1–4, tied for 3rd in the NFC South; offense and defense both bottom 10.
The Saints are 1–4 in 2026, 0–1 against the NFC South.
By opponent-adjusted EPA per play the Saints' offense ranks 23rd (−0.04) and their defense 27th (+0.07 allowed); 29th of 32 by net (−0.10).
Data through Week 5's games (the last played Mon, Oct 12), from nflverse play-by-play; nflverse last published it .
Week 6 · Sun, Oct 18 · 12:00 PM CT on Fox
Our call: Giants Toss-up
4 of 5 models favor the Giants. On average the models have the Giants by 1.2 points, a 53% win chance.
Every model, the quarterbacks and the matchup →
TV listings: ESPN
Headlines and a line or two from each outlet's own feed, linked to the original; the stories are theirs, not ours. League-wide news →
| Team | Record | In the division |
|---|---|---|
| Carolina Panthers | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 2–3 | 1–1 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1–4 | 0–0 |
| New Orleans Saints | 1–4 | 0–1 |
By winning percentage (a tie counts half), then the NFL's division tiebreakers as our standings apply them.
| Week | Opponent | Result | Our call | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1Sun, Sep 13 · Fox | at Lions | L 30–31 (OT) | Lions Lean · ✓ | Game page |
| Week 2Sun, Sep 20 · CBS | at Ravens | W 24–17 | Ravens Lean · ✗ | Game page |
| Week 3Sun, Sep 27 · CBS | vs Raiders | L 27–35 | Saints Lean · ✗ | Game page |
| Week 4Mon, Oct 5 · ESPN | vs Falcons | L 24–45 | Saints Toss-up · ✗ | Game page |
| Week 5Sun, Oct 11 · Fox | vs Vikings | L 13–23 | Vikings Lean · ✓ | Game page |
| Week 6Sun, Oct 18 · Fox | at Giants | — | Giants Toss-up | Game page |
| Week 7Sun, Oct 25 · NFL Network | vs Steelersneutral site | — | Steelers Lean | Game page |
| Week 8 | Bye | |||
| Week 9Sun, Nov 8 · CBS | vs Browns | — | Saints Toss-up | Game page |
| Week 10Sun, Nov 15 · Fox | vs Panthers | — | Panthers Toss-up | Game page |
| Week 11Sun, Nov 22 · Fox | at Bears | — | Bears Lean | Game page |
| Week 12Sun, Nov 29 · CBS | at Bengals | — | Bengals Lean | Game page |
| Week 13Sun, Dec 6 · Fox | vs Packers | — | Packers Lean | Game page |
| Week 14Sun, Dec 13 · CBS | at Panthers | — | Panthers Lean | Game page |
| Week 15Sun, Dec 20 · Fox | at Buccaneers | — | Buccaneers Lean | Game page |
| Week 16Sun, Dec 27 · Fox | vs Cardinals | — | Saints Toss-up | Game page |
| Week 17Sun, Jan 3 · Fox | at Falcons | — | Falcons Lean | Game page |
| Week 18Sun, Jan 10 | vs Buccaneers | — | Saints Toss-up | Game page |
Our call is the team the consensus of our models favored before kickoff, never changed after it; ✓ when that team won, ✗ when it lost. Each game page shows every model.
TV listings: ESPN
2026 regular season through Week 5, from nflverse's player stats: the Saints players above the leaders page's marks per team game.
| Player | Yardspassing | Attempts | Completedof attempts | TD | INT | EPAper dropback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler ShoughQB | 1,299 | 205 | 67% | 9 | 5 | −0.02 |
| Player | Yardsreceiving | Catches | Targets | Share ofteam targets | Air yards | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris OlaveWR | 537 | 39 | 54 | 28% | 729 | 1 |
| Devaughn VeleWR | 252 | 25 | 37 | 19% | 355 | 2 |
| Player | Yardsreceiving | Catches | Targets | Share ofteam targets | Air yards | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juwan JohnsonTE | 248 | 25 | 32 | 16% | 165 | 3 |
| Player | Tackles | For loss | Sacks | INT | Passesdefended | Fumblesforced |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pete WernerLB | 35 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jonas SankerSAF | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Danny StutsmanLB | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin ReidS | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Julian BlackmonSAF | 26 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kaden EllissLB | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kool-Aid McKinstryCB | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Carl GrandersonDE | 16 | 4 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Quincy RileyCB | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Colby WoodenDE | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Top 10 by tackles.
| Player | FG made | FG tried | Longestyards | Extra pointsmade | Extra pointstried |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel CarlsonK | 5 | 7 | 51 | 11 | 13 |
Opponent-adjusted, from nflverse play-by-play, 2026 regular season to date; league rank of 32 beside each.
| Saints | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Offense, EPA per play | −0.04 | 23rd |
| Offense, success rate | 44% | 14th |
| Passing offense, EPA per dropback | −0.01 | 24th |
| Rushing offense, EPA per run | −0.08 | 18th |
What the defense allowed, opponent-adjusted, 2026 regular season to date; 1st allowed the least. Net is offense minus defense.
| Saints | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Defense, EPA per play allowed | +0.07 | 27th |
| Defense, success rate allowed | 49% | 31st |
| Pass defense, EPA per dropback allowed | +0.12 | 24th |
| Run defense, EPA per run allowed | −0.02 | 28th |
| Net EPA per play (offense minus defense) | −0.10 | 29th |
Week 5 report (last filed); Week 6 not filed yet
The official injury report, as of Tue, Oct 13 · 9:57 AM CT: players with a game status or a missed or limited practice.
Our call had the winner in 2 of 5 Saints games (40%).
| Model | Games | Winner right | Rate | Average miss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consensus (our call) | 5 | 2 of 5 | 40% | 12.0 |
| Our model Experimental | 5 | 2 of 5 | 40% | 12.1 |
| Elo | 5 | 2 of 5 | 40% | 11.1 |
| SRS | 5 | 2 of 5 | 40% | 11.9 |
| ESPN FPI | 5 | 2 of 5 | 40% | 13.0 |
| Record | 5 | 3 of 5 | 60% | — |
Winner right: games where the model favored the team that won (a tie counts half). Average miss: points between the model's margin and the final margin. Weeks 1–4 reconstructed: worked out afterwards from data before each week. Every game, every team →
A long shot: the Saints reach the playoffs in 8% of our 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season and win the NFC South in 7%; their average finish is 6–11.
In the race for the 2027 draft: the Saints get the #1 pick in 4% of the simulations and a top-5 pick in 41%. Draft order →
After Week 5's games; simulated Tue, Oct 13 · 6:05 PM CT. The rest of the season is played out 20,000 times, each game with our call's win chance; the NFL's tiebreakers are applied in simplified form (no points or touchdown steps). How the simulation works →