Each Friday this NFL season, we’re taking a quick look at the league’s most interesting team in action that weekend. This week, we’re going with the New Orleans Saints.
Why the Saints? Frankly, we could have just as easily gone with New Orleans’ Week 13 opponent, Detroit. The real point of interest is the matchup between an impossible-to-ignore, heart-stopping Lions team and a Saints team that is defying the odds by remaining in the playoff race despite low preseason expectations and a bad defense. Because the Saints are at home and their season is basically on the line, they get the nod.
Why this week? At 5-6, it’s pretty much do-or-die from here on out for Drew Brees and Co. At home against a Detroit team that has played 11 straight one-score games to start and the season, that’s just gold. Incredibly, while working with a mishmash group of receivers and with a defense that has given up nearly 28 points per game, the 37-year-old Brees is putting together quite possibly the best season of his Hall of Fame career.
What should we expect? A lot of points and a wild finish. The Saints have the league’s No. 2-ranked offense and are coming off a 49-point performance in a blowout home victory over a Los Angeles Rams team with a very good D. But every Lions game goes down to the wire, so this certainly feels as though it’ll end with fireworks.
Put it all together and for at least one weekend, the Saints are America’s most interesting football team.
