After finishing the 2015 NFL season 7-9 and in third place in the NFC South, the New Orleans Saints were given a third-place schedule for the 2016 season. It’s a favorable collective of matchups for New Orleans. Unfortunately, that third-place schedule makes up just 1/8 of the team’s total slate, and the rest does it no favors.
New Orleans’ reward for finishing in third place is to face two other third-place NFC franchises from the two divisions not on its overall schedule. Those teams this season will be the New York Giants and the Detroit Lions. The Saints face the former very early, on the road in Week 2. The latter comes to town in Week 13. Both of New York and Detroit have potential, and the Giants especially could be vastly improved from where they were a season ago because of all the money they spent in free agency. However, both of these games remain winnable for New Orleans regardless of location.
The Giants game ends up being pretty important in 2016 because of where it falls. It will be in the midst of the Saints’ easier portion of their schedule, when the team will need to bank as many wins as possible before the route gets treacherous.
The rest of the teams on the docket this year are the members of the AFC West and the NFC West. If you’re counting at home, that will be four teams who each won double-digit games a season ago, as well as what would appear to be a minimum of five playoff teams for this season.
The Saints’ year begins with one of those five squads likely to burst into the postseason, the Oakland Raiders. Hosting Oakland in Week 1 will set the tone for the season, followed by that tricky but winnable game in New York. From there, the schedule takes off, including the six divisional games.
New Orleans’ division may be relatively weak this season in terms of elite competition, but none of the four squads are comfortably worse than the others. Obviously the Carolina Panthers enter as the favorites, but both Atlanta and Tampa Bay look to be improved; Atlanta in terms of a bounce back and TB as it continues to improve with a young core.
Last year, the Saints were just 3-3 within the division. They beat Atlanta twice, lost twice to the Carolina panthers twice and split with Tampa Bay. They were also just 4-4 at home, which is a very poor mark for the residents of the Superdome. The luster of their home-field advantage has worn off in recent years as the offense has aged, but the Saints will need to improve upon that mark in 2016. It won’t be easy, with their 2016 schedule consisting of home games against the likes of those Raiders, Seattle and Denver, as well as their three NFC South peers.
NO’s bye week is a bit early, coming in Week 5. After that is a trio of title contenders that will pose a serious problem for this team. It faces Carolina, Kansas City and Seattle back-to-back-to-back. That leads into a tough second half in general with five of eight on the road, a game against the defending Super Bowl champions and a road trip to Arizona.
No NFL schedule is ever easy; the league is too balanced and unpredictable from top to bottom. New Orleans gets a reprieve with its third-place games, but the rest of the docket is anything but favorable. If the Saints make the postseason in 2016, they will have earned it.
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