Home for holidays, playoffs would be good for Saints
METAIRIE, La. – It’s easy to grasp a sense of the logistical purpose, echoed in every corner of the Saints’ locker room as the huge carrot of a No. 1 seed dangles in the wind.
This is the place to be: Win one more game, and the Saints don’t have to leave town again for a football game this season unless they’re going to Super Bowl LIII.
“It’s big,” assured Sheldon Rankins, the force in the middle of the D-line, as he pondered the matchup Sunday against Pittsburgh. “Take care of business this week and everything runs through here.”
True enough. Claiming home-field advantage for the NFC playoffs, with all of the recent history that represents and all of the bedlam that comes in Mercedes-Benz Superdome, would be quite the reward for a team that has — what? — the NFL’s best road record at 7-1.
Here’s the rub attached to this mission to secure dome-field advantage: Will the Saints get their groove back?
That question is legitimate enough for a team, even one that ranks second in the NFL in averaging 32.8 points per game, that just endured a grueling, three-game road swing, which began with a stunning loss at Dallas and continued with the Saints flirting with losing the next two games.
Sure, they demonstrated some serious grit and resilience. They are brimming with the confidence that as much as they’d rather not, they can win anywhere. That’s another theme the Saints
(12-2) are expressing after the winning ugly Monday night at Carolina.
As Drew Brees put it, “It’s good to be battle-tested.”
Especially when you’ve survived with the destiny of a No. 1 seed still in your hands. It has to be a relief, too, coinciding with the Rams’ two-game losing streak.
“Bottom line is this: Regardless of how those games played out for the first
31⁄ quarters, we went into these past two games on the road, in the division, down at half, down going into the fourth quarter, and found a way to win,” said Brees, who had his lowest-rated efficiency game of the season (69.1) at Carolina but was glad to trade it for the proverbial team W.
“And regardless of the scenarios or circumstances that we encounter throughout the year in any given game, we always have hope, we always have a chance and we’re confident in that.”
The Saints averaged just 16.7 points during the three-game swing. Who dat? That they can win without huge numbers from Brees (dating to 2017, they are 4-0 when he doesn’t throw for a touchdown) is a testament to the balance and physicality that Sean Payton & Co. have built around the star quarterback.
Strong in the trenches, the Saints are tied in allowing the fewest sacks in the NFL (16) and tied for fourth in collecting sacks (45). They can win with myriad styles. The defense is better than it has been in years while in recent weeks growing more consistency on the back end. The 1-2 backfield punch of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram are the legs behind a league-leading average possession time of 32 minutes, 13 seconds.
That’s why Rankins agrees with Brees. There was some good with the tight slugfests.
“To go through some trials and tribulations, we were able to weather the storm,” he said. “It’s confirms you can win in any situation.”
No, as Payton would tell you, it’s not about style points. But shoot, in November the Saints became just the fourth team in NFL history to score at least 45 points in three consecutive games. Confirming they can still turn on the switch and win at the Superdome while blowing up the scoreboard would not be a bad thing, especially with matchups looming against playoff-caliber defenses. New Orleans has averaged 38 points at home this season, which just plain forces the issues that lead the ripple effects that result in team victories.
Saints players will remind you that it’s been nearly a month since they’ve played at their dome. Well, it’s also been nearly a month since they scored 30 points in a game.
Brees, on the short list of MVP frontrunners, doesn’t sound worried. He insists it doesn’t matter if they score 12 points (like Monday) or top 50 points (a la the Cincinnati road trip, mid-November). It’s all about winning. Still, the rhythm has been off lately. Defenses are seemingly more determined to disrupt Brees’ connection with star wideout Michael Thomas (109 catches), which exposes inconsistency with other targets in the passing game.
It’s significant that Ted Ginn Jr. has come off IR to begin the three-week window for activation. With so many young and untested receivers lacking reps, the Saints could use an experienced target with the deep speed to stretch the defense. With an injurythinned offensive line, they can use the return of left tackle Terron Armstead, elected to his first Pro Bowl as he mends a torn pectoral muscle. Armstead is unsure whether he’ll be cleared to play unday but is encouraged by the progress.
On top of that, the flow has been affected by an assortment of penalties, dropped passes and other mistakes. Listen to Brees, and the issues can be solved by establishing tempo. The running game is connected to the deep throws, the clock control and point production connected to the freshness and aggressiveness of the defense. And so on.
Of course, we’ve seen that on display before as something spectacular at the raucous Superdome. So much that home-field advantage — the ticket to the Super Bowl for each of the AFC and NFC champions over the past five years — is arguably more of an advantage to New Orleans than for any other team in the league.
“You know what it’s like in there,” Rankins said. “And it gets more amped in the playoffs.”
No, there’s no place quite like home for the Saints — in more ways than one.