New Orleans Saints: Who is biggest challenger in the NFC South for 2019?
With the New Orleans Saints facing off against their NFC South rivals twice a season, who poses the biggest challenge to them in the 2019 season?
Despite a few departures, the New Orleans Saints are definitely the leader of the pack in the NFC South. Last year, they won their division and are predicted to repeat in the 2019 season. As far as divisions go, many people have said the NFC South is one of the toughest in the NFL. However, the Saints currently sit on the throne.
The teams in the NFC South have changed quite a bit this offseason. For the Saints, they had some notable departures, added a bunch of talent and even made Michael Thomas the highest-paid wide receiver ever. For the most part, the Saints have made strides to ensure continued victory.
But looking at the rest of the league, we must look at the moves these teams made to try and take down New Orleans. With all this, who is the Saints’ biggest challenge for repeating as division champions?
Similar to last season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are at the bottom of the list. As much as the team tries, nothing they’ve done has worked. Whether it’s issues with quarterback Jameis Winston, poor offensive play or coaching, the Buccaneers aren’t poised for anything besides sitting on their couches for the playoffs. It’s a sad fact but one that doesn’t look to change in 2019.
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Maybe the addition of Bruce Arians will finally help them right the ship. There is only so much that Arians can do, though. Similar to last year, it seems like the Buccaneers aren’t going to stand a chance against the Saints. It could end up being a split series if the Saints don’t play their starters in the late-season meeting. But coming off a 5-11 record, the Bucs have a long way to go before they challenge the Saints for dominance in the NFC South.
Deciding between the remaining two teams wasn’t easy as both aren’t poised for Super Bowl runs but have a chance at making the playoffs. The Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers had identical records last season so it’s not hard to see why picking between the two is so difficult. However, one team is more on the upswing than the other.
The Falcons have been slowly declining for the past few years. After their devasting Super Bowl loss, it feels like they never recovered. This year could be a bounce-back though as their defense gets healthy after the group was riddled with injuries last season. Yes, they lost a great asset in Tevin Coleman, which could hurt the offense. But getting healthy is still huge.
Even with that, though, it’s hard to imagine Atlanta competing on the level of the Saints, even if they are a better challenge than the Buccaneers. Of course, that only leaves one team as the Saints’ biggest challenger in 2019 and that’s the Panthers.
Even though the Panthers didn’t make the playoffs last year, they still beat the Saints albeit a low-scoring game at the end of the season. Unlike the previous two teams, the Panthers have a dynamic running back to move the offense through in Christian McCaffrey, who has emerged as a star for Carolina.
As good as the Saints defense is, they weren’t able to keep McCaffrey out of the end zone despite him only rushing for 53 yards. Looking at their defense, the Panthers haven’t reached the peak of their Super Bowl 50 defense, though they have made improvements and some young rookies could make a big impact around Luke Kuechly and Kawann Short.
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Regardless, the Panthers easily pose the biggest challenge to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South. More than likely, the two teams will end up splitting their series again. Even with the improvements, the Panthers have made, the Saints are still the leading contender to become NFC South champs.