The Who Dat Nation should watch the Atlanta Falcons-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game closely on Sunday. Their New Orleans Saints currently sit in third place in the NFC South and that’s as low as they can drop in Week 14 with a loss. They could raise as high as second-place with a win over the Carolina Panthers. Though a Tampa Bay loss causes the Saints to rise to second-place, the Bucs winning is still more favorable to the Saints.
As it currently stands, the Falcons stand at the top of the NFC South with a 6-6 record. At 5-7 each, New Orleans and Tampa Bay are tied for second place, but Tampa has the tiebreaker. The best outcome New Orleans could hope for is a 3-way tie for first place at the end of the week. That can only come from a Buccaneers victory.
An Atlanta victory gives the Falcons a 4-0 divisional record. Them defeating Carolina later in the season isn’t guaranteed but should be expected. Essentially, winning this week would give the Falcons a good chance at winning five NFC South games and that would clinch them any tiebreakers against New Orleans. The Saints could tie the head-to-head matchups, but would lose the divisional record tiebreaker in this hypothetical.
A Buccaneers loss would be great for the standings at the end of the week, but an Atlanta loss is more beneficial for the long term goals of the season. Either way the outcome of the Falcons versus Buccaneers game should be of interest to Saints fans.
