Posted by Brian Allee-Walsh, The Times-Picayune December 01, 2008 4:20PM

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune

New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton is stating the obvious, that the team needs to play better.

A night of reflection did nothing to change the plight of the New Orleans Saints as they head into the final month of the NFL season.

The way the NFC playoff picture is shaping up, it’s likely the Saints will have to run the table and finish the regular season at 10-6 just to stay in playoff contention. And they’ll have to do it without safety Kevin Kaesviharn who is expected to miss one, perhaps two games after suffering a shoulder injury in Sunday’s 23-20 divisional loss at Tampa Bay.
The Saints (6-6) are last in the NFC South and will play host to the Atlanta Falcons (8-4) at noon Sunday in the Superdome. The Falcons are currently holding down the No. 6 playoff seed in the NFC after beating San Diego 22-16 at Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday.

“I think this is a year where I don’t think in the NFC you’re going to see any 9-win teams, aside from a division winner, in the postseason,” Saints Coach Sean Payton said Monday at his weekly press conference. “You could very well see a 10-win team left home.

“We have four weeks left, and (we) certainly understand how everyone else is playing ahead of us and that makes it much more challenging. Nonetheless, we have a home game here against Atlanta in the division. We’re going to have to play better. I think that’s where it’s at.”

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 5:55 pm and is filed under Saints News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.