What are your expectations for the New Orleans Saints? Super Bowl or bust? Any improvement over last year’s performance? Or just to tread water in the post-Sean Payton era? Everyone has their own thoughts on where the Saints are headed, but just getting back to the postseason would settle a lot of discontent.
The latest take comes from USA Today’s Nate Davis (subscriber only), who predicts the Saints will finish 2022 with the same record that they found in 2021 — but this time it’ll be enough to get them into the playoffs as the NFC’s No. 7 seed. Here’s what Davis had to say about his prediction for what he sees as a 9-8 Saints team:
“The tiebreaking formula relegated last season’s 9-8 team a non-playoff qualifier. It wouldn’t have mattered had QB Jameis Winston (knee) been available for more than seven games (5-2 record). Winston was playing the most efficient football of his NFL career in 2021 before going down – albeit with since-departed HC Sean Payton and RB Alvin Kamara, who could face a stiff suspension in 2022 given his involvement in a fracas at last season’s Pro Bowl. Still, the Saints should be well balanced by their topnotch defense, and Winston should have no shortage of weapons given the arrival of WRs Jarvis Landry and Chris Olave, a first-round pick, to say nothing of Michael Thomas’ return. And remember this: New Orleans has seven straight regular-season wins against the Bucs.”
