Getty Gallery: 2/6
No. 1 New Orleans Saints
The Saints may have been blown out by the Panthers in Week 17, but there is no need to worry. New Orleans rested a number of their key players including Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara. The Saints are about to get even more rest since they are the NFC's No. 1 seed.
New Orleans is two wins at the Superdome away from playing in another Super Bowl. The Saints will face the lowest remaining seed of the Cowboys, Seahawks and Eagles. The Saints' loss to the Panthers may not have impacted the team's playoff seeding, but head coach Sean Payton was not pleased with the outing.
“It is what it is," Payton said per the Saints website. "We didn’t play well and you’re upset about it. You don’t come in here and say that’s going to be a great learning (experience). There’s nothing about it that’s good. It’s disappointing. I told the players the same thing. You can try to spin it any style you want. You can try whatever you want. That won’t work in the end. There are some things (we need to do better). Coaches and players. All of us.”
New Orleans will not play again until January 12th at the earliest. According to OddsShark, the Saints are the early favorites to win Super Bowl LIII with +250 odds.
No. 2 Kansas City Chiefs
After a close race with the Chargers down the stretch, the Chiefs secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The Chiefs will now be able to use Arrowhead Stadium to their advantage, but Kansas City will be off for two weeks. According to OddsShark, the Chiefs are No. 3 in the latest Super Bowl odds at +450.
Patrick Mahomes looked calm and collected during the regular season. It will be a different kind of test in the postseason, but Mahomes has answered every call so far in his young career. Mahomes threw for more than 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in 2018. According to Sporting News, Mahomes became the third player to throw for 50 touchdowns and sixth player to throw for more than 5,000 yards.
Chiefs offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz noted there is a different feeling on the team this year with Mahomes behind center.
“It’s a different feeling,” Schwartz told The Kansas City Star. “With the quarterback we have and the receivers we have, it’s not like, ‘Oh man, it’s third and 10, it’s going to be incomplete and we’ll get off the field.’ It feels like we’ve converted a not normal amount of those long third downs, and sometimes in spectacular fashion, which fires everybody up.”