(Photo: Derick E. Hingle, USA TODAY Sports)
By Jarrett Bell
METAIRIE, La. — It’s easy to grasp a sense of the logistical purpose, echoed in every corner of the New Orleans 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 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, would be quite the reward for a team that has — what? — the NFL’s best road record at 7-1.
But here’s the rub attached to this mission to secure dome-field advantage: Will the Saints get their groove back? ...
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