WhoDat!656

New Orleans Saints set up nicely for stretch run - New Orleans Saints Football NFL News - NOLA.com

subguy

I think the bye week was at a great time and I agree that we should be ready to roll for a good home stretch to the playoffs. We have some tough games but I think now we at least can take a gulp of air.

pumpkindriver

We need to run the table here, and theres no reason we shouldn't. But hey we lost to StL, so nothing can be taken for granted. Our guys have to focus focus focus and win win win.

lynwood

Every Game will be a "trap" game.

jnormand

As long as we destroy GB in the playoffs I don't care how many games we lose getting there. I want our defense to tear Rogers to pieces.

QBREES9

One game at a time. Never look past the game your playing.

BIGEASY504

G-Men on Monday nite is where it starts - 1 game at a time

73Saint

G-men will be looking for payback too...we embarrassed them last time we played them. And, if I remember correctly, it was at home, and after a bye....

the-commish

It was after a bye. But, teams coming off byes this season have not done well. The Saints have to change that. Maybe they can win the first coin toss this season in the Monday nighter against the Giants?

Actually, if the Saints hold serve at home, they win the division. If they win their four remaining home games, the worst their record could end up would be 11-5. In that scenario, the BEST Atlanta could end up would also be 11-5, but the Saints would hold the tiebreaker.

I have already forgotten about catching the 49ers for the #2 seed (it's still possible, but the Saints would likely have to win all of their remaining games, and the 49ers would have to lose three).

What really worries me (and I know it's too early to worry about that now) is if the Saints secure the #3 seed, and Atlanta gets in as the #6 seed--this happens if Atlanta and Chicago tie for the wildcard--Chicago would be #5 and Atlanta would be #6. The Saints would play Atlanta at home in the wildcard round. It is really hard to beat the same team three times in the same season. That is the down side. The up side would be remembering the last time that situation occurred (Falcons #6 at Saints #3). The Falcons won over the Dome Patrol (actually, the Dome Patrol played well; Bobby Hebert's shoddy play cost the Saints that game). Hopefully, this would be payback.

SaintsBro

I hear you about the beating a team three times. But, I kind of feel like Drew does really well, whenever you give him some kind of stat or situation like that to feed into his motivational computer. Like all the bunk about no team ever lost to Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl, no team ever did this or that thing before, curses and jinxes and crazy stats about grass or Dome teams or stuff that's not "supposed" to happen ... plus the ghosts of the '80s Vikings playoff game in the NFC Championship, the revenge beatup on the Bears this year as payback for '06, settling old grudges -- Drew is really good at breaking long-running stats and exorcising weird demons like that. You feed that stuff into Drew's computer and tell him he CAN'T do it, he comes out on a mission and does it. I think they actually play better when there's some kind of "not supposed to happen" vibe, a weird streak or stat that makes it seem improbable, or when there's a vendetta or "revenge for the longtime fans" on the line. So I dunno.

I can almost guarantee you though, if Falcons vs. Saints meet in the playoffs, the Falcons will be conservatively punting the ball a lot more instead of gambling on 4th down, and that could mean fewer long sustained drives and easily 7-14 less points of scoring for them.