re: How do we get to 2nd seed, and failing that is 5th or 6th seed better?

Yes. The other two division leaders have six losses. Saints just need to win next week and the Tampa Bay game is meaningless. If they lose to the Panthers then they'd need to both win versus Tampa and would need the Panthers to lose to the Falcons. If the Saints lost both games they could possibly be out of the playoffs depending on how the current three 6 loss teams finish and tiebreakers. It might not be possible so 6 could be the worse. Too lazy to look at schedules because if the Saints are the last seed I don't think it really matters.