Latest / AFR Saints / 2026 Saints Schedule Released: Can New Orleans Make the Playoffs?

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2026 Saints Schedule Released: Can New Orleans Make the Playoffs? · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 1: So we had much of the New Orleans Saints schedule
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  Speaker 1: leaked on Thursday before we even got off air of
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  Speaker 1: the Saints on Thursday night, and the NFL did have
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  Speaker 1: the full schedule release on Thursday night. It's become basically
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  Speaker 1: another holiday in the NFL, a schedule release day in
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  Speaker 1: mid May. So we now have the Saints schedule all
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  Speaker 1: eighteen weeks, and I gotta tell you, I like it. It's
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  Speaker 1: there is the things that I generally am drawn to.
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  Speaker 1: Thursday games on the road don't have any of those.
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  Speaker 1: Looking at difficult travel situations like consecutive road games where
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  Speaker 1: you maybe have to crisscross the country, you don't have that.
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  Speaker 1: You do have to play in Paris, which we'll get
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  Speaker 1: to in a second. But I love that the bye
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  Speaker 1: comes after you play in Paris week eight, right in
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  Speaker 1: the smack dab in the middle of the season. Love
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  Speaker 1: with a Bye is up is positioned. The cold weather
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  Speaker 1: games at the end of the season outdoor, you know, in
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  Speaker 1: the cold weather months, don't have any of those. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it kind of looks really favorable. It's the NFL. There
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  Speaker 1: is no such thing as an easy schedule in the NFL.
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  Speaker 1: But specifically when we talk about win loss percentage of
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  Speaker 1: opponents in me year ago, only Cleveland has a quote
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  Speaker 1: unquote easier strength of schedule than the Saints. There's a
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  Speaker 1: lot to like as we run through it. The maybe
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  Speaker 1: the most brutal part of the schedule is how it begins.
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  Speaker 1: Week one, you're at Detroit. Week two, you're at Baltimore. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Detroit had a rough year last year, but we saw
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  Speaker 1: the early line Saint six and a half point dog
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  Speaker 1: in that game Week one on the road in Detroit,
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  Speaker 1: they'll be certainly motivated to try to bounce back after
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  Speaker 1: a disappointing year last year. And then Week two you're
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  Speaker 1: at Baltimore. New coach there, with Minter going from the
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  Speaker 1: Chargers out to the Ravens, but you still got Lamar Jackson.
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  Speaker 1: That's still a road game. Saints, you're going to find
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  Speaker 1: themselves underdogs the first two weeks of the season. So
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  Speaker 1: then Week three you come home. Week three, you come
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  Speaker 1: home and you face the Raiders. Now this will be
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  Speaker 1: Clint Kubiak's return to New Orleans, but that'll be part
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  Speaker 1: of the storyline. The bigger storyline, of course, is going
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  Speaker 1: to be who plays quarterback. Is it Kirk Cousins or
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  Speaker 1: are you facing Fernando Mendoza. And if it's Mendoza, then
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  Speaker 1: you're facing a rookie in Week three. It's a good
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  Speaker 1: spot to catch a rookie at the beginning of the season.
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  Speaker 1: Look at Tyler Shuck who didn't start until the midway
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  Speaker 1: point of last year, but by the end of the
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  Speaker 1: year was looking really was looking really good for New Orleans.
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  Speaker 1: So that remains me seen. But you gotta like the
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  Speaker 1: Saints at home against the Raiders. Then week four, their
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  Speaker 1: home on Monday Night football against the Falcons. That'll be
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  Speaker 1: a week after the anniversary of the Dome coming, so
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  Speaker 1: twenty year anniversary of Gleason's block punt. The reopening the
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  Speaker 1: Superdome post New Orleans against the Falcons on that Monday
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  Speaker 1: Night football. It stands a reason they probably should have
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  Speaker 1: played it in week three. You could have done it
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  Speaker 1: corresponding with the twenty year anniversary. Instead, they'll play it
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  Speaker 1: Week four, Monday Night Football at the Dome. That'll be
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  Speaker 1: a raucous atmosphere. You gotta love the Saints in that
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  Speaker 1: situation as well, especially not knowing what Atlanta is going
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  Speaker 1: to be at quarterback. Is it Michael Pennox coming off
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  Speaker 1: an injury? Is it Tua? You gotta like the Saints
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  Speaker 1: at home Week four, and then you have a third
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  Speaker 1: consecutive home game with the Vikings coming in, and the
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  Speaker 1: Vikings are looking for a bounce back of course last
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  Speaker 1: year after disappointing season when they let Sam Darnold walk.
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  Speaker 1: Then you start to get a little so I love
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  Speaker 1: that stretch, right. It's tough those first two weeks. You've
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  Speaker 1: got a great shot to win your next four Raiders Falcons,
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  Speaker 1: Vikings at Giants now Giants Hobbs Avenue coach John Harbaugh.
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  Speaker 1: But you should be well rested at that point, having
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  Speaker 1: played three consecutive home games before you have to travel
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  Speaker 1: to take on the Giants. You beat the Giants last
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  Speaker 1: year in the Dome. Year two, Jackson Dart the league
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  Speaker 1: neighbors coming off an injury. We'll see all that looks,
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  Speaker 1: but SAT should have a nice opportunity to win that game,
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  Speaker 1: depending on how they're playing. Then you go to Paris
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  Speaker 1: to play the Steelers, and if Aaron Rodgers is in
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  Speaker 1: fact back, as most people assume he will be, it's
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  Speaker 1: gonna be hard to favor New Orleans in that game,
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  Speaker 1: even though the home team. It's overseas in Paris against Rogers.
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  Speaker 1: For what it's worth, Adams sa After on the NFL
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  Speaker 1: schedule release show, said this about a Rodgers decision that
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  Speaker 1: we're all waiting on.
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  Speaker 2: The Steelers have a voluntary offseason practice program that begins
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  Speaker 2: on Monday, May eighteenth. It's May fourteenth. You'd have to
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  Speaker 2: figure if Aaron Rodgers is going to get a deal done,
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  Speaker 2: the time to do it would be some time between
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  Speaker 2: now and Monday, when those voluntary practice sessions start. Under
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  Speaker 2: new head coach Mike McCarthy. Despite any reports about him
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  Speaker 2: being in the building last weekend meeting with the team,
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  Speaker 2: that never happened. It still hasn't happened. But you would
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  Speaker 2: think if he's going to play this season, it's going
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  Speaker 2: to have to happen here in the next few days,
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  Speaker 2: prior to Monday, he would get a contract workout. He
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  Speaker 2: didn't show up last year until June, so that's always possible.
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  Speaker 2: But you take a look at the Steelers schedule there,
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  Speaker 2: I would think in the next four days we should
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  Speaker 2: have some type of Aaron Rodgers news and white smoke
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  Speaker 2: from the chimney.
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  Speaker 1: That is going to be super relevant because when you
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  Speaker 1: go to Paris, if you're playing the Steelers with Aaron Rodgers,
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  Speaker 1: that is a dramatically different conversation than if the Steelers
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  Speaker 1: are playing a rookie quarterback. So stay tuned on that decision.
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  Speaker 1: I think we're all assuming Rogers is going to play,
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  Speaker 1: but that's one worth watching whatever it's worth. Last year,
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  Speaker 1: Rogers did play in sixteen games. He threw for thirty
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  Speaker 1: three hundred yards, twenty four touchdowns, seven intercepts. She had
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  Speaker 1: a nice season. But it's not the Aaron Rodgers. That
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  Speaker 1: was the guy winning MVPs and the future Hall of Famer.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll see in Rogers that was last year was
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  Speaker 1: his age forty two seasons. You're talking about his age
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  Speaker 1: forty three season this year. But that's one where maybe
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't favor the Saints. If let put it this way,
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  Speaker 1: it far more heavily and drastically favors New Orleans in
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  Speaker 1: Paris if Aaron Rodgers is not there. I love the
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  Speaker 1: bye in week eight. It's a perfect spot for the bye.
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  Speaker 1: You don't want it too early. You don't want it
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  Speaker 1: too late. You avoid the ten weeks consecutively of playing
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  Speaker 1: when it goes like this, So I really like where
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  Speaker 1: the bye is situated. And then coming off the by
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  Speaker 1: your home against Cleveland, home against Carolina. So that's a
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  Speaker 1: stretch when you get back from Paris where we have
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  Speaker 1: an open date home against Cleveland, home against Carolina. So
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  Speaker 1: you get a really good opportunity to sort of reset
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  Speaker 1: in at the end of October in the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: November before you go into what I think is the
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  Speaker 1: toughest three game stretch on the schedule. You're at Chicago,
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  Speaker 1: at Cincinnati, and then home against Green Bay. You're likely
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  Speaker 1: an underdog in all three of those games, but you
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  Speaker 1: make it through that stretch, and then you finish with
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  Speaker 1: a five game stretch where four of the five are
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  Speaker 1: division games, where everybody knows everybody, of course, and three
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  Speaker 1: of those four division games are on the road, but
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  Speaker 1: they all feel winnable. And the other game is Arizona,
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  Speaker 1: who I think is going to be poo pooh this year.
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  Speaker 1: So the final five weeks are at Carolina at Tampa,
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  Speaker 1: so back to back Division games, home against Arizona, the
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  Speaker 1: trip to Atlanta, and then you're home against Tampa to
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  Speaker 1: finish the regular season. So you will have an awesome
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  Speaker 1: opportunity in those final five games with all those division games,
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  Speaker 1: very likely to be positioning yourself to make a playoff push.
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  Speaker 1: Here in year two under Kellen Moore. So New Orleans
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  Speaker 1: Saints schedule's out. I really like how it's all positioned.
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  Speaker 1: The over under for the Saints this year is seven
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  Speaker 1: and a half. I think sharp money is going to
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  Speaker 1: be on the over with the New Orleans Saints, given
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  Speaker 1: week division, the way the schedule shapes up the opponents.
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  Speaker 1: You have probably a bumpy start Weeks one and two
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  Speaker 1: on the road against Detroit and Baltimore. Really tough stretch
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  Speaker 1: weeks eleven, twelve and thirteen at Chicago at Cincinnati, home
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  Speaker 1: against green Bay. But there is enough manageable throughout there where.
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  Speaker 1: You really like how it shapes up for the New
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  Speaker 1: Orleans Saints, so schedules out Let us know your thoughts.