There were moments after the New Orleans Saints’ Sunday loss to the New York Giants when I sat, brain hurting, trying to find out what this 52-27 loss meant for the Saints’ playoff picture. I put the abacus away without an exact snapshot, but there’s one thing for sure. However infinitely small it is, New Orleans still has a shot.

That’s the mathematical version of the story.

The realistic version articulates a much different account. The Saints aren’t going to be playing football past Week 17—not the way this team is functioning. And since the abacus is still close at hand, let’s move the playoff question to the back burner and talk about Drew Brees.

In the offseason, Brees held out for a huge contract. He got his wish to the tune of $100 million over five years. Brees’ cap hit in 2012 is $10.4 million, the lowest of the five years on his deal. It’s a good thing his contract is back-loaded, he’ll have plenty of time to make up for his substandard play this year. Brees hasn’t done enough to earn the $10.4 million in 2012.

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Just 23 days ago the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished off the Carolina Panthers and moved to 6-4 on the season. Three weeks have gone by, and three losses have been added to the tally sheet. At 6-7, after Sunday’s 23-21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, it’s hard not to think back to the not-so-distant past and recall how the 2011 season ended.

After starting last year 4-2, the Buccaneers lost 10 straight to finish 4-12. Then-head coach Raheem Morris was fired. Many of the players from that team were criticized for giving up on the season.

Are these most recent three consecutive losses just the first of a losing streak that will rock the end of Tampa Bay’s 2012 season?

If Tampa Bay loses the rest of its games, the team will finish with a 6-10 record and a six-game losing streak. Losing out is a genuine possibility, but if it happens it won’t be for the same reasons as last year’s end-of-the-year debacle.

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Cam Newton didn’t care that the Atlanta Falcons were 11-1 and his Carolina Panthers were 3-9. He showed as much by going off Sunday, leading his team to a 30-20 victory.

Newton completed 65.7 percent of his passes—his best outing since Week 2—and threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 116 yards and a touchdown on the ground. The best statistic of his day, however, was zero turnovers.

Carolina is now 9-1 in Newton’s career when he doesn’t turn the ball over. But Newton did more against the Falcons than play mistake-free football. He dominated in every aspect of the game.

Newton showed off his arm strength and accuracy on his first touchdown connection of the game, a 25-yard laser beam to tight end Greg Olsen. He repeatedly showed off both throughout the game, especially when his offensive line gave him time to sit in the pocket and go through his progressions.

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It’s a good thing that the Atlanta Falcons have three more weeks—and possibly a fourth, with a first-round bye—to prepare for the playoffs. If the postseason ended today, Atlanta wouldn’t last long.

The Falcons dropped their Week 14 game to the Carolina Panthers Sunday, 30-20, but worse than the 10-point loss was the ineffective play of the offense.

With an offense that features one of the best dual-threat wide receiver options in the NFL in Roddy White and Julio Jones, a future Hall of Fame tight end in Tony Gonzalez who might be the best to ever play the position and a quarterback in Matt Ryan who was mentioned in MVP talks for the better part of the year, Atlanta’s offense should be potent, if not deadly, every single game.

But the Falcons managed just 362 total net yards Sunday and didn’t advance into the red zone until the 6:30 mark of the third quarter. Atlanta was severely thumped in the time of possession battle, especially in the first half. The offense was only on the field for 6:12 in the first half and only had three possessions, all ending in punts.

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Two consecutive losses have put the New Orleans Saints at 5-7 and well outside the playoff picture for the first time since 2008.

A tumultuous offseason that’s still lingering around like day-old fish, an unsettled coaching situation and inconsistency on defense has lead the usually-powerful Saints to be also-rans in the NFC landscape.

A 5-1 stretch in October and early November gave hope that this team might be able to overcome its 0-4 start to the season. But the San Francisco 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons laid back-to-back 10-point beatdowns on New Orleans over the last two weeks to erase almost all postseason hope.

Quarterback Drew Brees, who threw five interceptions in the Saints’ loss to Atlanta, told the Times-Picayune that he’s going to stay aggressive over the last quarter of the season and attack defenses, just like he always has. It’s the only way to put a poor performance behind. It may be the only way to cash in on the tiny mathematical chance New Orleans has at qualifying for the playoffs.

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The Atlanta Falcons are 11-1, have already clinched the NFC South and have the ability—with some help—to lock up the NFC’s No. 1 seed in Week 14. But the Falcons still aren’t considered one of the NFL’s elite teams.

Maybe they shouldn’t be.

Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com has the Falcons at No. 6 in his power rankings—behind two NFC teams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers.

My colleague Matt Miller here at Bleacher Report ranks the Falcons fifth with only the 49ers ahead of them in the NFC.

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If there is one thing for sure about the Carolina Panthers' fanbase and some of its players, self evaluation isn't a strong suit.

After quarterback Cam Newton set a slew of rookie records and walked away with the title of Rookie of the Year in 2011, the fanbase exploded with optimism. Even though this team won just six games in 2011 and still had many holes and question marks, people argued vehemently that this would be a playoff-caliber team in 2012.

Center Ryan Kalil even took a full-page ad out in the Charlotte Observer in July and guaranteed a Super Bowl XLVII win.

The league has now played 12 games and the Panthers sit with a 3-9 record, extremely far from expectations. Even though Carolina has lost three times as many games as it has won, defensive end Greg Hardy told Steve Reed of the Associated Press that his team was better than the 11-1 Atlanta Falcons.

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New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, interim coach Joe Vitt and former Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress testified Monday at the bounty hearings, finalizing all the witness statements in the case, according to the Times-Picayune.

Vilma told the Times-Picayune that he did not change his testimony from the last time he met in regard to his involvement with the bounty scandal. Vilma also seemed to feel that former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was "more receptive" than Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Vitt said he wasn't able to give any details of his testimony, but he did say he told Tagliabue he didn't feel any of his players crossed the line with intent to injure other players.

Childress didn't reveal any of his statements in the hearing. Childress was one of the first to speak with the league about the possibility of a bounty on Brett Favre, who was playing quarterback in 2009 during the NFC Championship Game.

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