New Orleans Saints will be double winners on Sunday
By Jason Reed
The New Orleans Saints look to take home a win against the Carolina Panthers this Sunday and will win in two regards if they can get the job done.
The New Orleans Saints are in the third of a four-game stretch against primarily division foes and on Sunday the tea has arguably the toughest task of the entire division. The 5-5 Carolina Panthers have been giving every team fits this season and the same can be said for the Saints.
The Panthers lead the NFL in sacks this season, which is going to have a big impact on Drew Brees. Also, the team has a yardage machine, Christian McCaffrey, to lead the way, which can lead to some disappointing defensive stands that end in points and a lot of time taken off the play clock.
However, despite that, the Saints are still heavy favorites in this game, 9.5-point favorites according to the Action Network, and should at least beat the Panthers outright.
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If the Saints can avoid another disappointing division loss on Sunday then the team will have been double winners, all because of the action that is going down on Sunday night.
The top-two seeds in the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers, square off on Sunday Night Football and will not only give the Saints a glimpse of their potential competition against each other but help the team’s playoff seeding as well.
Either way this is a win for the Saints, although the best-case scenario for New Orleans would be a Green Bay win over San Francisco. The 49ers and Packers would both be 9-2, as would the Saints.
After this result, the Packers would be the first seed, the Saints will be the second and the 49ers the third, all due to conference record. Granted, there is still a lot of time left to play.
That is the perfect situation to be in as if the Saints win out, then they should be able to take home the first seed in the NFC. However, the only problem is that while the 49ers end on a very tough note and will likely lose one more, the Packers do not have much strong competition after this game.
The other situation, in which the 49ers win, would still be good for the Saints but would make it harder to get the first seed. A loss for the Packers would bump them down to the third spot in the seeding, putting the Saints in the coveted position for a first-round bye.
Ideally, as long as the Saints can finish in the top two and get a first-round bye then the home field advantage of the first seed might not even matter. What is more important is skipping an entire round of the playoffs.
Next. Saints much out-McCaffrey McCaffrey. dark
So whichever way you spin it, the New Orleans Saints are going to win from the result of Monday Night Football, making their path to a first-round bye in the playoffs that much easier.