NEW ORLEANS -- Saints coach Dennis Allen had a message for his team in the final two weeks of the season.
He challenged the offensive and defensive lines to dominate the line of scrimmage and urged the roster to lock in mentally with their postseason chances on the line.
He put the players through a rare late-season padded practice after their mini-bye following a Thursday night loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 16. The idea was to get them in a specific mindset heading into their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Sunday.
"It sent a message to everybody in the locker room," Saints guard Cesar Ruiz said. "Like, 'Hey, it's going to be a physical week for this game, so be ready. ... The message was pretty clear."
The Saints responded with a 23-13 road win, keeping them alive in the playoff hunt heading into the last week of the season.
"This game is freaking hard," Allen said in his postgame locker room speech. "But it's the teams that handle the hard s---. ... You guys handled it today."
At one point in his speech, Allen jokingly looked at defensive tackle Khalen Saunders when addressing the padded practice earlier in the week.
"Being new on the team and wearing pads late in the year was something I wasn't used to," said Saunders, who was a free agent addition in the offseason.
But the Saunders and the Saints seemed to have gotten the message.
Allen doesn't know if he'll have the team break out the pads again Wednesday, but he and the team know they need to replicate Sunday's performance when they host the Atlanta Falcons in Week 18 to give themselves a chance at the playoffs.
As far as the NFC South title, the Saints (8-8) must beat the Falcons (7-9) and the Bucs (8-8) have to lose to the Carolina Panthers (2-14) -- who are already guaranteed to finish with the worst record in the NFL -- to be named division champs.
Both games will kick off at the same time Sunday (1 p.m. ET).
"Ever since the Rams loss ... the message in the locker room [was] 'We can't wait for the playoffs to start,'" Saunders said. "They actually start right now for us. That last game against Tampa Bay, that was a playoff game. This game coming up is a playoff game. After that, we'll see what happens, but that's how we've got to approach it."
The Saints also have a slim possibility to get the final wild-card spot with a lot of outside help, but a loss to the Falcons would end the season, no matter what anyone else does.
"None of it matters if we don't take care of business against an Atlanta team ... that beat us at their place the last time," Allen said. "I think our focus really needs to be on, how do we go out and play a really good game in the dome against Atlanta?"
In short, the Saints are fighting not to miss the playoffs for the third straight season, and the second under Allen. They would have preferred not to be in this position and control their only destiny this late in the season, but when the season is over, they'll likely lament the missed opportunities: The slow starts, red zone woes and the winnable games that slipped out of their hands.
The blown 17-point lead against the Green Bay Packers in Week 3 will likely be one of the scenarios they wish could get a do-over, especially considering they would have left Wisconsin 3-0. Their failed late-game red zone drives against the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars are probably others.
"We're still alive, playing for something," quarterback Derek Carr said. "Until we run out of time, I'm going to keep believing. I'm going to keep working. We can't feel satisfied because we have to win.
"We have to play another team that we didn't beat this year. And so I'm looking forward to that matchup."