Predicting the final six games of the Saints schedule

The New Orleans Saints are entering their bye week before finishing the season with a six-game stretch that should be fairly interesting. At 4-7, the Saints are not out of the playoff picture by any means, especially in a weak NFC South, but it would take a near-flawless final stretch to make something special happen.

In their final six games, the Saints get a mixture of good and bad teams. They will face the Rams, Commanders and Raiders at home and travel to the Giants, Packers and Buccaneers. Today, we’re going to try to predict how many more wins the Saints can get before the season ends.

Week 13 – vs LA Rams
The Saints will host the LA Rams two Sunday’s from now on December 1st. The Rams have been an interesting case this year; they’re 5-5 with wins over San Fran and Minnesota, but they’ve also fallen to teams like Miami and Arizona. They’ve won four of their last five, but get a tough Eagles team this weekend.

The Saints will have the bye advantage in this game (the Rams bye came all the way back in week six), which certainly helps their case, but the Rams passing offense scares the heck out of me. Stafford has passed for 250+ yards in five of his last six games, and with Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua back, that likely won’t change any time soon. The Saints defense ranks 29th in passing yards allowed per game, so they’ll have a hard time stopping them.

I think the Saints can make this one interesting, but I think Stafford, Kupp and Nacua are too much for the Black and Gold.

Prediction: Rams 27, Saints 23

Week 14 – @ NY Giants
The Giants have been all over the news lately with the benching of Daniel Jones and reports that Brian Dabol is coaching for his job in the coming weeks. They’ve now turned to Tommy Devito to try to turn their season around, but I don’t think they have an answer to their problems in the building.

The Giants are losers of five in a row and played Tampa and Dallas the next two weeks leading up to this game. I know it’s in New York, but I just don’t see a world where this Saints team losses to the Giants.

Prediction: Saints 31, Giants 14

Week 15 – vs Washington Commanders
This is probably the most entertaining game left on the schedule for the Saints. The Commanders, who are in the midst of one of their best seasons in recent memory under Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels, come to the Superdome in week 15 in front of what should be a rowdy crowd.

The Commanders are 7-4, but haven’t beat a team with a winning record yet. Luckily for them, the Saints don’t have a winning record. They will also be coming off a bye when they come to New Orleans.

I think this game will be closer than many people think, but I also think the Commanders offense is too balanced and their defense is solid enough to win this game, but I don’t think it’s by more than a touchdown.

Prediction: Commanders 24, Saints 19

Week 16 – at Green Bay Packers
After hosting the Commanders, the Saints will travel to Green Bay to face the Packers. It should be a freezing cold game, which certainly does not play to the Saints favor.

Even though the Packers are 7-3 right now and will likely have 9-10 wins by the time this game rolls around, I’m not that high on them. I don’t think Jordan Love is as good as he’s made out to be and I think their defense is more susceptible than the public thinks.

I think they’ll win this game, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Saints shock the Packers. On a frigid night in Green Bay, Alvin Kamara goes crazy and Blake Grupe hits a game-winning FG to ruin Packers fan’s Christmas.

Prediction: Saints 23, Packers 21

Week 17 – vs LV Raiders
Coming off a big win over the Packers, the Saints will come back to New Orleans for their final home game of the season versus the LV Raiders. The Raiders started 2-2, but have since lost six in a row to fall to 2-8. They could very well still have two wins by the time they come to New Orleans with some tough games between then and now.

I don’t see any bright spots on this Raiders team outside of Brock Bowers. They are bad at pretty much every phase of the game, and I think they’re just looking towards the offseason at this point.

Prediction: Saints 34, Raiders 13

Week 18 – at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
At this point in my predictions, the Saints are sitting at 7-9 with one final game to go versus the Buccaneers. I’ll go out on a limb and say Atlanta has either wrapped the division up or is in a fight with the Bucs by this point.

We watched the Bucs lay it on the Saints earlier in the season, but this is a different team than the one that played them with Dennis Allen as Head Coach. However, I don’t think they’re so much improved that it’ll really matter. Tampa has a solid team and could still be fighting for their playoff lives, so I’m giving the nod to Tampa.

Prediction: Bucs 24, Saints 17

Final Record Prediction: 7-10