The NFC South After Week 9: Saints Alone in 2nd Place

Coming into Week 9, all NFC South teams were active. The first place 5-3 Falcons traveled to Tampa Bay (whom they had previously lost to) to face the 3-4 Buccaneers. The Saints, also at 3-4, travelled to San Francisco to face the struggling San Francisco 49ers. And the last place Panthers travelled to SoCal to face the Los Angeles Rams.

So what happened in Week 9?

Atlanta and New Orleans were able to convincingly beat lesser teams, with the Falcons puting a 43-28 stomping on Tampa Bay and the Saints with similar success against the 49ers, 41-23. The Carolina Panthers were able to eke out a victory against the offensively-challenged Rams, 13-10.

This meant for the second week in a row, all of the NFC South teams except the Bucs won their games last week, with the Falcons improving to 6-3, the Saints improving to an even .500 4-4, and the Bucs falling and Panthers improving to identical 3-5 records.

Next week, the Panthers host the AFC West Kansas City Chiefs, and the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the also-struggling Chicago Bears. The Atlanta Falcons, the only team ahead of the Saints, travel to Philly to face Carson Wentz and the Eagles while the Saints host the defending Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos.

The Saints will face off against one of the NFL’s best defenses in Von Miller and the Broncos while the Falcons will play against the Eagles, who have lost their last two games. The Broncos offense will most likely not be able to keep pace with the Saints offense, so the question will be if the Saints defense is able to make as many plays as the Broncos. The Eagles and the Falcons should have a high-scoring game that could come out either way, and the Bucs and Panthers could realistically lose or win their respective contests.

Win, and let’s let the rest of the division take care of itself. #BeattheBroncos