The Saints were down and almost out as of week 9. They just traded their best wide receiver in Michael Thomas. In their first game without him the offense struggled only putting up 7 points versus the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens played a suffocating man blitzing defense that blanked the Saints wide receivers all game. After this game coach Burn was asked, “ Do you regret trading your best wide receiver?” The answer was a straight no and that the offense would change some things and work out the kinks without Thomas in their roster.
Coach Burn was right in his words and has this Saints offense playing smarter and safer than when Thomas was on the roster. Thomas was the go to, especially when man coverage was identified. He was a receiver who wasn’t fast but had the route running and catching abilities to beat any receiver. This was good and bad for Winston as Thomas would catch those jump balls, however, it would also lead to game breaking interceptions. An example of this was the end of the Raiders game where Thomas was out jumped by a shorter safety in the red zone thus resulting in a loss.
The Saints are 9-7, and have won 6 out of their last 7. They have officially played 8 games without Thomas and are an outstanding 6-2 without him. Ironically, Coach Burn and the Saints got their revenge against Thomas in week 11 when they beat the number one seeded Rams 32-26.
Kamara and Olave have stepped up in Thomas’ absence. They are both matchup nightmares for most defenders and Coach Burn has gameplanned an offense that revolves around getting them the ball. Newly acquired wide receiver Jefferson hasn’t been the spark that he was brought in to be, however, he does just enough to get the ball when the aforementioned two are covered. Jefferson, Kamara, and Olave are the big three for the Saints and they are being developed to beat the man coverage that they see week in and week out.
While the Saints have turned around their season in dramatic fashion, they are still on the outs of the playoffs. They currently sit in 10th place in the NFC. Currently, the Seahawks, Bears, and Commanders are the wildcard spots. The issue with this is most of the wildcard potentials play each other and the Saints have lost to the Seahawks and Vikings. If the Saints win next week against the Panthers, they would end up with a record of 10-7. The Hawks are already 10-5 and have the tiebreaker, while the Bears are 9-6, and Commanders are 10-6. The Saints will need to win vs the Panthers, for the Bears to beat the Lions and Vikings, then for the Commanders to lose to the Cowboys. This would make the Bears 11-6, the Hawks 10-7 worst case if they lose both games, and the Saints 10-7 which should round out the wildcard assuming the math is correct. Even if the other potential wildcard teams had the same record, the Saints would have the tiebreaker as they would have 8 NFC wins.
We only have a few more days left of the regular season and we will see how it all shakes out, however, one thing that is for sure is that this Saints team didn’t give up when all was lost and they now have a potential shot at more.
