The New Orleans Saints' record (3-5) is nowhere near where the team wants it to be midway through the season, but there won't be much quibbling about the position the team occupies with nine games remaining.
Bottom line: While Sunday's game against Carolina in the Caesars Superdome matches teams with identical records, it's also a scrap for first place in the NFC South Division standings. And as far as team goals go, winning the division and earning the automatic playoff bid — and the accompanying home playoff game — remains No. 1 on the checklist.
The Saints and Panthers are currently a game ahead of Atlanta and Tampa Bay in the loss column; the Falcons and Buccaneers are 3-6. Carolina won the division last season at 8-9.
"Especially in our tight end room, we focus a lot on our process rather than the result," Juwan Johnson said. "Yeah, we're not where we want it to be right now, but we have everything that we want right in front of us. Our goal is to win the NFC South title, and then we want to go to the playoffs and get on a roll and compete for a Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. I mean, that's what it is."
It took a 23-22 overtime victory by the Saints against Cleveland in the Superdome, and losses by the Panthers, Falcons and Buccaneers, on Sunday for the current scenario to align for New Orleans.
Linebacker Kaden Elliss said it'll take a lot more work than a win against the Panthers, but that's a good starting point.
"I really think the tied-for-first, all that stuff, is just a hoax," said Elliss, who had a team-high 11 tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and four quarterback hits against the Browns. "At the end of the day, someone's going to take control of this division and it's not going to be someone sitting with three wins.
"Someone is going to move on from the pack and this is a great week for us to begin that, to get another game — two in a row. To win a divisional game and set the reigning champs in our division back another game. This is a big-time opportunity and we're excited."
And Johnson said everything New Orleans wants remains in play, even at two games below .500.
"Many people may think that's far and wide from our dreams or aspirations, but the thing is not everybody is playing football," he said. "There's people in the New Orleans Saints organization — I think that's the biggest thing — we focus on us. We don't listen to the outside noise, we don't listen to media, we don't listen to the people that try and bring us down.
"We can't even listen to the good or the bad, we just honestly have to stay tuned to what we have because we're the only ones who went through training camp, we're the only ones who went on a bowfishing trip, we're the only ones who were playing basketball when we were in the Pelicans facility shooting around — we're the only ones that were doing all of that.
"Peoples' opinions about things that are good or bad — we can take them, but the thing is, we don't let those things have so much strength on us. Because we're out there playing on Sunday and we're out there together, fighting for each other. That's why the vibes are so good during practice, that's why we have such a good connection in the locker room, because we went through all that and everything we have is right in front of us to go take it."
McCOY UPDATE: Saints coach Kellen Moore said he expects center Erik McCoy to miss time due to the biceps injury McCoy suffered Sunday against Cleveland, but he could return this season. Moore said it didn't appear to be long-term and he did not expect it to require surgery. Moore also confirmed that defensive lineman Davon Godchaux was traded to Jacksonville, made possible in part by the increased role of Khristian Boyd, and possibly opening a rotation opportunity for rookie Christen Miller.
