PEAKING FOR THE PLAYOFFS? Questions Loom as New Orleans Prepares for Postseason Play By Andrew Alexander
The Saints' defense remains one of the best in the NFL
As the NFL playoffs approach, there is only one certainty: The New Orleans Saints have an invitation to the postseason party. Who they will play and where that will be is yet to be determined, but the Saints will be one of the 14 playoff teams for the fourth straight season. 6
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With the final seeding still hanging in the balance, the Saints are battling several teams for the coveted No. 1 seed in the NFC and the accompanying first-round bye. In the mix are traditional NFC heavyweights: the Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, and Los Angeles Rams. Ideally, the Saints would emerge with the best record in the NFC, capturing a first-round bye and home-field advantage (not that it really means anything this year), but New Orleans needs to keep winning and hope for their NFC competitors to slip up in the final weeks of the season. One major obstacle standing in New Orleans’s way is Green Bay. The Packers’ 37-30 victory over the Saints earlier this year means that Green Bay holds a head-to-head tiebreaker over New Orleans, should the two teams finish with the same record. In order to secure the top seed, the Saints need to keep winning and pray for Green Bay to falter down the stretch. If New Orleans fails to nab the top playoff position but still clinches the NFC South, they’ll face one of the three Wild Card opponents in the first round of the playoffs. Even if the Saints miss out on a first-round bye, there’s a decent chance that they’ll be the NFC’s No. 2 seed, meaning that New Orleans would face the No. 7 seed, the lowest-
ranked Wild Card opponent, in the first round of the playoffs. As a No. 2 seed, the Saints have several possibilities of potential opponents, including the Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, and San Francisco 49ers. More importantly, the Saints would square off against any of these teams in the familiar confines of the Superdome. Regardless of opponent, the question on the mind of every New Orleans Saints fan is: Will Drew Brees be ready for the postseason? It seems likely that Brees should be ready to lead the Saints once again, prior to the playoffs, but the franchise isn’t in a hurry to rush their aging star back into action prematurely. Brees’s return is a delicate balancing act for the Saints, weighing the risk of further injury, playoff seeding, and team rhythm. While backup quarterback Taysom Hill is doing fine in the interim, the Saints are at their best with Brees steering the ship. The former Super Bowl MVP has the experience and moxie needed to guide the Saints through a treacherous playoff run. Plus, he doesn’t fumble nearly as often. The Saints have been insanely successful weathering Brees’s absences over the past two seasons, but those were regular-season games.
ALL PHOTOS: COURTESY MICHAEL NANCE / NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Taysom Hill
