The New Orleans Saints head into Week 12 with a 4-6 record and two games out of first place in the NFC South. They’ll be taking on a Los Angeles Rams squad that also boasts a 4-6 record. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the Seattle Seahawks boast the second-best record in the NFC at 7-2-1.
It goes without saying that both teams are pretty desperate for a win here. Whoever loses this game can pretty much be considered irrelevant in the NFC Playoff race moving forward. One could, however, conclude that the Rams are more desperate.
As it is, Saints quarterback Drew Brees touched on this very same topic in the lead up to Sunday’s game.
“Yeah, I mean typically we say the most desperate team wins,” Brees said, via the Saints official website. “Because there is a great sense of urgency that comes along with that.”
Whether urgency itself means anything remains to be seen. Los Angeles had an opportunity last week to reach .500 on the season and maintain close ties with those currently in playoff positioning. It blew said opportunity and a 10-0 lead late in the fourth quarter to lose to the suddenly surging Miami Dolphins, 14-10.
On the other hand, New Orleans is coming off two consecutive narrow defeats after a strong run found the squad hit .500 midway through the season. Depending on what happens this week, they could either be one game or three games out in the NFC South.
For his part, Brees hasn’t changed anything as it relates to his preparation for the game.
“I mean here is the thing, my preparation won’t change this week, compared to any other week. Do I begin to do a bunch of different things? No, I don’t. I do the same thing because I feel like my thought process is one that I have honed in on for a long time and it works,” Brees continued. “I know it works and I think there is just little things about how we have lost these last two games that are important to recognize and important to fix.”
Acting as one of the few so-called elimination games on the Week 12 slate, this matchup between these two four-win teams should be rather interesting. If Brees’ comments are any indication, he’s not treating it any different than the previous 10 games.