METAIRIE — The New Orleans Saints can clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers today in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The Saints are 12-2, have won the NFC South Championship and a victory against the Steelers — or a loss by the Los Angeles Rams against Arizona — would provide all the remaining benefits a team can earn during the regular season — a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

“We’re playing for a lot in this game,” guard Larry Warford.

This is only the second-to-last game of the regular season, leaving New Orleans with another opportunity to accomplish all of that even if nothing goes right today.

“As you go through the course of the season, you talk about winning the division and then you talk about improving your seeding,” coach Sean Payton said. “I think everyone’s aware of how that all works but the focus is doing what we can to win this week.”

The simplest formula for beating the Steelers (8-5-1) would be for the defense to play the way it has been and for the offense to regain the form it had a month ago.

New Orleans leads the NFL in scoring defense since Week 4. The Saints have not allowed more than 17 points in any of the last six games.

The defense has enabled the Saints to go 2-1 while playing its last three games on the road, which coincided with the offensive slump. New Orleans, which didn’t score a first-half touchdown in any of the last three games, prevailed 12-9 at Carolina last Monday after overcoming a 14-3 halftime deficit to beat Tampa Bay 28-14 and losing to Dallas, 13-10, in a game that was winnable until the end because of the defense.

“The bottom line is this, regardless of how those games played out for the first three and a half quarters, we went into these last two games on the road in the division, down at half, down going in the fourth quarter and found a way to win, right?” quarterback Drew Brees said. “Everyone has contributed and it’s good to feel battle tested and regardless of the scenario or circumstances that we encounter for the rest of the year or in any given game, we always have a chance, we always have hope and we’re confident in that.”

The Saints are also confident in being back home for the first time since Thanksgiving. They have won five straight at home and lead the NFL with a scoring average of 38 points at home.

Warford said the offense has been its own worst enemy with sloppy fundamentals. The offense was penalized seven times against Carolina.

“We’re slacking on the simple stuff and it’s the easy stuff that we can control,” he said.

One thing they can’t control is injuries. The line finished the Carolina game with just two members — Warford and right tackle Ryan Ramczyk — playing the position at which they started the game.

Left tackle Terron Armstead has missed the last six games because of a pectoral injury. His replacement, Jermon Bushrod, left the Panthers game because of a hamstring injury as did center Max Unger because of a concussion.

When Bushrod the left game, Andrus Peat moved from left guard to left tackle and rookie seventh-round draft choice Will Clapp of LSU played left guard. Cameron Tom replaced Unger.

Bushrod has been ruled out of today’s game, but Armstead and Unger both practiced fully Friday.

“They are a 12-2 group,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “It seems like every week (Brees) is breaking a new record. He does a great job of utilizing all the eligibles. The running backs (Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram II) are awesome both in the running and passing game. They are formidable for all of those reasons and others.”

Brees said the Saints need to regain the “tempo” and “rhythm” that are trademarks of their offense.

“When we’re clicking on all cylinders, we are running the football effectively, we are good in the short to intermediate passing game, which opens up the shots down the field,” Brees said. “We possess the ball and we convert first downs and those results lead to points, which is good and also plays a more complementary brand of football with our defense.”

The Steelers ended a three-game losing streak when they beat New England, 17-10, last Sunday.