The NFC South has been a struggling division for years. There hasn't felt like a true contender in the division since Tom Brady retired, and that's allowed for fans of all four fan bases to feel like you're never really out of it in the NFC South. New Orleans Saints no longer deserve the luxury of saying that.
As true as that statement still remains through five games, it doesn't account for the trajectory of the teams around the division. The Falcons still feel a bit unknown case because they looked really good for two weeks with Michael Penix Jr. then got walked down by Snoop Huntley on Sunday Night Football. The Panthers look improved from last year, which should have been the case when youth was the driving force.
It's still early, so the idea of the division being close is a bit of confirmation bias. The Panthers sit atop the division at 2-2, Falcons are second with a record of 2-3 and the Saints and Bucs are tied at 1-4. Would we still be saying the same thing if the Panthers didn't have a bye week last week and won their game?
Saints have to prove they can compete in a "weak" division
The Panthers looking primed to take a step forward, and the Falcons have shown flashes of life with their actual quarterback at the helm. The issue is the rest of the division doesn't matter if the Saints can't take advantage of it, and right now, they're showing no signs of an opportunistic team.
The NFC South isn't out of reach, but the Saints have to prove that it even matters anymore. The last three games have shown a team that can't handle the blitz, take care of the ball or sustain momentum. Slow starts were already a talking point when the Saints were finishing fast, and now that the latter has disappeared, offense has just been ugly.
Defensively, the bend but don't break attitude has become increasingly frustrating. In the first two games, it felt like containment, but that swiftly turned to feeling passive when they couldn't stop Brock Bowers in Week 3. It's continued to feel like a passive approach to the game ever since.
Saying the NFC South is still in reach feels like a deflection of the Saints' trajectory specifically. Take the rest of the division out of the equation. Who are the Saints, and is that a team that can go win 8-9 games?
The statement is meant to say the Saints still have a hope if they can clean up their shortcomings. After this last week, let's take it one step at a time and see if they can fix the things that have plagued them. Unfortunately, many of those feel like fundamental and philosophical approaches, making it much more difficult to correct.
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