There’s a lot on the line for the New Orleans Saints in Week 18. A win in the regular season finale would go a long way towards getting New Orleans in the playoffs, though they’ll still need some help.
So of course their oldest, most despised rival is standing in the way. The Saints will close out the season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the Atlanta Falcons, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention. But if there’s any team eager to play spoiler, it’ll be the dirty birds.
And the weight of the situation isn’t lost on Saints coach Sean Payton. He said after the game that there’s a chance the NFL flexes this game into a different time slot, and it makes sense with some other relative matchups on hand. The most important game for Saints fans to watch will be the San Francisco 49ers’ road game with the Los Angeles Rams; a 49ers win would clinch the final NFC wild-card seed, eliminating New Orleans.
But if the Rams win (and they’ll be motivated to, with the second NFC playoff seed on the line) the Saints could get into the playoffs by defeating Atlanta. Sure, they need some more help along the way — the Minnesota Vikings are also in the mix, but a Week 17 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night would knock them out — but it’s a realistic scenario.
So where could the game be moved? With the Rams-49ers tilt scheduled for kickoff at 3:25 p.m. CT on Sunday, Jan. 9, moving the Saints-Falcons matchup to the same window makes sense. On the other hand, the NFL has an open doubleheader for Saturday, Jan. 8. Either of these games could be bumped up a day, as could the play-in confrontation between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers.
With that said, Payton made sure not to get ahead of himself in what’s important. He quickly added, “We got to find a way to get to 9-8 and go from there.”
As is always the case this late in the season, there are a ton of moving parts to keep up with. Be sure to check back here at Saints Wire to stay on top of the latest news.
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