One of the perks of playing on Thursday nights is the mini-bye week teams get to help recover from that disruption to their schedule, and it’s come at a great time for the New Orleans Saints. They’re reeling after a 2-5 start to the season with injuries hitting the starting lineup hard on offense, but with a lot of regression on defense. Coaches have had extra time to study the tape and evaluate the squad, and players have had extra time to rest up and recover. Hopefully that all makes a difference.
Dennis Allen’s squad needs all the help it can get. His history isn’t exactly inspiring — Allen started out 3-4 in each of his first two years with the Raiders as head coach, only to go 1-8 down the stretch in both seasons, twice losing six games in a row. He was dismissed after an 0-4 start in his third year on the job. He’s failed to even match his best performances with awful Raiders rosters on a Saints team everyone said was set up perfectly to compete right away. Can he turn it around this time? Or is this just who he is?
With all of that in mind, here are our game-by-game predictions for the 10 games remaining on their schedule:
Week 8: Saints vs. Raiders
Prediction: Loss (2-6)
The Raiders are rolling after they dismantled the Texas last week, and the Saints are just hoping enough players can come off the injury report to make this competitive. Josh Jacobs feels like a bad matchup for New Orleans.
Week 9: Saints vs. Ravens (MNF)
Prediction: Loss (2-7)
Here comes an MVP-caliber talent and a still-stout Ravens defense. Unless things change in a hurry, this is going to be just as hard to watch as the Saints’ last Monday night game with Baltimore — a 34-27 shellacking in which New Orleans gave up 215 rushing yards.
Week 10: Saints at Steelers
Prediction: Win (3-7)
There’s so little to like about the Steelers offense that this might end up being a “get right” game for the New Orleans defense. T.J. Watt should be back in the lineup, though, which will do a lot to elevate the Pittsburgh defense. But the Saints should have figured out enough things by this point in the season that they can handle that challenge, even on the road.
Week 11: Saints vs. Rams
Prediction: Loss (3-8)
The Rams have fallen back to earth, and time will tell if they make another one of their patented all-in moves to reload for another title run. I could see the Saints getting away with a win here especially if their defense has stabilized, but for now I’m begrudgingly picking L.A. in New Orleans.
Week 12: Saints at 49ers
Prediction: Loss (3-9)
San Francisco has some warts, sure, but they’ll be easy to overlook once Christian McCaffrey has fully acclimated to this offense. The first of two road trips could be tough for New Orleans. If they’re still missing tackles as frequently as we’re seeing now, the 49ers shouldn’t have much to worry about.
Week 13: Saints at Buccaneers (MNF)
Prediction: Win (4-9)
The Buccaneers got away with a win earlier this year after some poorly-timed New Orleans turnovers, but I like the Saints to rally for some revenge here. Tampa Bay is in really rough shape. If New Orleans protects the ball, they’ll win this one.
Week 14: Bye
Thank goodness.
Week 15: Saints vs. Falcons
Prediction: Win (5-9)
This is a good matchup for the Saints late in the season, against their greatest rival — a team whose tendencies and personnel they know well. They shouldn’t have much trouble dispatching the Falcons on their home turf.
Week 16: Saints at Browns
Prediction: Loss (5-10)
The Browns are a dumpster fire, and that’s even before Deshaun Watson returning from his 11-game suspension. But he could give Cleveland the spark it needs to go on a second-half run, and the Saints are one team caught in their crosshairs. This week and next will be cold-weather road trips against teams with tough defenses.
Week 17: Saints at Eagles
Prediction: Loss (5-11)
No team has beaten the Saints as badly or consistently in recent years as Jalen Hurts’ Eagles, and they’ll have all the motivation in the world to win again in Week 17. Philadelphia will be in position to secure the NFC’s top playoff seed (if they haven’t already) and a win over the Saints could secure a top-10 draft pick coming their way from New Orleans. Philly’s rushing offense has given even the best Saints defenses fits, and this year’s version of it is already struggling.
Week 18: Saints vs. Panthers
Prediction: Win (6-11)
The Panther swill be looking to lock up the top pick in next year’s draft with a loss here, so don’t expect them to exactly pull out all the stops in hope of a season-ending victory. A win on draft day in late April means more to Carolina than an upset in mid-January, even against a division rival. Could this season-closing win be the spark Dennis Allen’s team needs to rally going into the offseason? Or will it even be his team anymore?
Roundup
In our first seasonlong win-loss predictions, we had the Saints finishing at an 11-6 record with a ticket to the playoffs. But they haven’t looked anything like a playoff team to start the year and Allen’s history suggests they won’t get there. It’s been kind of a disaster. Hopefully big changes are on the way so the Saints can right the ship and prove us wrong.
A 6-11 finish, what we’re projecting here, would have been enough to receive the No. 7 overall pick last season. Instead, that selection is going to the Eagles. It means the Saints probably won’t be on the clock until No. 38 overall (the Miami Dolphins forfeited their first rounder this year, meaning there are only 31 picks in the first round instead of the usual 32).
That’s far from ideal, but the good news is they’ve drafted well in the second round lately with picks like Pete Werner and Erik McCoy, with Alontae Taylor promising early on, too. The Saints will need all the help they can get to turn this around. Of course all of this is moot if the Saints can start winning games anyway and make the draft an even more distant concern.
