Tom’s take on the Saints’ season:
The more I think about the NFC South, the more I think every team is, really, an 8-9 team at heart. How much you expect each squad to stray from that mark in actual wins and losses depends on personal taste. I have a thing for the Panthers, but a two-to-three-win improvement would be completely reasonable for Kellen Moore and Tyler Shough. If the Saints were facing a few more non-divisional opponents like the Browns, Raiders and Giants and a few less like the Ravens, Bears and Lions, I might have been able to find my way there. Alas, in this exercise, they end up with a second consecutive 6-11 finish that they probably don’t deserve.
Toughest game to call: Week 7 vs. Steelers (Paris).
I have the Steelers finishing with more wins than the Saints due in part to this inaugural Parisian throwdown, but Pittsburgh will be coming off a theoretically more rigorous assignment in Week 6 (at the Bucs) than New Orleans (at the Giants), and I could easily see the result here being flipped.
Will the Saints make the playoffs?
