Tag: Seahawks

PFF suggests Saints may have the best roster among playoff contenders

The New Orleans Saints were ranked as the most complete team in the NFL playoffs, above the Packers, Chiefs, Seahawks, Bills, and all others

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The New Orleans Saints enter the NFL playoffs with one of the better records among remaining teams at 12-4, but how do they stack up on a position-by-position basis? Pro Football Focus analyst Ian Hartitz surveyed the group of contenders and ended up ranking New Orleans on top, in large part due to their steady play in the trenches on each side of the ball.

But the Saints have also gotten solid production out of a constantly-shifting group of pass catchers, which Hartitz took time to talk up:

“This receiver room has been banged up all season long, but help should hopefully be on the way with Michael Thomas (ankle, IR) tentatively expected to suit up Sunday against the Bears. Still, this team’s tight end room and complementary options are hardly liabilities; this offense was a top-15 unit in PFF receiving grade, yards after the catch per reception, yards per route run and drop rate.”

That certainly suggests it’s been more than a one-man show, despite Alvin Kamara’s excellence. And the Saints will need all hands on deck not just to beat the Chicago Bears this week (who held New Orleans to just 26 points scored, their second-lowest total on the year in games not quarterbacked by Taysom Hill), but to advance into the playoffs.

The field is littered with high-powered passing offenses, which is an area the Saints could be vulnerable. While Hartitz praised the Saints for their stout run defense, their lapses in coverage could be a fatal flaw. He continued:

“The larger issue for this defense is what happens when their front-seven isn’t able to impact the play. Overall, each of Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (No. 22 in yards allowed per coverage snap), Janoris Jenkins (No. 44) and Marshon Lattimore (No. 55) underwhelmed among 78 qualified corners in their ability to consistently hold up downfield.”

So how will this projection work out? Anything can happen in the postseason, which Saints fans are well aware of. But it would be great to see this looking nice in hindsight if New Orleans can go win another Super Bowl.

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The one (potentially) fatal flaw for every NFC wild-card team

The MFC wild-card matchups have been set. Here’s the one thing that could have each of the 12 teams out of the playoffs in a big hurry.

Now that we know all the matchups for wild-card weekend, it’s time to get into scouting those games and deciding where the breaking points are for each playoff team. Because while you have to be pretty decent to make the postseason unless your home is in the NFC East, there are always exploitable issues that could get you booted out of the playoffs before you even begin.

Some flaws are fixable — players return from injury, coaches learn how best to scheme around the liabilities, and opponents can have more obvious and more exploitable issues.

With all that said, here’s the one (potentially) fatal flaw for every NFC wild-card team, and the matchups therein:

Saturday, January 9, 4:40 ET: Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks, FOX

Saturday, January 9, 8:15 ET: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Washington Football Team, NBC

Sunday, January 10, 4:40 ET: Chicago Bears at New Orleans Saints, CBS/Nickelodeon/Amazon Prime Video

Click here to see the one (potentially) fatal flaw for every AFC wild-card team.

NFL playoffs 2020: Game schedule, matchups, TV info

Here are the times and matchups for all the wild-card playoff games, with schedules and television information.

Now that all the wild-card matchups are set, we know exactly how we’ll all be spending our time next Saturday and Sunday. With an additional playoff spot in each conference this season, we have three Saturday and three Sunday wild-card games, and here’s how it all shakes out.

New Orleans Saints know their 2021 opponents, except for one

The New Orleans Saints will face off with the AFC East and NFC East in 2021, and they are also scheduled to play the Packers and Seahawks.

Most of the NFL’s division titles have been won in 2020, so the New Orleans Saints have a good idea of who (and where) they’ll be playing.

Well, almost. The NFL’s plan to introduce a 17th regular season game has yet to be explained in any detail, and it’s unclear how the league plans to schedule that extra opponent for each team. So just keep that slot open.

Anyway: here are the opponents the Saints will face in 2021.

Saints still mathematically alive in the hunt for NFC’s No.1 playoff seed

The New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks are in the thick of the NFC playoff picture and will watch Week 16’s Packers-Titans game closely

Nothing is set in stone yet. The New Orleans Saints have clinched the NFC South, but they’re still competing for positioning in the NFL playoff picture. And so are the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks. There’s plenty left to say about how the playoffs may shake out.

So here’s what to watch for, and what Saints fans should root for both on Sunday night and in Week 17:

Updated NFL power rankings scrutinize Saints after Chiefs loss

The New Orleans Saints stumbled further down the updated NFL power rankings following their Week 15 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Back-to-back losses have taken a lot of the shine off the New Orleans Saints despite their 10-3 record, and it’s seen them fall again in the latest NFL power rankings.

Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield acknowledged that while the Saints defense showed plenty of fight in a close game with the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, the time it took for Drew Brees to knock off the rust in his first game back from injuries might have been too costly in the hunt for coveted playoff positioning:

“Now the bad news: The loss drops them a full game behind the Green Bay Packers in the hunt for the first-round bye in the NFC, and with the Packers owning the tiebreaker due to their Week 3 win in New Orleans, that is in essence a two-game lead for the Packers with two to go.”

New Orleans slipped down to the No. 7 spot after idling at No. 5 a week ago in Touchdown Wire’s NFL power rankings, trailing only the Green Bay Packers (No. 2) among their peers in the NFC. But it’s a very thin line between the Saints and other NFC teams in the top ten, with the Seattle Seahawks (No. 8) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 9) nipping at their heels. The Saints can’t afford to drop a loss to the Minnesota Vikings on a short week and end up playing for the NFC South title in Week 17.

However, USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis took a more optimistic spin on the state of the Saints. He dropped them from No. 3 to No. 4 in his NFL power rankings, also slotting the Packers at No. 2 while the Seahawks (No. 7) and Buccaneers (No. 8) climbed a little higher. He’s seen the Saints in this sort of position before, writing:

“They’re staggering down the stretch, but New Orleans historians will recall a similar December 11 years ago that ended with a Lombardi Gras party.”

Maybe the Saints can recapture some of that 2009 magic in time for the postseason. But they’re so short-handed on offense these days that it’s tough to see New Orleans elbowing its way back into the race for the NFC’s top playoff seed. We’re entering what may be the final weeks of Brees’ career, and there couldn’t be much more on the line than this. Let’s see if he and his teammates rise to the occasion on Christmas Day.

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NFL Playoff Picture: Saints control their own destiny, again, in Week 16

The New Orleans Saints have several playoff scenarios to clinch the NFC South in Week 16, but the easiest path means beating the Vikings.

This is starting to sound like a broken record. The New Orleans Saints need just one more win to clinch the NFC South and secure a top-three playoff seed, keeping them in contention for the all-too-valuable top seed. That’s been the story for two weeks, and the Saints have dropped a loss in each of those two games.

But there’s still a path or two for New Orleans to clinch the division after a loss or tie. The NFL announced Week 16’s playoff clinch scenarios on Tuesday, which I’ve broken down below. All odds via BetMGM.

First, though, let’s consider the current NFL playoff picture. Here’s your projected seedings and matchups via ESPN:

Saints take a tumble in updated NFL power rankings after Eagles upset

The New Orleans Saints took a fall in the updated NFL power rankings, with the Packers, Rams, and Seahawks joining them in the top 10.

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A surprising defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles has taken a lot of shine off the New Orleans Saints, who went into the game favored by a touchdown and riding a 9-game winning streak. Taysom Hill took some time to heat up against a ferocious Eagles defensive line that kept him under pressure throughout the afternoon, but the Saints’ shortcomings on defense — where they allowed a pair of 100-yard rushers after going 55 games without a single one — and in the kicking game all contributed to the loss.

While that’s bad enough to drop them from No. 2 to 5 in the latest NFL power rankings from Mark Schofield over at Touchdown Wire, Schofield doesn’t like what he sees coming for New Orleans over the next three weeks. Their remaining schedule forecasts some difficult matchups with playoff seeding on the line:

“Unfortunately, the notion of the top seed in the NFC seems to be slipping away. Right now the Green Bay Packers have that spot, thanks to their Week 3 win over the Saints. Making matters worse is the fact that New Orleans has to play the Kansas City Chiefs on next Sunday, and then the Minnesota Vikings just five days after that. Two games, both against playoff contenders (one of them perhaps the league’s best team) in five days? A tough test indeed.”

While the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers are fighting their way back to the top tier, they’re still outside Schofield’s top-10 (rising from No. 13 to 11). Other NFC teams in the Saints’ orbit include the Seattle Seahawks (No. 9), the Los Angeles Rams (No. 6), and the Green Bay Packers (No. 2). The Saints’ current projected wild-card round opponent, the Arizona Cardinals, are slotted in at No. 14 (last week: 17).

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Updated NFC playoff picture, Saints projection after Week 14 games

The New Orleans Saints are still projected to win the NFC South, but they have a lower spot in the NFC playoff picture after Week 14.

The New Orleans Saints overlooked the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 14 and fell to 10-3, significantly shifting the postseason landscape. Instead of being the projected No. 1 seed with a first-round bye, they’re now on track to face the wild-card Arizona Cardinals and Kyler Murray in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Here’s your updated NFC playoff picture:

Catch limit? Voracious osprey nabs three fish in one swoop

A Florida photographer has captured footage of a large osprey plucking three fish out of the water in one swoop.

A photographer on Monday captured video footage of an osprey lifting a fish  nearly its size out of Florida’s Sebastian Inlet.

While Mark Smith‘s footage is spectacular, he informed For The Win Outdoors that he recently captured footage of an osprey flying off with three fish in its talons. (The clip is posted below.)

An ambitious endeavor, but the pinfish were slippery and one wriggled free and continued to wriggle as it plummeted toward earth.

How did the osprey respond? The raptor simply transferred one of the other two fish to its free talon, and flew off with enough food to last an entire day.

Smith joked on Twitter: “Oh what’s that? There is a two fish limit? Well let me leave one right here for later.”

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Smith said ospreys have been on a feeding spree lately in and near the inlet, and that diving ospreys are a fairly common sight.

Ospreys, which prey almost exclusively on fish, can plunge talons-first more than three feet below the surface, and can catch fish weighing a pound or more.

They’ll often spend hours consuming their meals from high perches such as branches, cliff faces, and even the tops of power poles and light posts.

–Video courtesy of Mark Smith Photography (image is a screen shot)