The New Orleans Saints are aiming to get back to the postseason with a young team surrounded by optimism, but they'll have no easy task out of the gate in 2026.
First up on the schedule are a pair of difficult road trips that could very possibly spell an 0-2 start, but as the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert explained on WWL Radio, there's still plenty of room for optimism even with that result.
Hear the full schedule breakdown from Bobby Hebert in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"I’m just telling you, I’ll be so optimistic if we’re 1-1 after two games," Hebert said, "and I will not be discouraged if we’re 0-2. “
That hope comes with a host of more favorable matchups starting with the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 3, the home opener at the Caesars Superdome. That matchup will feature the return of former Saints OC Klint Kubiak as Raiders head coach, but also a matchup with a subpar Raiders roster and possibly a rookie quarterback. That will be followed up by a return to primetime with the Falcons in the 20th anniversary of the Domecoming game, then a road trip to face the Giants, the Steelers in Paris.
There's a very realistic scenario where the Saints start 0-2, but then enter their bye week at either 4-3 or 5-2.
"I don’t know if it’s ever been this tough to open the season and you’re going on the road back to back. It’s not like we're going on the road in the beginning of the year at the Giants. … It’s tough to get going," Hebert said. "That’s why you’ve got to have the right leadership on the team, to keep the team together and still look at the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s not the train coming at you, but it’s the light of hope."
RELATED
For that hope to turn into reality, things will have to get better in the confines of the Superdome. The Saints have been, to put it kindly, a subpar home team during their playoff drought with a record of 17-23 (.425) over the past five seasons. In the past two seasons that win percentage has sunk even further to .352 (6-11). For the Saints to get back to double-digit wins, they have to get back to being a dominant home team.
“That has to to change," Hebert continued. "I don’t care who is the coach, who is playing, you’ve got to get the Who Dat Nation excited again about 'I want to be in that number in the Dome,' and you’ve got to take care of the homefield where teams fear to come to New Orleans and ... it’s so freaking loud, and that’s how you get the advantage, maybe get an extra sack, cause them to jump offsides and all that. But no, to me, that does make a difference and that’s unacceptable.”
So what is the Cajun Cannon's record prediction? He's going with a healthy 9-8, which would put the Saints back on the winning side of things but right in the window for frustrating playoff tiebreaker scenarios. The Saints have twice finished with 9-8 records in the past five years and missed out both times.
"I’m looking at that glass half full, and that’s a big difference, because 9-8, that’s what it might take to win the NFC South," Hebert said.
