The New Orleans Saints have finished the season a perfect 8-0 at home, and now they’ll prepare for a home playoff game next weekend.
New Orleans fulfilled coach Sean Payton’s promise to go “full steam ahead” and easily beat Carolina 45-17. But to earn a playoff bye the Saints also needed the 49ers to lose, and that didn’t happen. So the Saints will host a wild card team next weekend.
Their opponent will be either the Lions or Falcons, depending on the result of those teams’ games. The Saints beat both teams handily at the Superdome during the regular season and will be heavy favorites next weekend against either team.
The way quarterback Drew Brees is playing, it’s going to be tough for any team to beat the Saints in the playoffs. Brees completed 28 of 35 passes for 389 yards, with five touchdowns and one interception, before leaving the game to give backup Chase Daniel some playing time. Brees’s NFL record for passing yards in a season stands at 5,476 yards.
Darren Sproles had 168 all-purpose yards to set a new NFL record of 2,696 this season.
Carolina finishes the season at 6-10, but that represents major progress from where the Panthers were a year ago. With Cam Newton at the helm, the Panthers have a good chance of becoming a good team, even if they’re not there yet.
But with Drew Brees at the helm, the Saints are absolutely there. The Saints are good enough to win the Super Bowl.