The NFC South is a mess again, and somehow the Carolina Panthers are still sitting on top of it.
That’s the strange reality in a division where nobody has separated, nobody has looked trustworthy, and nobody has managed to build much of anything at home. Carolina and the 3-5 New Orleans Saints are tied for the best record in the group, with Dave Canales’s team holding the tiebreaker after splitting its two divisional games. New Orleans, meanwhile, has only one NFC South game on its ledger so far, and it turned ugly fast in a 45-24 home loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night in Week 4.
Now the Saints get Carolina this Sunday afternoon in the Superdome, the first of two meetings between the teams. That’s a familiar matchup with a fresh layer of uncertainty attached to it.
A year ago, Kellen Moore’s club finished 6-11 and finished last in the division, yet still swept the Panthers. This season, though, the whole division has been so uneven that even the setting doesn’t offer much clarity.
The bigger picture is hard to ignore. Every team in the NFC South is at least two games below .500, and all four clubs have losing records at home. The numbers look even rougher when you strip away the international games: the Saints and Falcons have “home” losses to the Steelers and Bengals in Paris and Madrid, respectively, and without those results the division’s four teams - Carolina (1-3), New Orleans (1-3), Tampa Bay (1-4) and Atlanta (1-3) - are a combined 4-13 in their own buildings.
Carolina’s own slide has made the standings look even stranger. The Panthers have dropped three straight, starting with a Week 7 loss at home when the Buccaneers raced to a 33-6 halftime lead and rolled to a 43-13 win. That was followed by a Thursday night defeat at Lambeau Field, then Sunday’s 26-21 loss at home to the Broncos.
The Panthers OL finally gave Bryce Young time to breatheand he rewarded them with a strong performance against the Broncos defense pic.twitter.com/GCGbIlw1cw
Still, the division may end up being decided by New Orleans as much as anyone else. The Saints have NFC South opponents in four of their final five games, which gives them plenty of chances to reshape the race.
For a wider view of how little separation exists here, Vinny Iyer of The Sporting News has the Buccaneers as the best team in the division - all the way up at No. 21 in his latest NFL Power Rankings. The Falcons check in at No. 22, the Saints at No. 23 and the Panthers at No. 25.
So yes, the question hangs there: are we headed for a third losing-record champion in five years? And could this division somehow be won by a team with 10 losses?
In Other News...
Saints Run Game Still Has One Problem Fans Shouldn't Ignore
The Saints have spent the last stretch trying to patch up a rushing attack that needed more than a quick fix, and the front office has already shown it is willing to make changes to get there. Cutting Kendre Miller, firing run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti and bringing in Audric Estime were all part of the effort to stabilize a ground game that has been too uneven for comfort.
Estime gave the offense a lift against the Browns, helping New Orleans pile up 160 rushing yards, but the bigger issue has not gone away. The Saints still have not found steady production beyond his carries, and until that changes, the run game will remain more promise than solution. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Face A Trade Deadline Decision Fans Will Debate
The Saints place in the NFC South has made their trade deadline posture harder to read than most rebuilding teams. They are tied for first, but the front office is still operating with the long view in mind, and the Davon Godchaux deal already showed this could be a roster-shaping week rather than a stand-pat one. With New Orleans in the middle of a rebuild, every move has to balance the present standings against the need to keep building for later.
That is why the next few days could bring more interest in veterans who might draw real market attention. Chase Young, Carl Granderson and Devaughn Vele are among the names other teams could circle, but the Saints are also trying to protect their stockpile of draft capital as much as possible. The tension is obvious: if the offers are strong enough, New Orleans could keep reshaping the roster, but it does not want to sacrifice the picks it needs to keep the rebuild moving. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Have A Chance To Tighten Their NFC South Grip Sunday
The Saints head into Sundays home game against Carolina with a little more room to breathe after their latest win, but not enough to get comfortable. New Orleans and the Panthers are tied atop the NFC South heading into Week 10, and the division picture could shift quickly with the Saints hosting a Carolina team that has dropped three straight. It is the kind of midseason matchup that can either reinforce a lead or turn a race back into a scramble.
A big part of New Orleans edge has been the pressure up front, where Chase Young has become a major factor in the pass rush. He is already among the league leaders in sacks and has given the Saints a disruptive presence they can lean on as they try to keep control of the division race. Against a Panthers team looking to stop its skid, the Saints will have a chance to make another statement without needing to leave the comfort of home. [Read more 🡒]