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7 takeaways from the Saints’ 23-13 win over the Buccaneers: Offense finally clicks, defense regains its footing
We learned a lot about the New Orleans Saints in Week 17’s big win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was their most complete win against a quality opponent all season, and they did it on the road against a division rival that knows them well. This is the kind of game that a good team should be expected to win, and this time the Saints came through. Too often this season they’ve failed to meet expectations.
Here’s a quick rundown of our notes and observations from the game:
Rutgers football captured their seventh bowl victory in program history with their win over Miami. Here are Rutgers’ top five bowl wins.
Rutgers football captured their seventh bowl championship in program history with their victory over Miami in the 2023 Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.
The Scarlet Knights appeared in 12 bowl games throughout program history, recording a 7-5 record. Rutgers’ first bowl game appearance was on December 10, 1978, when the Scarlet Knights lost to Arizona State, 34-18, in the Garden State Bowl at Giant Stadium (New Jersey).
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β Rutgers Football (@RFootball) December 30, 2023
After the 1978 season, the Scarlet Knights didn’t appear in a bowl game for 27 years until current head coach Greg Schiano took over. From 2001 to 2011 and from 2020 to the present, Schiano has guided the Scarlet Knights to eight bowl games with a record of 6-2.
Below are Rutgers football’s top five bowl victories in program history.Β
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The Steelers remain on the playoff bubble with one game to play.
Here is a look at the current AFC playoff picture at the conclusion of Week 17 of the NFL season. The Pittsburgh Steelers remain on the outside looking in despite their Week 17 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
The Vikings and Lions will kick off in an all too familiar spot on Sunday afternoon
At the conclusion of the Sunday Night Football game, the broadcast team announced the schedule for the final week of the NFL season. In a move that should come as no surprise to Minnesota Vikings fans after the loss to the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota was given the early afternoon block for their season-ending game against the Detroit Lions.
The full Week 18 schedule:
Saturday:
– 4:30 ET: Steelers-Ravens
– 8:15 ET: Texans-ColtsSunday, 1:00 ET:
– Jets-Patriots
– Falcons-Saints
– Bucs-Panthers
– Vikings-Lions
– Browns-Bengals
– Jaguars-TitansSunday, 4:25 ET:
– Packers-Bears
– Seahawks-Cardinals
– Eagles-Giants
-β¦— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 1, 2024
The NFL leaves the last week of the season’s schedule open so they can have as many important games in primetime spots as possible. Had the Vikings been able to win on Sunday night against the Packers, they would have had a chance to be in the late afternoon slot, as they would still have likely been in a win-and-you’re-in scenario.
With the loss, the NFL schedule makers have opted to give those prime viewing spots to more relevant games. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens are the first game of the week, with the Steelers still in the hunt in the AFC playoff picture. That game is followed on Saturday night by the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts, playing for a chance to take home the AFC South crown
The late window on Sunday has a number of playoff-relevant matchups, including the Packers-Bears game, which thanks to the Packers win puts them in the ‘win and you’re in’ scenario Minnesota would have been in. The season wraps up on Sunday Night with the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins playing for the AFC East crown.
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The Steelers and Ravens square off on Week 18 in the afternoon time slot on Saturday.
On Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced they will take on the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18 on Saturday, January 6 at 4:30 PM ET and will be aired on ESPN and ABC.
This week the Steelers held on and beat the Seattle Seahawks to keep their playoff hopes alive. Meanwhile, the Ravens blew out the Miami Dolphins to assert their dominance over the rest of the AFC and secure the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
Our Week 18 game against the Ravens will be played on Saturday, January 6 at 4:30 PM ET on ESPN/ABC
π: https://t.co/NGWL7dD0vk pic.twitter.com/loNtu5I7b4
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) January 1, 2024
Baltimore has nothing to play for other than knocking the Steelers out of playoff contention so they could bench the bulk of their starters. This would give Pittsburgh a nice bump with their newfound offense under Mason Rudolph. If the Steelers make the playoffs, it would mean three teams from the AFC North are in the tournament.
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Jaren Hall had some mature things to say about Kevin O’Connell benching him on Sunday night.
The Minnesota Vikings have been in a bind ever since they lost quarterback Kirk Cousins. They have started four quarterbacks so far in the 2023 season and each of them have had at least two starts.
Jaren Hall got his second start against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night and he was pulled after a poor performance in the first half. After the game, Hall spoke to the media and had a very mature response to his benching.
“If I was coach, I’d make the same decision.”
It’s difficult to fault head coach Kevin O’Connell for the decision. Hall turned the ball over two times and threw for just 67 yards on 5-of-10 passing. The rookie from BYU was a fifth-round draft pick and showed that he wasn’t ready for the spot.3
Now, it wasn’t all on him. The entire team didn’t play well and it started with the head coach. The Vikings have just one more game to right the ship before going into the offseason, as they need a ton of help to make the playoffs.
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We’re dropping these 25 photos from the Panthers’ New Year’s Eve loss to the Jaguars.
There may have been zero points for the Carolina Panthers, but at least we have these 25 photos from Sunday’s 26-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars:
Who shined in Washington’s loss to the 49ers? Who struggled? Studs and duds from Week 17.
For about 45 minutes on Sunday, the Washington Commanders went toe-to-toe with the San Francisco 49ers. However, on the second play of the fourth quarter, Washington quarterback Sam Howell was intercepted at the San Francisco five-yard line, and any chance of the Commanders pulling off an improbable upset was gone.
The 49ers drove 95 yards for another touchdown, giving them a 27-10 lead, meaning the Commanders went from making it a one-score game to being down three scores.
Unfortunately for Washington, the offense failed to deliver again, and the Commanders dropped their seventh straight game.
So, who shined for the Commanders? Who struggled?
Let’s review the studs and duds from Week 17.
Where are the Saints picking in the 2024 NFL draft? The latest projection after Week 17 has narrowed down their range of outcomes:
We’re getting a better idea of the 2024 NFL draft order after Week 17’s games — for one thing, the Carolina Panthers have already locked up the first overall pick, which they unfortunately chose to trade to the Chicago Bears, who are on the clock. But where are the New Orleans Saints slotted in? Where might they end up?
At the moment, the experts at Tankathon project the Saints to own the No. 13 overall pick. But that could change depending on Week 18’s results. The lowest the Saints could go with a win over the Atlanta Falcons (but without qualifying for the playoffs) would be No. 16. Thanks to their low strength of schedule (.430), the Saints would win any tiebreakers with other 9-win teams that don’t reach the postseason. Right now, that means the Houston Texans (who traded their pick to the Arizona Cardinals) and Pittsburgh Steelers at Nos. 17 and 18, respectively.
What if the Saints lose to the Falcons next Sunday? Would that give them a big boost in the rankings? Maybe so. There’s a large clump of 9-loss teams, so it’s tough to say where New Orleans would slot in, partly because one of those teams are the Falcons themselves. Draft order is determined by strength of schedule before any other tiebreakers, and that’s an area they would likely have an edge on the Saints (at .423). So the highest pick the Saints could expect in the event of a Week 18 loss is probably No. 10 overall.
That’s too low to get a quarterback, and it’s unlikely head coach Dennis Allen would sign off on picking a rookie passer anyway. His goal is to support Derek Carr, not replace him, and that is a good spot to find a high-end offensive lineman or pass rusher who could help address the Saints’ most critical needs. But if there’s a year to finally trade down and acquire more picks, it’s this one: the Saints only own one other selection in the top four rounds (the No. 45 pick in the second round, coming back from the Denver Broncos) and they badly need to reload their roster. The Saints haven’t traded down since 2007, but they’re bound to break that streak sooner or later.
And there’s one other variable we haven’t hit on: what if the Saints beat the odds and clinch a playoff berth? At that point they’d be picking anywhere from Nos. 19 to 32 depending on how far they advance. Reaching the postseason has always been their goal and we should expect them to compete for that, not draft order jockeying. We should find out where exactly the Saints are picking in the first round in the weeks ahead, but don’t expect a full draft order to be finalized (with compensatory draft picks) until March.
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NFL sets time for Falcons-Saints matchup in Week 18
The NFL has officially set a date for the Atlanta Falcons‘ Week 18 matchup against the New Orleans Saints. The game will be played on Sunday, January 7 at 1:00 p.m. ET, the league announced on New Year’s Eve.
To win the NFC South, the Falcons need to beat the Saints and the Buccaneers would have to lose to the Carolina Panthers. Check out the full Week 18 season slate, as shared by the NFL’s Twitter account below.
Week 18. It's time for the #NFLSeasonFinale. pic.twitter.com/KOV6OaZIKy
— NFL (@NFL) January 1, 2024
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