Nobody expected the New Orleans Saints to shut out the Las Vegas Raiders last week, and that’s largely reflected in the latest NFL power rankings. New Orleans fell to an average ranking of 24.6 across 15 different outlets (we’ve been surveying national platforms, fan blogs, and analytics services each week) after their road loss to the Arizona Cardinals. After taking down the red-hot Raiders, they’ve risen to 21.6. The highest ranking is No. 16 the Locked on Sports network, with the lowest at Sports Illustrated (No. 28).
Here’s the state of the NFL South:
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 16.1 (-0.4)
- Atlanta Falcons: 18.6 (+2.7)
- New Orleans Saints: 21.6 (+3.0)
- Carolina Panthers: 29.2 (+0.7)
So there are still some holdouts who aren’t ready to admit the Buccaneers are just as bad as the other teams in their division (Sports Illustrated and Pro Football Focus each insist the 3-5 Bucs are a top-10 team), but we’re seeing the gap narrow week by week. It goes to show that the NFC South is exactly as wide-open as each team’s mediocre record reflects. Here’s what each NFL power ranking had to say about the Saints this week:
Touchdown Wire
Author: Mark Lane
Ranking: 19 (Last week: 23)
Author’s take:
“When Alvin Kamara gets going, the Saints offense is unstoppable. The problem for New Orleans has been inconsistency under center. Andy Dalton had a 117.2 passer rating, and naturally he was aided by a dominant running back. If New Orleans can have such outings from Kamara going forward, they should be contenders in the division.”
USA Today
Author: Nate Davis
Ranking: 20 (Last week: 17)
Author’s take:
“Note to Dennis Allen – QB Andy Dalton is historically dreadful against Baltimore and has lost four consecutive appearances to the Ravens. Might be time to page Jameis.”
CBS Sports
Author: Pete Prisco
Ranking: 20 (Last week: 21)
Author’s take:
“The defense finally showed up this season in beating the Raiders. If the Saints play like that, they can still be a playoff team in a bad division.”
NFL.com
Author: Dan Hanzus
Ranking: 17 (Last week: 21)
Author’s take:
“The Saints are one of the NFL’s genuine mystery teams as we spin toward the season’s second half. The good version of Dennis Allen’s bunch showed up on Sunday, beating up on the Raiders on both sides of the ball in a 24-0 win. The star of the day was Alvin Kamara, who scored three touchdowns a little over a week after he gave a passionate speech to teammates imploring the Saints to play up to their potential. ‘I stick to what I said,’ Kamara said after the shutout. ‘We was going to go out there and beat their ass, and we did that.'”
Bleacher Report
Author: NFL Staff
Ranking: 19 (Last week: 26)
Author’s take:
“A funny thing happened on the way to mediocrity.
The Andy Dalton-led New Orleans offense has gotten good.
The 24 points the Saints put up Sunday against the Raiders was actually their lowest-scoring game since Week 3. After running back Alvin Kamara publicly stated the Saints were going to “whoop” the Raiders, they went out and did just that—in no small part because of Kamara’s three-touchdown afternoon.
Kamara was the star Sunday, but he was quick to credit his teammates while speaking to reporters after the win.
‘I stick to what I said,’ Kamara said. ‘We was going to go out there and beat their [butt], and we did that. We came in wanting to kind of just impose our will. I was talking about getting back to playing our style of football. Obviously, it looks like it’s me, but it’s a team thing. So, it’s refreshing to kind of get that.’
The shutout win was easily the Saints’ best performance of the season. And for Gary Davenport, it raised an interesting possibility.
‘If these Saints can get any kind of consistent effort from the defense,’ he said, ‘then they might well be the best team in a bad NFC South. The New Orleans offense is easily the most explosive in the division, with Andy Dalton providing a spark that was missing under Jameis Winston. Week 9 will bring a chance for the Saints to show they are more than mediocre. They host Lamar Jackson and the 5-3 Ravens.'”
Sports Illustrated
Author: Conor Orr
Ranking: 28 (Last week: 27)
Author’s take:
“It was a big week for teams to realize that good checkdown backs are absolutely devastating against the most popular defenses right now. Alvin Kamara racked up almost 100 yards on nine targets in a stabilizing win over the Raiders.”
NBC Sports Chicago
Author: Josh Schrock
Ranking: 25 (Last week: 24)
Author’s take:
“Alvin Kamara talked the talk and then walked the walk in leading the Saints to a blowout win over the Raiders. New Orleans is still in the thick of a bad NFC South race.”
Pro Football Talk
Author: Mike Florio
Ranking: 25 (Last week: 29)
Author’s take:
“If the defense keeps playing like it did on Sunday, they can become a factor.”
The Ringer
Author: Austin Gayle
Ranking: 24 (Last week: 27)
Author’s take:
“Dennis Allen took his defense to a level we haven’t seen this season in a revenge game against the Raiders, the team that fired him as head coach in 2014. Entering Week 8, the Saints ranked 31st in yards allowed and last in points allowed. Against a Raiders offense that ranked second in offensive EPA per drive going into the game, Allen orchestrated a shutout. Making dominant defensive displays like this the norm is paramount for Allen and the Saints to gain control of an ailing NFC South.”
Yahoo! Sports
Author: Frank Schwab
Ranking: 21 (Last week: 25)
Author’s take:
“Alvin Kamara scoring his first three touchdowns of the season is a great sign. It sounds crazy for a team that is just 3-5, but they’re right in the mix of the NFC South race. It helps to play in an awful division.”
The Athletic
Author: Bo Wulf
Ranking: 21 (Last week: 25)
Author’s take:
“Fact: By TruMedia’s measure of success rate, Taysom Hill has been the best ball carrier in the league. His success rate of 61.5 percent on 39 carries for 337 yards is tops in the league among the 72 players who have at least 20 rushing attempts. Only four other players are over 50 percent: Cordarrelle Patterson (55.2 percent), Darrel Williams (55 percent), Kenneth Gainwell (54.2 percent) and Josh Jacobs (50.4 percent).
Opinion: Stop messing around and just make Hill the full-time quarterback already.”
ESPN
Author: Katherine Terrell
Ranking: 21 (Last week: 26)
Author’s take:
“The Saints have lamented being their own worst enemy for almost the entire season, turning the ball over in a loss to the Bucs, allowing a late touchdown against the Bengals and throwing two pick-sixes against the Cardinals. But they showed against the Raiders that they’re still capable of playing the kind of defense that led them to wins in the past few seasons. They also didn’t turn the ball over Sunday, sparking hope that perhaps Alvin Kamara‘s accountability speech to the team helped them turn the corner.”
Author: Vinnie Iyer
Ranking: 23 (Last week: 28)
Author’s take:
“The Saints stuck with Andy Dalton to facilitate their playmakers, Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave. But they needed that kind of defensive performance for Dennis Allen to get some confidence back there. They are right back in the NFC South race.”
Locked On Sports
LOCKED ON NFL POWER RANKINGS for Week 9!
Biggest movers:
📈#DirtyBirds 22➡️17
📈#Saints 20➡️16
📈#Seahawks 14➡️10
📉#RuleTheJungle 4➡️9
📉#TogetherBlue 6➡️11
📉#RaiderNation 19➡️24 pic.twitter.com/li9PYEFh34— Locked On Sports (@LockedOnNetwork) November 2, 2022
