Saints Headed for the Super Bowl? Hope Dat![Video]

(with help from AP)

Who Dat?  The Who Dat Nation is hoping it's the New Orleans Saints. They're looking just ripe for taking another Super Bowl championship this year.

The New Orleans Saints haven’t lost in more than two months and boast the best odds to win the Super Bowl among the eight teams playing in the first round of the National Football League playoffs.

According to sports writers,  the Saints enter the postseason ranked 5-1 to take the Super Bowl,  they haven't lost a game in eight games, they have a  record- setting quarterback in Drew Brees, and they haven't been beaten at home.

Mix all that up with the fact that they won the Super Bowl championship just two years ago, and you have the recipe for another Super Bowl victory.

Sunday's Saints victory over the Carolina Panthers was a sweet victory.  The Panthers  tied the game late in the first half, but  the Saints responded with 28 unanswered points to pull away for a 45-17 victory at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The Panthers (6-10) entered the finale with victories in four of their previous five games but couldn't keep it going against a New Orleans team (13-3) heading to the playoffs.

The only teams sports writers give a better chance than the Saints to win the Super Bowl are  the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots.

Both the Packers and Patriots have a shorter potential championship path with first-round playoff byes.  That's why they are given a better chance to win the Super Bowl, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers.

Brees was quoted as saying, “We’re playing as well as we’ve played all season long right now."

Brees has passed for an NFL-record 5,476 yards this season. “The real season starts now. We have to continue to progress and get better. All of our goals, dreams and aspirations are right there in front of us.”

The Packers have 8-5 odds of successfully defending their Super Bowl title after becoming the sixth team in NFL history to go 15-1 during the regular season. Green Bay got a bye as the top seed in the National Football Conference and won’t play this weekend, when there are four first-round games.

The Patriots, with a 13-3 record, are the top seed in the American Football Conference and have 7-2 odds of winning the Super Bowl, according to the Las Vegas Hilton’s Race and Sports Book. Like New Orleans, the Patriots -- behind quarterback Tom Brady -- didn’t lose in the second half of the season.

Here are exciting highlights from Sunday's big Saints victory over the Panthers, 45-17.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d81bed8ea/GameDay-Saints-vs-Panthers-highlights