New Orleans Saints: Breaking down second half and predicting final four

New Orleans Saints: Breaking down the home stretch and predicting the final four

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 24: J.T. Gray #48 of the New Orleans Saints celebrates with his teammates after a play against the Carolina Panthers during the first quarter in the game at Mercedes Benz Superdome on November 24, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) /

My predictions

I had the Saints originally going 3-1 during this stretch.

They are division games and I assumed one would be lost. In my thoughts from the mid-season piece I did, I opined we’d win them all. But my original thought was correct – three wins to one loss.

So that puts the Saints ahead of my overall season predictions. I had us around 9-3 by this point, 8-4 at worst. Either of those would have us in the playoff hunt.

But at 10-2, we hold all the cards. We are currently the number one seed in the NFC (even though we are no better than fourth in many power rankings…). By virtue of beating Seattle earlier in the season (someone please tell Colin Cowherd that fact…), we are ahead of them for seeding.

And because they beat San Francisco already earlier, Seattle is first in the NFC West, so that means even though San Fran is 10-2, they are currently a wild card team and would have to travel to Dallas to play the currently 6-6 Cowboys in the first weekend of the playoffs.

What a difference a week makes…

My prediction for the final stretch of the season was 3-1. I feel good about that still, but for a different reason than in the preseason. Here’s that stretch.