Which NFC South team is going to be the most challenging to knock off? There’s a lot of grudging respect for the New Orleans Saints coming from the managing editors at Falcons Wire (Matt Urben), Panthers Wire (Anthony Rizzuti), and Bucs Wire (River Wells), but the Saints themselves have some division rivals to worry about.
Here’s why each of the other teams is chasing New Orleans, and why the Saints shouldn’t get complacent on top of any preseason power rankings within the NFC South:
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons have lost three straight games to the Saints. In Week 1, Atlanta blew a 16-point fourth-quarter lead to New Orleans, which the team never seemed to fully recover from. The toughest divisional matchup for the Falcons will likely be their Week 18 game against the Saints in New Orleans. — Matt Urben, Falcons Wire
Carolina Panthers
The New Orleans Saints still boast one of the NFL’s top defenses. They allowed the fifth-fewest yards per game (314.8) and the ninth-fewest points per game (20.3) in 2022. And now that they have a decent enough quarterback in Derek Carr, the Panthers could have a lot to deal with on both sides of the ball when they clash with head coach Dennis Allen and crew. — Anthony Rizzuti, Panthers Wire
New Orleans Saints
The Panthers are my pick for the Saints’ biggest challenger, having swept them last year and won a surprising number of games with New Orleans in recent years without a good head coach or quarterback. Now they might have both. — John Sigler, Saints Wire
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Bucs may not be the premier team in the NFC South anymore (although who knows?), but expect the New Orleans Saints to continue serving as the ever-present thorn in Tampa Bay’s side. Derek Carr should do well for them, as mentioned earlier, and the team has retained just enough defensive pieces to likely give one of Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask some agitation in the Bucs’ two matchups in New Orleans. — River Wells, Bucs Wire
