Tag: New Orleans Saints

NFC playoff picture: Where the Eagles stand after Cowboys loss on Sunday night

NFC Playoff picture and where the Eagles stand after Cowboys loss

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The Philadelphia Eagles have finished up a much-needed bye week as the team sits at 5-4, with the New England Patriots visiting the Linc this week.

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Things seemed cloudy on Sunday with the San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, and Green Bay Packers all playing so well. It was assumed that the NFC East might only get one team into the playoffs with Philadelphia or Dallas representing the division in the postseason.

After Sunday’s wild and crazy action, culminating with the Cowboys’ huge loss at home to the Vikings, the NFC is now wide open.

Here are your current NFC standings:

National Football Conference

San Francisco 49ers 8-0
Green Bay Packers 8-2
New Orleans Saints 8-2
Seattle Seahawks 7-2
Minnesota Vikings 7-3
Dallas Cowboys 5-4
LA Rams 5-4
Philadelphia Eagles 5-4
Carolina Panthers 5-4
Chicago Bears 4-5
Detroit Lions 3-5-1

Even with the Eagles Week 10 bye,  six of the eight teams currently ahead of them in the playoff picture all did battle with one another on Sunday, with the Panthers losing to the Packers, the Cowboys losing to the Vikings at home, and the 49ers hosting the Seahawks on Monday Night Football.

The Eagles will host the Patriots this week and Seahawks and the Seahawks next Sunday, before playing four of their remaining five games against teams that are a combined 4-22. After the two home matchups, the Eagles will travel to Miami to face the Dolphins, then they’ll host the Giants, travel to Washington, host Dallas and then finish the regular season on the road at MetLife Stadium against the Giants.

After the crushing loss to the Vikings, Dallas will face the Lions, Patriots, Bills, Eagles, and Rams over the next five weeks in a scenario that will make the Week 16 showdown in Philadelphia for the NFC East title.

Ravens hitting their stride at the right time

The Ravens are hitting the point of the season where championship-caliber teams differentiate themselves, and they’re only getting better.

The Baltimore Ravens were supposed to beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 10. With Cincinnati winless and having a rookie quarterback getting his first NFL start, it seemed obvious that Baltimore was going to move to 7-2. But the beating the Ravens put on the Bengals proves they’re hitting their stride at the best possible time.

Before kickoff, I noted that this could be a trap game for Baltimore. While they were clearly the superior team on paper, we’ve seen the Ravens embarrass themselves previously under similar circumstances. In fact, it’s a familiar hole they’d fallen into too many times under coach John Harbaugh right as they looked to be on a roll and near the top of the league. But not this week and not this season apparently.

Baltimore’s offense got off to a quick start and never relented, finding room on the ground and through the air against the hapless Bengals. Quarterback Lamar Jackson had another brilliant game, going 15-of-17 for 223 yards, three passing touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. He also torched Cincinnati on the ground to the tune of 65 yards and a touchdown, including his highlight-reel 47-yard run. It was a finely tuned game from the starting offense that saw them hang five total touchdowns before putting in backups in the fourth quarter.

The defense got in on the action as well, shutting down the Bengals offense. They pressured quarterback Ryan Finley, largely held running back Joe Mixon down and made two big plays, returning an interception and a fumble for touchdowns. What had been the worst unit on the team earlier this season has quickly turned around into an explosive and dangerous defense.

And that’s really the look of the entire team right now. They’ve gotten better with each and every game. They’re stronger than they were in Week 3 and far more dynamic both on offense and defense. They’ve beaten up on the top teams in the league and are now destroying the teams they should be beating. For as easy as that sounds in theory, look at how the Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs all lost in Week 10 to teams with no better than a .500 record.

This is the point where championship-caliber teams start to differentiate themselves. Injuries have piled up on all 32 teams, and there’s more than enough game film to establish weaknesses and mismatches. Yet Baltimore is the only team actually getting better right now.

With everything coming together on defense and opponents having no answer for Jackson and this unique offense, Baltimore is unquestionably one of the best teams in the league right now. And considering they’re built for cold-weather football, the Ravens are looking really scary. If they can keep this level of play up, there’s no reason to think Baltimore shouldn’t be a front-runner for the Super Bowl.

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Buccaneers-Saints early odds: New Orleans road favorite vs. Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are home dogs when they host the New Orleans Saints in Week 11.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-6) host the New Orleans Saints (7-2) in a NFL Week 11 matchup Sunday, Nov. 17th, at 1:00 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium. The game can be watched on FOX and NFL Redzone. The Saints, coming off their second loss of the year, enter as the solid favorite, according to odds from BetMGM.

The Saints (-250) are favored by 5.5 (-115) points against the spread (ATS) over the Bucs. New to sports betting? With a spread of -5.5, that means the Saints need to not only beat the Buccaneers, but they need to win by at least six points for an ATS wager on them to cash. That half-point is referred to as a hook.

Looking to place a bet on this game or others? Get some action in the game at BetMGM. Sign up and bet at BetMGM now!

Feeling a upset? A $10 wager on the Buccaneers (+185) would pay $18.50 in profit should they win outright. Meanwhile, a $10 wager on the Saints to win outright returns a profit of just $4.00.

The Over/Under on the Saints/Buccaneers game has been set at 51.5, which is one of the higher early lines of the week. Both sides of the O/U are -110 for this Week 11 NFL matchup.

Want to get some action on this game? Place a sports bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting picks and tips, access SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Sean Payton doesn’t excuse Falcons loss with lopsided officiating

New Orleans Saints HC Sean Payton didn’t blame officiating in his team’s 26-9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, pointing to their own mistakes.

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Few viewers expected the New Orleans Saints to get trounced by the Atlanta Falcons — coming out of the bye week, inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, in a year where the Saints have been nearly undefeated and the Falcons have gone nearly winless. But that’s not what happened, when Atlanta’s defense swarmed Drew Brees and the Saints offense, leaving town with a 26-9 win on their shoulders.

Some fans would point to the game’s officiating as a culprit in the upset. Whenever the Saints defense seemed to win on a crucial down, it seemed like someone was flagged for an illegal use of hands penalty; giving up five yards and an automatic first down. Saints defenders were penalized for that on four different occasions on Sunday, twice on third downs which would have forced an Atlanta punt. In total, New Orleans drew a dozen penalty flags and ceded 90 yards. The Falcons were flagged seven times, giving up 48 yards. That’s about as lopsided as it gets in the NFL.

But Saints coach Sean Payton doesn’t buy that as an easy explanation for his team’s loss. He rebuffed that notion during his postgame press conference, saying, “No, I thought the officiating was pretty good in this game. That had nothing to do with this game.”

Rather, Payton wants his team to look at their own mistakes and miscues. Excessive penalties are often a sign of poor execution and botched on-field decisions, and he looked back on the game as a big learning opportunity for just about everyone.

“Yes, absolutely, there’s a lot of corrections (to be made),” Payton continued, hammering his point home. “A lot of corrections. Look, it’s a good group here and they understand that tomorrow will be tough to watch it. It’ll go down. But shame on us if we can’t get those corrections made. That won’t be a problem. It’s much easier to come in and watch tape after you win, but that’s one of the things about this game that creates a little bit of toughness and grit.”

This Saints team has enjoyed plenty of success in recent years, having been built around a largely-intact core of players going back to the 2017 season opener; they’ve won 33 of their last 45 games together, and know what must be done to rebound from a poor outing like this one.

Still, knowing what to do and putting it into practice are two different things. And the Saints have a critical four-game stretch ahead of them, featuring three more NFC South divisional games (peaking with a prime-time rematch in Atlanta on Thanksgiving) and then a home game in the Superdome against the San Francisco 49ers. If Payton and the Saints can right the ship and handle their business, they could be in position to lock up the division title and maybe a top-two playoff seed by the end of it. But that’s easier said than done in a league where any team can win on any given Sunday.

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