NEW ORLEANS — Can we as Saints fans put aside the arguments over whether the team should fire or keep Dennis Allen, what they should do at offensive coordinator, and leave all the offseason questions for next week or whenever the Saints offseason arrives?
Do you realize how magically crazy this final Sunday of the 2023 Saints season might be?
I know there are a ton of younger Saints fans who read this column, and lots of y’all either think winning the NFC South is meaningless or worse it’ll somehow set the Saints franchise back because you hate any Saints future that involves Dennis Allen.
You feel how you feel, and I won’t judge or gatekeep anyone’s Saints fandom.
There is this chance on Sunday around 2:30 pm the Saints and Falcons are tied and Carolina is leading Tampa Bay and suddenly the New Orleans Saints will completely reel you back in and your Saints fandom will return to its most basic perfect state. It’ll be about the games happening right in front of us.
It won’t be about draft picks and firing coaches or rebuilds or tanking. If the chance to either win the NFC South or watch the Falcons celebrate their own division title on the Superdome field presents itself, deep down in places you might not even want to acknowledge, even the most jaded negative Saints fan will be all in. Maybe you’ll want the NFC South title simply so the Falcons can’t have it, which is actually my number 1 reason for wanting it.
I’m a petty Saints fan to my absolute core when it comes to the Atlanta Falcons.
Division Champion banners hang forever.
I can’t wait. The possibility of the Saints winning the incredibly stupid 2023 NFC South or losing it to the Falcons is the excitement, joy, energy, terror, and heartache of being a Saints fan all rolled into 1 Sunday.
I can not wait.
This is why I’m here. My Saints fandom isn’t just about winning Super Bowls. It’s Steve Gleason in 2006, it’s Hakim drops the ball, it's Morten Andersen kicking a last-second field goal on New Year’s Eve in 1990 to get the 8-8 Saints their second-ever playoff berth. It’s four consecutive soul-crushing playoff exits.
Maybe Carolina loses 40-0 and all the Saints playoff scenarios go against them and Sunday is just a quiet ending to mundane march to mediocrity.
Or maybe at 3:05 pm, the Superdome is electric and everyone’s heart is beating through their chests as the Saints are trying to do the improbable against the team we hate the most because in Carolina the Panthers just did the unthinkable and beat the Bucs.
I can close my eyes and feel that shiver of passion, trepidation, and elation that only a big Saints win or loss can deliver. Right on the edge of jubilation and devastation simultaneously. Give it to me.
The purest most intense Saints fan experience awaits us. Are you ready?
Saints Fan Mood and Meditation Music: A Will of Iron – Tom Hedden
So my kid stumbled into the America’s Game soundtrack on Apple Music. This is some football music to get you in the right frame of mind for Sunday.
Let’s give you some Saints last week of the season and get to the playoffs memories. The Dome was absolute bedlam. Getting to playoffs was everything to 14-year-old me, and getting to the playoffs is still everything to 47-year-old me.
My best Saints memories aren’t coaches getting fired, tanking for better draft picks, or Saints trading away my favorite players. It is wins that mean something. It’s Deuce running through the entire Eagles team for a touchdown in the 2006 playoffs, it’s the Dome Patrol goal-line stand in Pittsburgh to clinch the first-ever winning season in 1987, it’s Drew Brees leading a miracle comeback against Washington in 2017.
It's about the games.
So fire up the NFL Films music and dream of the final Sunday of the 2023 season giving us something that will live forever.
The Games
Season Record: 33-33
New Orleans (-3.5) vs Atlanta: Part 1 of the Saints Playoff miracle requires them to defeat the Falcons. To accomplish this the Saints are going to have to stop Atlanta from jamming the ball down their throat on the ground. The Falcons are averaging 220 yards rushing against the Saints in the last three games. That has to be fixed.
On offense, the Saints will be starting their third-string right tackle Cam Erving. Did I mention Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave both have ankle injuries? Not good. The Saints did move the ball up and down the field last time against Atlanta, but red zone turnovers killed them.
The Saints seem to have figured out things on offense and are quietly 14th in points scored. On defense, they’ve allowed the 6th fewest points. On paper they don’t look like an 8-win team, when you watch them, they look EXACTLY like an 8-win team.
The Falcons don’t know who they are starting at quarterback. Whoever they choose, I hope they make the wrong decision.
I choose hope and fun to finish the 2023 Saints season. It’s going to be a party in the Dome. Saints will cruise and at one point be up 28-3 to give us extra giggles before our eyes turn to Carolina.
Saints 28-17
Carolina (+5.5) vs Tampa Bay: Do you believe in miracles? We will need one here. The Panthers did play the Bucs close last time and even rushed for 133 yards. I don’t know how you’ll do it Panthers but I believe in you…
Panthers 20-14
Chicago (+3) at Green Bay: The Bears are playing incredibly well down the stretch and the Packers lost to Tommy DeVito.
Bears 34-27
Arizona (+3) vs Seattle: The Cardinals have been feisty all year and with Kyler Murray and they can wreck Seattle’s season.
Cardinals 31-27
Las Vegas (-2.5) vs Denver: Come on Raiders, do us a solid and improve that 2024 Denver draft pick the Saints own.
Raiders 26-21
Ralph Malbrough is a contributing writer and Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at saintshappyhour@gmail.com, find him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter at @SaintsForecast or download the Saints Happy Hour Podcast.