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Saints fan rooting guide for Week 13’s remaining games

John Sigler
·6 min read

Which teams should New Orleans Saints fans be pulling for in Week 13? With the black and gold sitting in limbo at an unfortunate 5-7, somehow balanced between a high draft pick and being in the thick of the playoff picture, it really depends on what your goals are.

So here’s a quick look around the NFL’s Week 13 slate from each perspective. If you’re still in on the Saints as a wild-card team, we’ve got answers (and predictions on how their schedule could play out) — and if you’re a sicko more interested in draft positioning (read our recent mock draft), we’ve got information there, too.

Games with playoff seeding implications

  • New York Giants (4-7) at Miami Dolphins (5-7): Big Blue ranks behind the Saints for now, but a win would put them ahead of New Orleans in the playoff standings owing to their head-to-head victory early this season. Pull for the Dolphins to hand them a loss.

  • Minnesota Vikings (5-6) at Detroit Lions (0-10-1): The Vikings are, for now, the projected 8th seed in the NFC — a win this week would keep them in competition for the 7th seed and get them into the playoffs. So pull for a big Lions upset to bump Minnesota down into the crowd of 5-7 teams with New Orleans.

  • Philadelphia Eagles (5-7) at New York Jets (3-8): The Eagles have beaten the Saints head to head and are ranked a couple playoff seeds higher because of it. Root for a Gardner Minshew meltdown against Sheldon Rankins and the Jets to help the Saints climb back up into postseason relevance.

  • Arizona Cardinals (9-2) at Chicago Bears (4-7): A Bears win would tie their record with the Saints, Eagles, and Carolina Panthers (who are on bye this week) and possibly complicate things. Root for Arizona to put them away decisively.

  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-3) at Atlanta Falcons (5-6): It’s really, really unlikely, but a Buccaneers loss (and several subsequent losses) could theoretically put the NFC South title back in reach for the Saints. More realistic is the Falcons collapsing and taking another hurdle out of New Orleans’ way. The Falcons are the 9th seed right now but could slide closer to the Saints (the 12th seed) with a loss. I know it’s a lot to ask of Saints fans but root for a Falcons loss on Sunday.

  • Washington Football Team (5-6) at Las Vegas Raiders (6-5): Washington is currently the 7th seed in the NFC, but the Saints have a head-to-head win over them and that would help in tiebreaking procedures. Root for the Raiders to hang on with a win and push Ron Rivera’s squad down into the 5-7 morass.

Games that impact the projected draft order

  • New York Giants (4-7) at Miami Dolphins (5-7): Both teams are ahead of the Saints, though the Dolphins traded their 2022 first rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles. But a Miami win would improve them to 6-7 and see that Eagles pick fall behind the Saints. New York’s weaker strength of schedule keeps them ahead of New Orleans with or without a loss this week.

  • Minnesota Vikings (5-6) at Detroit Lions (0-10-1): The Vikings are a couple slots behind the Saints right now, but a loss would see them actually pick ahead of the Saints owing to their weaker strength of schedule. I understand refusing to root for a rival team with some ugly history with the Saints, so look at it as pulling for a Lions loss instead of a Minnesota victory.

  • Philadelphia Eagles (5-7) at New York Jets (3-8): Despite having beaten the Saints earlier this season, the Eagles own the projected 8th overall pick right now and would get to pick ahead of New Orleans at least once (maybe twice if the pick they got from Miami is high, too). There’s a big gap in Philadelphia’s strength of schedule and the Saints’, so root for a huge Gardner Minshew game to lift them out of the top 10 — and maybe help make Jalen Hurts available for trade in a few months.

  • Arizona Cardinals (9-2) at Chicago Bears (4-7): While the Bears did trade their 2022 first rounder to the Giants so they could move up and get Justin Fields this year, they’ve been bad enough to put that pick ahead of the Saints. But Chicago’s strength of schedule is equal to New Orleans, and could climb higher depending on how the year plays out. Root for a Bears upset to tie their record with the Saints and possibly push them behind New Orleans later on.

  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-3) at Atlanta Falcons (5-6): Yuck. Can both teams lose? From a draft perspective you’d want to see a Buccaneers loss, though. The Falcons have the 12th overall pick right now, with the Saints at 11th, but an Atlanta loss pushes them ahead of the Saints thanks to their lower strength of schedule. Pull for a Tampa Bay screwup.

  • Washington Football Team (5-6) at Las Vegas Raiders (6-5): Worried about how a Washington loss, putting them at 5-7, would impact the Saints? You don’t need to be. Washington has a higher strength of schedule than the Saints and would be picking behind New Orleans even with a road loss to the Raiders. Still, you’d like to keep that out of play altogether so throw some support behind Ron Rivera’s squad.

  • Baltimore Ravens (8-3) at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-5-1): This could be a problem. A Steelers loss would drop them down to a lower win percentage than the Saints, what with that tie (why are tied games still possible in the NFL?), putting Pittsburgh ahead of New Orleans in the projected draft order. So pull for an upset over the visiting Ravens.

  • San Francisco 49ers (6-5) at Seattle Seahawks (3-8): Quick sidebar here, because this game doesn’t really matter for playoff positioning or draft order — but another Seattle loss helps further doom their season and quicken their divorce with Russell Wilson. For teams that will be calling to try and trade for him in the offseason, potentially including the Saints, you want Wilson to be ready to move on and for Seattle to be desperate for a draft pick after trading theirs (very likely a top-5 pick!) to the New York Jets for Jamal Adams.

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