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As you probably already know, the Saints tumbled out of the Top 7 during their Bye week and fell from the ranks of the teams who would be in the postseason in the event the NFL regular season ended today. But of course the season is not over, and teams will continue to jockey for playoff positions for weeks to come. I do expect to see the Saints back in that list of playoff participants sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.
But what you may not have known is that going into the Week 6 Bye, there was only a slight chance that the Saints were going to remain in 1st place in the NFC South. The reason was because a win by the Panthers or the Bucs was going to move either (or both) ahead of the Saints in the division. Both of these foes would have had to lose in Week 6 in order to keep the Saints on top while we waited out our 'idle' week. While I never believed both teams would lose, I must admit that if only one team had to win, I would have guessed that it would have been the Panthers over the Bears rather than what turned out to be a pretty decisive victory by the Bucs over the Packers in the Battle of the Bays.
So the Saints now occupy the #2 position in the NFC South with the Buccaneers grabbing the lead by half a game. But a quick look at the playoff standings should help us to see why finishing as champs of the South is so important. As a group the NFC West teams have more wins than any other division in the league, and none of the teams in it has a losing record. They currently can boast having three teams in the Top 7,.. and the only team not in (49ers) may be getting their act together to get back in the race. Hopefully that division will continue to beat up on each other and keep them from having a clean sweep of all three Wildcard spots this year.
That said, Tampa Bay will have a fairly easy schedule until we meet them again on the road in Raymond James Stadium, so I don't expect the Saints to have the lead in the NFC South until we get to duke it out with them on Sunday Night Football in Week 9. But we can only have the opportunity to take the lead IF we do not falter in the next two weeks. I know that not everyone here agrees, but I feel the Saints' contest against the Panthers this week is truly HUGE! If we lose to Carolina, we may not get another chance to catch the improving Bucs anytime soon. Maybe not again in 2020. And that would make this year stink waaaaaaay more than it already does!
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Keep in mind that in this new system, only the #1 seed in each conference gets a Bye.
The first playoff week plays out this way: #2 hosts #7; #3 hosts #6; #4 hosts #5.
Each successive week the lowest seed travels to the highest seed just as before.
***WEEK 6 - NFC Playoff Standings***
#1 Bye - Seattle Seahawks
#2- Chicago Bears
#3- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
#4- Dallas Cowboys
#5- Green Bay Packers
#6- Arizona Cardinals
#7- Los Angeles Rams
***WEEK 6 - AFC Playoff Standings***
#1 Bye - Tennessee Titans
#2- Pittsburgh Steelers
#3- Kansas City Chiefs
#4- Buffalo Bills
#5- Baltimore Ravens
#6- Cleveland Browns
#7- Indianapolis Colts
But what you may not have known is that going into the Week 6 Bye, there was only a slight chance that the Saints were going to remain in 1st place in the NFC South. The reason was because a win by the Panthers or the Bucs was going to move either (or both) ahead of the Saints in the division. Both of these foes would have had to lose in Week 6 in order to keep the Saints on top while we waited out our 'idle' week. While I never believed both teams would lose, I must admit that if only one team had to win, I would have guessed that it would have been the Panthers over the Bears rather than what turned out to be a pretty decisive victory by the Bucs over the Packers in the Battle of the Bays.
So the Saints now occupy the #2 position in the NFC South with the Buccaneers grabbing the lead by half a game. But a quick look at the playoff standings should help us to see why finishing as champs of the South is so important. As a group the NFC West teams have more wins than any other division in the league, and none of the teams in it has a losing record. They currently can boast having three teams in the Top 7,.. and the only team not in (49ers) may be getting their act together to get back in the race. Hopefully that division will continue to beat up on each other and keep them from having a clean sweep of all three Wildcard spots this year.
That said, Tampa Bay will have a fairly easy schedule until we meet them again on the road in Raymond James Stadium, so I don't expect the Saints to have the lead in the NFC South until we get to duke it out with them on Sunday Night Football in Week 9. But we can only have the opportunity to take the lead IF we do not falter in the next two weeks. I know that not everyone here agrees, but I feel the Saints' contest against the Panthers this week is truly HUGE! If we lose to Carolina, we may not get another chance to catch the improving Bucs anytime soon. Maybe not again in 2020. And that would make this year stink waaaaaaay more than it already does!
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Keep in mind that in this new system, only the #1 seed in each conference gets a Bye.
The first playoff week plays out this way: #2 hosts #7; #3 hosts #6; #4 hosts #5.
Each successive week the lowest seed travels to the highest seed just as before.
***WEEK 6 - NFC Playoff Standings***
#1 Bye - Seattle Seahawks
#2- Chicago Bears
#3- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
#4- Dallas Cowboys
#5- Green Bay Packers
#6- Arizona Cardinals
#7- Los Angeles Rams
***WEEK 6 - AFC Playoff Standings***
#1 Bye - Tennessee Titans
#2- Pittsburgh Steelers
#3- Kansas City Chiefs
#4- Buffalo Bills
#5- Baltimore Ravens
#6- Cleveland Browns
#7- Indianapolis Colts
