The 2023 New Orleans Saints remain alive — for another week at least.

It may have taken 17 weeks, but the Saints finally displayed their potential in a do-or-die win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Week 17. The Saints took a 17-0 lead at halftime — holding the Buccaneers to just 44 total yards — and eventually defeated Tampa Bay by a score of 23-13.

In the process of doing so, the Saints kept their NFC South playoff hopes alive. If they defeat the Atlanta Falcons in the final week of the season combined with the Buccaneers slipping up against the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans will win their first division title since the 2020 season.

Despite entering the 2023 as overwhelming favorites to win the NFC South following the offseason acquisition of Derek Carr — the Saints were overwhelming favorites at +125 odds compared to the Buccaneers’ +800 odds, via DraftKing Sportsbook — the Saints have gone through the definition of an up-and-down season.

Prior to their win over the Buccaneers, the Saints had just one win over a team with a winning record — the Indianapolis Colts during Week 8 — and had gone a collective 1-6 against teams with at least a .500 record this season.

That all changed in their win over the Buccaneers, which was their eighth over their past 12 games against Tampa Bay.

The score doesn’t display the dominance that New Orleans displayed over Tampa Bay, holding them scoreless until 7:50 remaining in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, the Saints completely won the turnover battle, forcing four turnovers on the Buccaneers’ side of the ball while committing zero turnovers themselves.

That’s not even mentioning how the Saints dominated time of possession, 36:38 to 23:22.

Derek Carr — who is at his healthiest all year long after dealing with a shoulder injury during both teams’ first matchup back in October — had his best first half of the season, going 17-for-21 for 140 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions with a 126.2 passer rating.

Carr — who has had an up-and-down season and been the subject of scrutiny for his less-than-stellar play — had arguably his best game of the season, posting his second-highest completion percentage (75%) and his third-highest passer rating (111.1) in the win over the Buccaneers. The game was so lopsided that Carr was only forced to throw 11 passes for 57 yards in the second half.

“We’re still alive,” Carr said following the Saints’ most important win of the season. “Playing for something, job is not done. Job is not finished. Until we run out of time, I’m going to keep believing, I’m going to keep working. We can’t feel satisfied. We gotta win. We came in with the expectation to win. We had to win. It feels good, but we gotta play another team we didn’t beat this year. I’m looking forward to that matchup.”

Furthermore, New Orleans also limited Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield to one of his worst games of the season. In addition to winning NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors in Week 15 after a perfect passer rating game against the Green Bay Packers, Mayfield had racked up eight touchdowns versus zero interceptions in his past three games.

He had his first two-interception game of the season against the Saints and had just 89 passing yards for a 48.4 passer rating through three quarters. His 19.4 passer rating was his second-lowest of the season and it came in a game where the Buccaneers had an opportunity to clinch the division in front of the home crowd.

“The biggest thing for this game is we had to win the line of scrimmage,” head coach Dennis Allen of limiting Mayfield. “We had to win the line of scrimmage on offense and on defense. Our O-Line and our D-Line played well for us to have a chance to win this game.”

While the Saints haven’t had an impressive season by any means — they’ve had three multiple-game losing streaks this season — they did enter their game against the Buccaneers with one of the more balanced squads in the NFL, ranking 13th in points scored and ninth in points allowed.

The other seven teams that ranks within the top 13 in both points scored and points allowed are in position to make it to the playoffs.

Following their fifth consecutive game with at least 22 points scored, Taysom Hill — who scored on a 22-yard receiving touchdown during the game — feels the team is finally hitting its stride.

“Offensive, defensive, special teams, it felt like it was a really clean game,” said Hill after the game. “You have a defense that created four turnovers and we don’t turn it over. Special teams played a clean game and it was great from every aspect.”

Week 18 for the Saints is important for a number of reasons outside of possibly clinching the division. If New Orleans makes it to the playoffs after entering Week 17 with a 4% of winning the division, it’ll not only be a successful season; it’ll likely buy an extra season of Dennis Allen as head coach and Carr as the franchise quarterback.

If New Orleans fall short of clinching the division after entering the season as overwhelming favorites, it’s hard to envision Allen being brought back as head coach and the Saints will likely seek alternative quarterbacks entering the offseason if Carr misses the playoffs for the ninth time in his 10 seasons as an NFL quarterback