Here’s what to keep an eye on this Sunday as the Saints chase the No. 1 NFC seed
It will take all 256 games of the 2019 NFL regular season to determine which NFC team earns the coveted No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Talk about milking it.
Four NFC teams are in play for the top seed going into Week 17, including the New Orleans Saints who currently are perched at No. 3 and would host the sixth-seeded Minnesota Vikings on Wildcard Weekend (Jan. 4-5).
But the Black and Gold could be No. 1 or 2 by the time the curtain falls on the regular season late Sunday night in the Pacific Northwest.
This much we know: The Saints are assured of no worse than a home wildcard game. What we don’t know is what makes Seeding Sunday so deliciously intriguing and will force Who Dat Nation to scoreboard-watch long after the Saints (12-3) tackle the rudderless Carolina Panthers (5-10) at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina (noon, Fox).
Two games to keep an eye on Sunday:
▪ Green Bay at Detroit (noon). The newly-crowned NFC North-champion Packers (12-3) are double-digit favorites to hand the paper Lions (3-11-1) their ninth consecutive loss and put them out of their misery.
▪ San Francisco at Seattle (7:20 p.m., NBC). I suspect there could be some seismic activity when these teams square off on a national stage at CenturyLink Field, if for no other reason than the “12th Man’‘ paying homage to newly-signed RB Marshawn “Beast Mode’‘ Lynch. The visiting 49ers are favored by 3 1/2 points to win the NFC West and claim the No. 1 seed. Four seeds (Nos. 1-2-3-5) are in play for the Seahawks who are 4-3 at home this season.
I’ll refrain from dispensing more playoff minutiae. Just know the Saints need to beat the Panthers for their No. 1 dreams to come true. The Panthers have lost seven straight games and unceremoniously clinched last place in the NFC South. They are playing with No. 3 quarterback Will Grier under center, interim head coach Perry Fewell walking the sideline and unemployed coach Mike McCarthy possibly waiting in the wings.
Their season can’t end soon enough.
“Right now, I’m not sure what our plans are,’‘ Panthers tight end Greg Olsen explained. “We want to win now but we want to build for the future. It’s a really tough way to operate. Players are under performing. Right now, it’s a very collective failure, organizationally a failure.’‘
In an idyllic world, look for Saints coach Sean Payton to play healthy starters (including quarterback Drew Brees), build a comfortable lead and then insert backups at an appropriate time.
It’s a shame the Saints have to depend on other teams to win the NFC regular-season prize of home-field advantage and/or a first-round bye. In my mind, they remain the team to beat in the NFC regardless of the seeding, though history tells us they are more formidable when playing inside the friendly confines of the climate controlled Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
In 14 playoff games under Payton, the Saints are 6-1 at home, 1-0 on a neutral field (Super Bowl XLIV) and 1-5 on the road with the lone victory coming in the wildcard round at Philadelphia (26-24) in the 2013 season.
No sense lamenting earlier hiccups at home against Atlanta (26-9) and San Francisco (48-46). That said, it makes you wonder ‘what if?’ What if the Saints had come to play 60 quality minutes in front of their home crowd against the Falcons in Week 10? That inexplicable 17-point loss still looms large seven weeks later.
Losing to San Francisco is an altogether different pill to swallow.
Nothing left to do now for the Saints but to beat Carolina and get ready to pursue a second Lombardi Trophy whenever the NFC playoff ball drops in 2020.