Seems silly to be writing this today, given the results of the last two games, but I couldn’t help but notice a couple of stats that indicate the Saints might be better than any of us, including me, believe they are right now.

The numbers are these: Strength of schedule and strength of victory. The first stat is, of course, indicative of the quality of the teams the Saints have played in 2013. The second stat indicates how good the teams the Saints have beaten are.

The Saints’ strength of schedule through 15 games is .545–the third-toughest faced by any NFL team, and by far the most difficult schedule of any team with more than eight wins. No other team with a chance to make the playoffs has faced competition with a winning percentage above .540. No other team in playoff position has faced competition with a winning percentage of .530 or better, either. And only one team with a playoff shot–Miami, which can finish no better than 9-7–has faced a strength of schedule of .520 or better.

The Saints’ strength of victory, .497, is similarly better than the competition. Carolina, with a .463 in this category, is the second-best team in the NFC. Over in the AFC, Cincinnati is the only team with more than 8 wins that compares. Their strength of victory is .480.

All well and good, but if the Saints barely sneak into the playoffs what does it matter? If the Saints have to go on the road in the playoffs, who cares how tough their journey to this point has been? Hell, the Saints might not even make the playoffs at this point, you’re thinking and I’m fearing.

Here’s why these numbers might matter: They seem to correlate with teams that actually have success in the playoffs.

Last year, Super Bowl champion Baltimore was tied among AFC playoff participants for toughest strength of schedule, having faced a slew of teams that produced a .496 winning percentage. And Baltimore’s strength of victory was second among playoff teams only to New England’s.

In 2011, Super Bowl champion New York, which barely made the playoffs, struggled through a strength of schedule of .520, second-toughest among all NFL playoff teams, and had the best strength of victory, .465, of any NFC playoff team. Notably, the 2011 Saints faced the easiest schedule in the NFC.

Guess which NFL playoff team faced the toughest schedule in 2010. That’s right: Super Bowl champion Green Bay, also with a .520.

You have to go back to 2009 to find a Super Bowl winner that didn’t have a tough strength of schedule or impressive strength of victory. The 2009 Saints feasted on the league’s easiest schedule, facing competition that managed only a .426 winning percentage and scoring a strength of victory of .418.1 Jump back to 2008 and the trend re-asserts itself: the champion Steelers had the toughest schedule of any playoff team in the entire league.

So what does all this mean? Obviously the Saints still have trouble on the road. Obviously the Saints have a major problem at offensive line that is probably not going to go away by January, assuming we make it that far.

But maybe it gives those who adore the team one last thing to pin our hopes on.

Neither the toughness of the Saints’ schedule this year nor the quality of the teams the Saints have beaten ensure they’ll even make the playoffs. But if they do, they might have some fight in them after all.