaneers and Saints might end with identical records. The Saints have no chance of catching the Buccaneers if they win 2-0 and they lose 1-1 the following two weeks. In such case, the division would be decided by the third tiebreaker, which is record versus common opponents.
Even while that route is dubious, much more must transpire before the Saints can secure one of the two wild-card vacancies.
Not only did the Rams surpass the Saints last week, but the Seahawks and Packers also triumphed, which caused New Orleans to drop further lower in the standings.
Again, tiebreakers are the big issue facing the Saints. New Orleans is one of six NFC teams with either a 7-8 or 8-7 record going into Week 17. The first tiebreaker for wild-card seeding is head-to-head record, and the Saints have lost to four of the other five teams they are competing with for those two spots.
The Saints would need to end with a better record than three of the following four teams in order to claim a wild-card berth: Green Bay, Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Seattle. This is assuming the club wins out and stays in the postseason picture.
Week 17’s matchup between Green Bay and Minnesota means that, with all three teams now sitting at 7-8, the Saints will have a better record in the end if they prevail.
The best-case scenario, which is also the most plausible, would be for Minnesota to defeat Green Bay this week before falling to Detroit in Week 18, thereby eliminating both of the NFC North teams from the Saints’ path.
This would leave the two teams in the NFC West, with Seattle having the advantage in the fourth tiebreaker, strength of victories, and both teams having a one-game lead over the Saints in the standings. Either the Rams or the Seahawks would need to drop their last two games in order for New Orleans to defeat one of those clubs.
The Seahawks host the Pittsburgh Steelers this week before playing the Arizona Cardinals on the road, while the Rams have two road games left against the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers.
The Saints’ only remaining opportunity to qualify for the playoffs would be to win out and hope the Buccaneers fall to the Panthers in Week 18 if both the Rams and Seahawks triumph in Week 17.
Juwan Johnson, a tight end, stated, “We’re going to have to put it all on the line for the next two weeks.”
The likelihood is that even if the Saints accomplish that, it won’t be sufficient.
Leave a Reply