Saints are just fine despite loss to Cowboys

In all, it was a decent Sunday for the idle New Orleans Saints.

The Saints got no help from the Lions as the Rams solidified their lead on the Saints for the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a 30-16 win at Detroit.

New Orleans did get help from the Giants, who knocked off the Bears 30-27 in overtime to hand Chicago its fourth loss, dropping the Bears two behind the Saints for the second spot in the conference.

Tampa Bay knocked off Carolina 24-17 to hand the Panthers their fourth straight loss. The win snapped a 3-game losing streak for the Bucs. Adding insult to injury, it appears Carolina has lost star tight end Gregg Olsen for the year.

The Buccaneers are playing a little better and will host the Saints next Sunday. Tampa Bay has beaten New Orleans twice in a row and the Saints no doubt recall the 48-40 loss to open the season back on Dec. 9.

After the trip to Tampa, the Saints head to Charlotte to take on the Panthers.

New Orleans looks to be in a good position to finish as a top two seed.

Dallas, Washington, Minnesota and Seattle are three back of the Saints with five losses each.

To get the top seed and home court advantage throughout the playoffs, the Saints will have to win out and hope the Rams lose another game.

The best shot for that to happen is next Sunday night at Chicago against the Bears. Will the weather be foul and the grass field unfavorable to the Rams? Will Mitchell Trubisky return or will former Saint Chase Daniel return?

As for the state of the Saints, do not put too much emphasis on the disappointing performance in the loss to Dallas.

The Cowboys are very good on defense.

They had a great plan and executed it quite well. Of course, other teams will take notice and try to duplicate it. The NFL is a copy-cat league but the Saints will adjust as well. Playing Thursday-to-Thursday with the second on the road was a tough road to navigate.

The offensive line had by far its worst game, as did Saints receivers, who seldom got open and dropped numerous balls. Drew Brees was pressured throughout and was not at his best, either. There is a chance that Terron Armstead will return to bolster the offensive line. Ted Ginn, Jr. is likely two weeks away from returning by week 15 against the Panthers at home.

While Dallas clearly dominated the game, The Saints came up with seven sacks and two turnovers, holding Dallas to just 13 points. They still lost, due to the inept performance of the offense.

Do you really believe this offense will drop off and repeat that performance?

All indicators point to the opposite.

I expect a resounding effort by New Orleans against the Buccaneers.

The Saints owe Tampa Bay one. They will be motivated by the most recent losses, as well as by the loss to Dallas.

Despite playing so poorly against the Cowboys and Dallas giving a sellout effort and performance, the Saints got the ball back late with a chance to tie or win the game, in the hands of Brees. They lost by just three points.

The expectation is that New Orleans will bounce back and bounce back strongly.

In the final analysis, the sky is not falling. The Saints will be favored in their remaining four games.

The clear goal is to get a top two seed and a bye with the ultimate goal to get the top seed. If the Saints have to go through Los Angeles to win the NFC championship, it will not be easy. The Rams will likely be favored at home and will be geared to avenge its regular season loss in New Orleans.

That said, if the Saints have to hit the road in the NFC title game, Los Angeles is by far the best venue. The weather is likely to be mild and very manageable, as will the crowd with a ton of Saints fans likely inhabiting the Los Angeles Coliseum in a market where Rams fans are not anywhere near as passionate or all-in as Saints fans.

If the Saints are as good as I think they are and as mature as I believe they are, they will bounce back beginning next Sunday in Florida.