New Orleans Saints Pound Carolina Panthers 45-17 [PHOTOS]

Even though the Saints (13-3) still finished as the No. 3 seed in the NFC, meaning they'll host the Detroit Lions (10-6) in the first round of the playoffs Saturday, Brees said the team still accomplished "everything that we hoped for" at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The Saints won their eighth straight game, tied a franchise record for most wins in a season, finished a perfect 8-0 at home for the first time in franchise history, set several NFL records for team and individual accomplishments, stayed relatively healthy and actually won a game in Week 17 for the first time in the Sean Payton-Drew Brees era.

 

Most important, the Saints kept some serious momentum rolling as they head into the postseason.

Several players suggested that the Saints are playing with as much confidence as they have at any point, including their Super Bowl run in 2009-2010.

"We've got that same feeling in this locker room right now," Saints safety Roman Harper said. "We talked about it a week or so ago, that we didn't know what that feeling was (in 2009). We knew we were good and we knew we had talent, but nobody wanted to talk about the Super Bowl or making a run. Now a lot of us have been there, we know what it takes to get there and what it takes to win.

via [nola.com]