New Orleans Saints vs. Kansas City Chiefs 12.20.20

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

• A Saints win would improve New Orleans’ record to 11-3, clinching their fourth consecutive NFC South title and guaranteeing a home playoff game. Since the 2002 NFL divisional realignment, only two franchises in the NFC have won division championships in four consecutive seasons, Green Bay (2011-14) and Seattle (2004- 07), with New Orleans looking to become the third. It would also give the franchise a 6-6 record all-time vs. Kansas City, making the Chiefs the 16th team New Orleans has at least a .500 record against.

• A Saints win would give the franchise four consecutive seasons of at least 11 victories seasons for the first time in franchise history. They would also become the only NFL team to win at least 11 games every season since 2017.

• Payton has a 1-1 record against Kansas City, this being his first home meeting against the Chiefs, as he looks to improve his overall record against the Chiefs to 2-1. A win would also give Payton a 1-0 home record against New Orleans. A win over Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid would give him a 2-0 record against Reid, and give him a regular season winning record against 51 head coaches.

• With a win today, New Orleans would improve their home record to 6-1.

• Payton has 149 career wins (regular season and postseason combined). With one more win, he will become the 25th coach to have 150 career wins.

• With a win today, New Orleans would finish 2020 with a 3-1 mark in their AFC West slate, giving them a winning record in interleague play for the fourth consecutive season.

• New Orleans has recorded takeaways in six straight games. With a takeaway on Sunday, it would mark takeaways in seven straight contests for the first time since a nine-game span from Weeks 8-16 of the 2018 season.

• The New Orleans defense has 36 sacks in 2020. With four takedowns, it would mark the first time New Orleans has had 40 sacks in four consecutive seasons since the team did from 1995-2001. • The New Orleans defense has not given up 300 yards passing to an individual passer in 16 straight games, second to Pittsburgh’s 23 among active streaks, looking to extend the streak to 17 straight games on Sunday.

• The Saints currently have a streak of 301 regular season games without having been shut out, dating back to a 26-20 win at Tampa Bay on September 6, 2002 at Raymond James Stadium, the longest running streak in the and fourth overall, a streak that they will look to extend to 302 games on Sunday vs. Kansas City.

• LB Kwon Alexander has 494 career tackles, needing six stops to reach 500.

• If QB Drew Plays, it would be his 285th career regular season appearance, giving him sole possession of 17th place in the NFL’s games played list. Brees, the NFL’s all-time passing yardage leader, has 79, 612 career passing yards, needing 388 passing yards to become the first player to reach 80,000.

• TE Jared Cook will play in his 176th career game sunday. He has 496 career receptions, ranked 22nd all-time among tight ends. With two grabs, he would move into a tie with former Vikings TE Steve Jordan, the father of Saints DE , for 21st. With three grabs, he would move into a tie with Ben Coates and Todd Heap for 19th. With four grabs, he would become only the 19th tight end to have 500 career receptions and take sole possession of 19th. Cook has a team-leading six receptions. With a touchdown grab, he would join Jimmy Graham as only the second Saints tight end to have at least seven scoring grabs in two different seasons.

• LB will play in his 142nd consecutive NFL game on Sunday, having never missed a contest in his nine-year NFL career. Davis has 996 career defensive/special teams tackles. With four stops, he would reach 1,000 for his career. Davis has a team-leading 91 tackles in 2020. With nine stops, he would reach the century mark for the third consecutive season, becoming the first Saints defender to do so since Curtis Lofton did so in three consecutive seasons from 2012-14.

• QB needs one more rushing touchdown to have six for the season, which would be the most by a Saints quarterback, surpassing the total of five that he and Archie Manning (1977) currently share.

• Hill has a career-high 395 rushing yards for New Orleans’ seventh-ranked rushing attack. With five rushing yards today, Hill would reach 400 yards rushing combined with the current rushing yardage totals of (673) and Latavius Murray (568), it would mark the first time since 2011 with Darren Sproles (603), Pierre Thomas (562) and Mark Ingram (474) that the Saints have had three players have at least 400 yards rushing in the same season.

• S has 1,182 career tackles, needing 18 to reach 1,200 for his career.

• S Malcolm Jenkins has nine passes defensed in 2020, second on the team behind Janoris Jenkins’ 10. With one pass defensed, it will mark the seventh consecutive season that he has posted at least ten passes defensed.

• If DE Cameron Jordan has a sack on Sunday, he will have 100 combined regular season/postseason sacks (currently has 93.5 regular season, 5.5 postseason), joining Rickey Jackson as only the second Saint to reach the century mark.

• Jordan has dropped 34 quarterbacks in his NFL career. If he drops Kansas City signal- caller Patrick Mahomes today, he will be the 35th quarterback he will have sacked. • Jordan needs one pass defensed to reach 50 for his career.

• In 2020, RB Alvin Kamara has 77 receptions to lead NFL running backs. With five grabs, he would set a new career-high past the 81 he had in each of his first three seasons. Having 14 in 2020, with one more, including his 18 in 2018, he would become the first Saint to have at least 15 touchdowns in two different seasons.

• Kamara has 52 career touchdowns, ranked fifth in club record books with TE Jimmy Graham (2010-14). With one touchdown, he would move into a tie for fourth with RB Dalton Hilliard (1986-93) and two to surpass Hilliard. With 320 career receptions, he needs eight more grabs to surpass Pierre Thomas (327) for the most catches by a Saints running back and surpass Thomas to move into seventh place in club record books. Kamara will also set a new single-season career high with his next two receiving touchdowns (6). With a franchise-record four two-point conversions, Kamara also has 318 points, ranked ninth in club record books. With 11 points, he would surpass Deuce McAllister to move into eighth.

• P Thomas Morstead needs to drop one punts inside the 20 yards line to become the 35th player since the statistic was first tracked in 1976 to have 250 career punts inside the 20.

• RB Latavius Murray has 4,916 career rushing yards, needing 84 rushing yards to reach 5,000 for his career.

• WR Emmanuel Sanders has 645 career receptions, ranked 62nd in NFL record books. With five grabs, he would become the 61st player with 650 career grabs and move into a tie for 60th all-time with Bobby Engram.

• S has 13 career , tied for tenth in club record books. with CBs Fred Thomas and Mike McKenzie, needing one pick to reach sole possession of tenth place and two to move into a tie with DBs Ernie Jackson and Brett Maxie for eighth place.