Should we actually root for Atlanta this weekend?
 

Seattle lost, so now they are 8-6 with 5 NFC losses.............once the Saints win their 10th game, they are guaranteed a tiebreaker over Seattle. If Dallas lost to Atlanta, they would have 6 losses and 5 NFC losses. This means even in a 3-way tie situation, the Saints still get the edge over both once they hit 10 wins.

So basically, if Dallas loses, and Saints beat Washington this Sunday, the Saints will finish NO WORSE than #2 in the NFC!!!!!

Time to root for Ron Mexico.

I find it very hard to root for Atlanta in any situation. I kinda like alot of cushion between us and the Falcons anyway.
But your right. A Dallas loss just makes us a better seed in the playoffs. We've beaten Atlanta and need just one more win to clinch the title.

"to clinch the title"......man doesn't that sound good!?!??
I never imagined we'd be here this soon. At the beginning of the season I thought 6, maybe 7 wins tops.

True, it won't break my heart or anything if Atlanta lost........but it'd be cool to wrap up a first round bye this weekend. That being said, if Atlanta loses, they are one step closer to not making the playoffs, so I could live with that as well.

A Dallas loss combined with a Saints win moves the team much closer to a 1st round bye. So, unfortunately, we must extend our good sportsmanship to wishing the best for the Falcants. Maybe they'll lose the last two games to snuff out their season. Regardless, I'd rather face the dirty birds than Dallas in the 2nd round.

Absolutely. Someone has to fill the playoff seeds and why not keep ATL at home and the Falcons are arbitrarily my vote to lose any game. I used to hate San Francisco more with the ol' divisional alignments but that's not the case now.

WHAT?!?!? Root for the Vicks?
Where's B&B when we need a banning? :broccoli:

Root for your team. Right now, they don't need any help. They take care of business at home, beating the Skins and Panthers, and they stay #2. That's that.

Wanna root for someone else? Root for the Packers and Lions.

This is a tough one. I'm in Atlanta and I don't know that I can handle listening to these tools if they beat Dallas.

What is best for the Saints? A Falcons win.

But...if we go 2-1 and Dallas goes 3-0, we've still got them beat for the 2 seed. One more win guarantees that we're ahead of Seattle because of their NFC record. Dallas is the only team that can pass us, even if we go 1-2.

This is really amazing. Three weeks ago, I'm looking at the 3 8-4 teams thinking the winner of our Dallas game is in a good spot, but Seattle has AZ and SF coming up. My assumption was that Seattle (getting healthy and with only the Chargers on their schedule), was primed for a stretch run. I thought we would end up the 3 or 4 seed with Seattle in the 2 hole, running the table or losing the Chargers game.

Boy, was I wrong and boy am I glad.

Screw the Falcons. I don't wanna face them a third time. Let them lose Saturday. We'll take care of our own business down the stretch. I just can't root for them...sorry. They are on the verge of a complete blow up here if they don't make the postseason.

Isn't it cool?
No matter WHO loses, it's good for us!
Man, I never thought I'd have fun as a Saint Fan!

I do not want a falcons win..... I want the best teams possible to go to Chicago for the playoffs. Atlanta is not one of them. Besides we hold all the cards in the tie breakers

Re: Should we actually root for Atlanta this weekend?
 

That is correct.

One again correct.

Dallas is now a speed bump in our rearview. Atlanta is too. We are 3-0 against the two of them. They each lose any tiebreaker to the Saints.


True in a 3 way over those guys. However a division champion would have to be determined first. As soon as the Saints win their 10th game, they win the division.
Actually there's still one team left in the scenario that could win the #2 seed: The NY Giants. If they win out they'd finish 10-6. Also to win out they'd have to beat the Saints Christmas Eve (I don't think it will happen, but I'm just describing the scenario). If Dallas loses along the way and finished 10-6 or with the Giants (or worse 9-7), the Giants win that tiebreaker with division record since to win out they'd have to beat the Eagles this weekend to finish 4-2 in the division whereas Dallas can at best finish 3-3.

So if the Giants win the division, beat the Saints (won't happen! will not happen!), and finish tied, then they could win the #2 seed.

Note this isn't true for Philly, who actually has control of their destiny in the NFC East, because if they beat both the Giants and Dallas on the road to finish the season, they'd have the tiebreaker advantage over both of them plus giving Dallas a 6th loss and the Giants a 7th. But since we beat Philly already (great drive to end the game!) we win any ties with them.

Actually doesn't matter in that game. We should root for the Falcons only because Dallas has less losses, so another loss puts us closer to the crown.

The real root is for Philly to beat the Giants and put them out of their misery.

SFIAH