The New Orleans Saints took a big hit in the playoff standings in their Week 14 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, losing their grip on the first seed in the NFC playoff standings. They fell to third, and can’t fall further thanks to the NFC East’s collective mediocrity. If they win out, the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles can each post records as strong as 9-7. The Saints will finish the year at 10-6 at worst, but they’ll be better than that.

It would take a lot of help for the Saints to rise back to the first seed, but the second seed is attainable. Both of the two top seeds guarantee a bye during the Wild Card Round, allowing lesser teams to duke it out in hopes of advancing, But only the first seed carries home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, ensuring that the team that holds it won’t have to travel for any games before Super Bowl LIV.

Obviously it would help the Saints to hold that advantage. Some dusty narratives suggest the Saints need it, and won’t reach the Super Bowl if they have to play away from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome; here are some numbers that disprove that notion.

The Saints are a better road team than home team in 2019. They’ve gone 5-1 on the road and 5-2 at home, winning their road games by an average difference of 9.8 points; at home, that point differential drops to 7.2 points per game. To put it another way, the average Saints victory at home this season has ended with a score of 27.6 to 20.4.

But on the road, the Saints are winning games with an average score of 28.4 to 18.6. Drew Brees and the Saints offense are blocking out the crowd noise, while Demario Davis and the New Orleans defense are benefiting from the relative quiet when their opponents have the ball.

This trend continues in recent history. The Saints were 7-1 on the road in 2018 but 7-3 at home, including the playoffs. You have to go all the way back to the 2017 season to find an appreciable difference, when the Saints went 8-1 at home but 4-5 on the road. And three of those losses were settled by six points or fewer, illustrating how the Saints remained competitive in hostile environments even then.

To sum it up, here are the Saints’ home and road splits over the last two years, a stretch of 31 games (including the playoffs):

Saints at home, 2018 to 2019: 12-5 (.705), average score of 29.9 to 24.8. Per-game scoring differential of 5.2. Saints on the road, 2018 to 2019: 12-2 (.857), average score of 27.3 to 19.1. Per-game scoring differential of 8.1.

So the Saints not only have a stronger winning percentage on the road, they’re doing a better job of limiting opposing offenses while still putting up points at a rate that would rank top-five around the league. There’s no question that the Saints would prefer to host every playoff game they’re scheduled for, but it’s hardly a death sentence if they have to travel at some point. Saints coach Sean Payton and his staff are clearly up to embracing the challenge of playing — and winning — in a hostile venue; Saints fans should take the same approach.