December 10th, 2019 at 5:15pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg
There’s already been a lot of big injury news today, and now we have even more. Saints defensive lineman Marcus Davenport is expected to undergo season-ending surgery, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Per Pelissero, Davenport “suffered a significant foot injury” during New Orleans’ loss to the 49ers on Sunday. It’s a huge blow to a Saints defensive front that has been one of the team’s strengths this season. The Saints traded a first-round pick to move up and take Davenport 14th overall in last year’s draft. He dominated against weaker competition in college at UTSA, and was regarded as a highly talented but somewhat raw prospect.
After a relatively quiet rookie year in which he showed plenty of flashes but didn’t start a game, he has been playing a huge role in 2019. He’s started all 13 games for the Saints this season, racking up 31 tackles, six sacks, and three forced fumbles. The Saints’ defense is pretty banged up at the moment, with key linebackers A.J. Klein and Kiko Alonso also dealing with injuries.
They recently re-signed Manti Te’o in response to the health issues. Defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins was also knocked out of their loss to the 49ers with an ankle injury, although it’s unclear how serious that is. Davenport took a step forward this season, and he will be back as a key piece in 2020.
December 10th, 2019 at 8:06am CST by Zachary Links
With 14 full weeks of the NFL season in the books, the 2020 draft order is beginning to take shape. Here’s the rundown of where things would stand if the 2019 season ended today:
Manti Te’o is back in New Orleans. On Tuesday, the Saints signed the 28-year-old linebacker, according to Sean Fazende of FOX8 (on Twitter).
Te’o wrapped up a two-year pact with the Saints last year and did not sign on with another club for 2019, until now. He didn’t do a whole lot in 2018, but, in 2017, he started in eleven games for the Saints and played reasonably well.
For his career, the Notre Dame product has started in 47 contests, though he’s lost a good deal of time to injuries since entering the league as a second-round pick in 2013.
The Saints hope he can stay healthy, because he’s going to be relied upon for some badly needed depth in the linebacker group. There’s no word just yet on Kiko Alonso‘s status heading into Sunday’s game against the 49ers, but this probably isn’t a great sign for his availability.
The NFC’s contender class (non-NFC East contingent) has separated from the pack, giving the conference a clear top five going into December. With the NFC-leading 49ers set for a historically brutal late-season stretch, cases can be made for each of the top five moving to the home-field advantage bracket position.
While the Cowboys and Eagles are almost certainly vying for the conference’s No. 4 seed, the 49ers, Saints, Seahawks, Packers and Vikings comprise one of the more interesting pursuits of a conference’s No. 1 slot in recent memory. Week 17 in the NFC may not feature many starters resting.
Armed with the ninth-best defensive DVOA figure through 11 games in the Football Outsiders-developed metric’s 34-season history, the 49ers carry a 10-1 record into the regular season’s final month. They made a statement in the first leg of their difficult three-game stretch, a defensive line-keyed rout of the Packers, but still have games in Baltimore and New Orleans (both oddly staying in the early-Sunday time slot) on tap. The 49ers also conclude their season with a Seattle trip. They have not won in Seattle since 2011, when Tarvaris Jackson was at the controls for the Seahawks, and have not earned a playoff bye in seven years.
While the 49ers have the NFL’s second-toughest schedule remaining, the Seahawks’ remaining SOS is not much easier. Their final five games double as the seventh-most difficult stretch run. Seattle (9-2, No. 8 in DVOA) is 9-2 but won in San Francisco during a 6-0 road start. Following their home tilt against the Vikings, who lost in Seattle on a Monday night in December 2018, the Seahawks have a road Rams game scheduled before meetings with the Panthers and Cardinals.
New Orleans does not have it any easier, with the league’s fifth-toughest slate remaining. After the 49ers, however, the Saints (10-2, No. 6 in DVOA) face the Colts at home before outdoor games in Nashville and Charlotte. Since 1994, only the Seahawks (2013-14) and Eagles (2002-04) have earned the NFC’s No. 1 seed in back-to-back years. Illustrating the stakes for the Saints: they are 6-1 at home in the playoffs under Sean Payton, with the loss obviously coming in controversial fashion last season, and 1-5 on the road during the Payton-Drew Brees era.
The Vikings (8-3, No. 7 DVOA) sit 11th in the December SOS rankings but do have each of their divisional home games remaining, with a “road” game against the Chargers mixed in. Were they to stick the landing and reach the playoffs, it would mark an extraordinarily rare run. With no Viking quarterback helping the team to two postseason berths since Daunte Culpepper, Kirk Cousins guiding Minnesota to January football would make six different starting quarterbacks since Culpepper’s 2004 season to lead the Vikings to the playoffs.
With two of their worst offensive games of the decade occurring in November trips to Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Packers (8-3, No. 10 DVOA) have cooled off considerably. They do, however, have by far the easiest road to January among the NFC’s premier quintet. Only the Eagles and Browns face a worse run of opponents than the Packers, who draw the Giants, Redskins, Bears and Lions. The Packers have not earned a playoff bye in five years but appear a stealth threat to make such a push this season.
So which of the NFC’s powers will end up securing home-field advantage? Vote in PFR’s latest poll (link for app users) and weigh in with your thoughts on this race in the comments section.
The Saints have encountered more offensive line injury trouble, and it comes at a bad time. Left tackle Terron Armstead is believed to have suffered a high ankle sprain, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The standout blocker will miss Thursday’s game against the Falcons, and while New Orleans’ subsequent mini-bye would give the seventh-year blocker a chance to return against the 49ers, these are usually multi-week injuries. With left guard Andrus Peat sidelined with a broken arm, the Saints may be missing the left side of their high-end offensive line when they face the 49ers’ dominant pass rush in Week 14. Journeyman Patrick Omameh, whom the Giants cut after his short run as one of their guard starters, replaced Armstead on Sunday.
