Recapping the New Orleans Saints season after three quarters

Third segment overall and the future

My prediction for the Saints in this segment of the schedule was 2-2. Boy was I wrong. The Saints only allowed two TD’s in 12 quarters of play.

No, the Saints offense is not blowing and going as they have been in the past, but when you only allow 10.2 points a game as they did during this four-game stretch, it’s ok if you’re “only” scoring 26 points per game. The Saints became the first NFL team to clinch a playoff spot on Sunday.

The Saints begin this last quarter of the NFL season in Philadelphia facing an Eagles team that has some serious issues on both sides of the ball, but particularly on offense. It’s not a good time for them to face a solid Saints defense.

They will be starting rookie Jalen Hurts at QB this weekend. The Saints have had a solid run against the Eagles, winning five of the last six games and seven of the last nine against Philly.

After that is the game I’m most excited for this season. In what could be a preview of the Super Bowl, the Saints host the Kansas City Chiefs. It will be a matchup of two of the best offensive minds of this era of American football in Sean Payton and Andy Reid.

It may be Drew Brees’ first game back after his injuries. It’s a great opportunity to see where the Saints stand.

The next game is the one that really bugs me. On a short week, on Christmas Day, we face the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are not as good as the Saints. But there are just some teams that are simply bad matchups.

The Saints have lost four of their last five games against Minnesota. Worse, the Vikings are scratching and clawing for a playoff spot, and we’ll face them just five days after facing the defending Super Bowl champions. Not a great spot.

Finally, we close out the season at the Carolina Panthers.

They are likely to only be playing for pride, but they have a scrappy team that is very capable of good football. They played us tough and tight in the first meeting, and that was without star RB Christian McCaffrey. And it’s a division game.

My prediction for this segment was 3-1. While I have to stick with it, I just hope that this quarter resembles the last two quarters. A 4-0 record is the only way to 100 percent ensure we get that first-round bye, which will be tremendously important this season.