By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
Somehow, against all the odds, unbelievably, the National Football League has reached the final week of the 2020 season.
It hasn’t always been pretty, but here we are heading into Week 17 more than half the teams in the league having something significant left to play for.
Did I say it hasn’t been pretty? Well…
Consider a few points.
This season is the first time the NFL has played games on every day of the week.
Ironically, the last day of the week to feature a game – a Friday – was the Christmas Day clash between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings that had been scheduled even before the Covid-19 pandemic started scrambling the league’s schedule.
Games played on Tuesday and Wednesday, plus a couple on Monday afternoon, were games that had to be postponed because of Covid concerns.
Other oddities included the Denver Broncos having to literally pull a guy off the street to play quarterback against the Saints, because all their other four QBs were ruled out for violating the league’s Covid-19 restrictions.
You also had just this past weekend the case of the Cleveland Browns being told on Saturday, less than 24 hours before kickoff against the New York Jets, that five players, including the heart of their receiving corps, were out because one of them tested positive for the Coronavirus.
With their offense thusly crippled, the Browns lost to the Jets 23-16, and now find that a playoff berth that seemed virtually assured now depends on a win at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Good luck with that.
Sunday marks the end of a wild and unique season, with a new playoff format looming after next weekend’s games. And, as of now, all the league’s games will be on Sunday. Maybe it will stay that way. One can only hope.
This season, the NFL will go with a 14-team playoff format, seven in each conference, which means only the top seeded team gets a bye through the Wild-Card Round.
The league hasn’t said if it will revert to the longtime 12-team format next year, keep the 14-team system or use this season’s format as a stepping-stone to expand the playoffs even further, to a 16-team field.
There is something to be said about a system where every team in the postseason must follow the same path to a championship clash, four games, rather than giving some teams a week off in the first round, while forcing others to play.
But that’s an essay for another day.
The subject for today is the end of this season and the playoffs to follow, specifically as it relates to the New Orleans Saints.
The Saints will be traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday to battle the Carolina Panthers with a playoff berth firmly in hand, along with their fourth consecutive NFC South Division title.
The Saints, at 11-4, currently occupy the No. 2 spot in the NFC, a game behind the Green Bay Packers, but the Packers own the head-to-head tiebreaker over New Orleans thanks to a 35-30 win over the Saints back in September.
However, the Saints can still grab the top seed away from the Packers, assuming they win over Carolina, but they’ll need help.
Green Bay faces a tough contest at Chicago Sunday against the suddenly resurgent Bears, who have won three straight games after a six-game losing streak. Da Bears have a simple task ahead of them; beat the Packers and they’re in the playoffs.
However, the Saints also need for Seattle to beat San Francisco, so that the Saints, Packers and Seahawks all finish 12-4. In that scenario, a three-way tie for the top seed, New Orleans would have the tiebreaker because of a better record in conference games.
The Saints could also drop to the No. 3 spot, if they lose Sunday and Seattle wins, so there is plenty left to play for, and it appears that New Orleans is starting to get its game in gear for a strong push in January.
There has been a sense of urgency about the Saints for the past few seasons, as future Hall of Famer Drew Brees nears the end of his record-breaking career as the Saints quarterback.
The combination of Brees and head coach Sean Payton have a Super Bowl championship, the glorious season of 2009 when everything broke their way, but that is their only championship season so far.
The Saints have been one of the NFL’s elite teams for almost the entirety of the 15 years of the Brees-Payton partnership in New Orleans, so only winning one Super Bowl – great as it was – will feel like unfulfilled promise.
That sense of urgency has been heightened by the fact that Brees has missed nine games over the past two seasons. In 2019, it was a thumb injury that sidelined the Saints’ leader; this year it was broken ribs.
It is to Payton’s credit that the Saints went 8-1 in the games they’ve played without Brees taking the snaps. Last year, it was Teddy Bridgewater who filled in admirably; this season it’s been Taysom Hill who has stepped in.
They’ve been able to continue winning because Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis have built what many believe is the most complete team in the league.
They’ve got the best running back in the NFL in Alvin Kamara, a salty defense that ranks high in every category and a veteran kicking game with kicker Wil Lutz and punter Thomas Morstead.
The Saints haven’t had to get greatness from Brees, the way they did a few years back when the team was retooling.
While having a healthy Brees is still a big key to the Saints’ postseason success, the Saints are going to go about as far as Kamara can carry them.
And that could be a scary thought for coaches in the NFC who must create a plan to defend him. Kamara ruined a lot of defensive coaches’ Christmas with his performance on Friday.
Kamara ran 22 times for 155 yards and scored six touchdowns, which tied a record for an NFL game set in 1929 by Ernie Nevers with the old Chicago Cardinals.
Afterward, in the postgame interview, Kamara was effusive in his praise for the Saints’ offensive line, which is the mark of a true team player.
In fact, a large part of the Saints’ success the past four seasons has been the development of their offensive line. Loomis and Payton have invested heavily in putting together one of the best offensive lines in the league.
It goes back to that storied 2017 draft that not only brought Kamara to New Orleans, but also standout tackle Ryan Ramczyk, who was a first-round pick.
Ramczyk has teamed with Andrus Peat and Terron Armstead to form a standout crew that paves the way for not only Kamara, but also Latavius Murray, and has been charged with protecting Brees.
By the way, that draft also brought the Saints four other players that have become key to their success: defensive backs Marshon Lattimore (the team’s first pick that year) and Marcus Williams, linebacker Alex Anzelone and defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
On Christmas Day, New Orleans ended up defeating the Vikings 52-33, scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win.
As a team, the Saints ran for a season-high 264 yards, they were 5 of 9 on third downs and converted the only time they went for it on fourth down.
Brees was efficient, completing 19 of 26 passes for 311 yards, no touchdowns. He was picked off twice, however, once on a bad pass, the other on a tipped ball that Emmanuel Sanders probably should have caught.
Nevertheless, over the last six quarters, all four quarters of the Vikings game and the second half of the previous week’s loss to Kansas City, the Saints have looked like a team rounding into playoff trim.
All they can do now is win Sunday, then see where things fall. Having to go through Green Bay to get to the Super Bowl won’t be easy, so getting the bye would be huge.
However, New Orleans showed against the Vikings that they have a workhorse back and an efficient line that can win on the frozen tundra in January.
The Saints should also get back star wideout Michael Thomas, who could redeem a frustrating, injury-plagued season with a big contribution in the playoffs. They’ve been able to build some depth at the wide receiver position, but there’s no question the Saints have missed Thomas.
It has been a wild and wacky season, and the playoffs promise more of the same. There really isn’t a true dominant team in the NFC this year, which would leave the door open for the Saints to wipe away the bitterness of the past three seasons with a championship run.
The Packers have looked great much of the year, but they’ve had some stumbles. Seattle started 5-0, but their defense was suspect then, yet it’s been the defense that has fueled their surge. And I don’t think anyone wants to face Tom Brady in January, even if he is 43.
With time running out to cement their legacy, the Saints look to have as good a chance as any team in the NFC to carry off the Lombardi Trophy with a Super Bowl victory.
Stan Caldwell is veteran sportwriter with more than 35 years in the Hattiesburg area.
