Saints say experience, talent trumps seeding
Pierre Thomas and the New Orleans Saints aren’t too keen on
playing the underdog role in the playoffs.
They’ve had too much success over most of the past half-decade
to see themselves that way, even if they needed until the final day
of the regular season to wrap up the last playoff seed in the
NFC.
”If we were a sixth seed, if we were a first seed, we’re going
to come at these playoffs the same way,” Thomas said Monday, as
the Saints began preparations for Saturday night’s wild card-round
game in Philadelphia. ”We’re going to get the job done. We’re
going to stay focused. We know everything is on the line at this
point. So we’re going to have to take this game serious, which we
will, and just go out here and play our game.”
Thomas said the Saints essentially went into playoff mode last
week while preparing for their regular-season finale against Tampa
Bay – a game they had to win to assure themselves of a playoff
spot. The Saints rolled up 468 yards of offense, while New Orleans’
defense allowed only a field goal in the second half of a 42-17
demolition of the Buccaneers.
As it turned out, Arizona’s narrow loss to San Francisco would
have put New Orleans in the postseason regardless, but the Saints
wanted to finish the season in good form after losing the previous
two weeks.
”We have to come out here and put everything on the line just
like we did against Tampa,” Thomas said. ”If we play the way we
did and stay focused and hit on all cylinders, then we’re going to
be a tough out.”
Then again, if history – both recent and otherwise – is any
guide, the Saints will be out of the playoffs sooner than
later.
The Saints went 3-5 on the road this season, losing five of
their last six outside the Superdome. If the Saints overcome their
road woes against the Eagles, it will mark the first playoff
victory in an opponent’s stadium in franchise history. The Saints
are 0-5 in such games in their 47-years as an NFL franchise.
Since Sean Payton took over as head coach in 2006, the Saints
have gone 0-3 as the visiting team in the playoffs, losing at
Chicago (2006-07 NFC title game), at Seattle (2010-11 wild card
round) and at San Francisco (2011-12 divisional round).
Yet Payton and his players don’t buy the notion that history can
dictate how they play. If anything, they’ve made a mockery of
questions about their road struggles by talking about changing up
everything from the way they dress to the color of sports drink
they imbibe on the road.
”The red Gatorade that we have been drinking and the orange
obviously isn’t doing it, so we are going to switch I think to
green,” Payton said Monday. ”The night before, what we eat, I
think is going to be changed up a bit and how we dress is going to
be different. Those are things that are important.”
Beyond that, the Saints are largely shrugging off questions
about how they slid to a sixth seed after starting 9-2, or the fact
that they have to win three straight road games to get to the Super
Bowl.
”We’re in the postseason. That’s all that matters,” said
outside linebacker Junior Galette, who had two sacks on Sunday.
”It gives us a chance to go get a ring, so that’s it.”
On offense, the Saints still have a number of key players who’ve
been with Payton since his hiring in New Orleans. Drew Brees has
thrown for more yards than any NFL quarterback since then,
eclipsing 5,000 yards in a season for an unprecedented fourth time
this season. Receivers Marques Colston and Lance Moore won a Super
Bowl with Brees in the 2009 season, as did Thomas, as steady a
running back as the Saints have had. Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy
Graham in now on his third playoff team in New Orleans and Darren
Sproles his second.
”It is hard to keep rosters together in today’s NFL and I think
that we’ve been fortunate with the health number one and the
durability of a lot of these players,” Payton said. ”We still
have that veteran leadership that has been in these types of
games.”
And that is why players such as Thomas balk at the thought of
being considered an underdog, even if the odds makers have listed
the Eagles as slight favorites.
”We’re comfortable with our situation,” Thomas said. ”It’s
going to show what type of team we really are.”
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org