Category: NFL power rankings

NFL Power Rankings roundup: Saints rise up after win over Falcons

The New Orleans Saints knocked out the Atlanta Falcons in a surprise win this week, causing them to rise up in the latest NFL power rankings:

The New Orleans Saints are finally back to the right side of the win column, snapping a seven-game losing streak with their 20-17 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

This marks the beginning of the Darren Rizzi era, clearly starting off on a high note after the departure of Dennis Allen. With this, the Saints have gone from being one of the lowliest, if not the lowliest ranked teams for major media outlets, to slightly higher in the rankings.

The jury is still out on whether this was a fluke for the Saints to have beaten one of the hottest teams in the nation, or if it truly is the start of something new.

Here’s a look at where the Saints stand in the rankings across national outlets in comparison to where they stood in the previous week:

High: 23 – Low: 29  – Average: 26.7

The Saints will have a chance to stay on the right side of the win column as they face the Cleveland Browns at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday, Nov. 17 at Noon CT/1 p.m. ET.

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Where the Saints check in on USA Today’s Week 8 NFL power rankings

Bad times seem to be only going to worse for the New Orleans Saints after five straight losses. Sunday’s game is their next chance to right the ship:

Bad seems to be only going to worse for the New Orleans Saints, who hit a five-game losing streak following their 33-10 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday.

With this, the team has taken a major slide in the NFL Power Rankings for just about every national media outlet in existence. And that is rightfully so as the team seems to be declining in just about every possible facet of the game.

It’s not just poor performance either, as the the Saints have been riddled with injury across the board, including one that has led to the loss of veteran quarterback Derek Carr. The Saints have been forced in that situation not just to have to go to a quarterback who has less experience, but a complete rookie in Spencer Rattler.

It’s never easy for a signal-caller to start in their first NFL season, much less without notice due to an injured QB1, and the growing pains Rattler has experienced has been obvious.

With their latest loss, the Saints have slipped to No. 26 overall in the USA Today NFL Week 8 power rankings from Nate Davis.

The team was previously ranked at No. 25 the week beforehand.

“What shambles could QB Derek Carr be returning to?” Davis wrote. “The Saints lost their past two games at home by more than 20 points in each … matching the number of times such Superdome blowouts occurred during the entirety of former HC Sean Payton’s tenure. At least RB Alvin Kamara is sticking around after agreeing to an extension.”

The Saints will aim to get back on track when they hit the road to face the Los Angeles Chargers next week.

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NFL power rankings roundup: Saints continue to spiral after last week’s loss

The NFL power rankings only continue to get lower on the New Orleans Saints. They must find a way to win and escape this spiral:

The NFL power rankings standings only continue to get worse for the New Orleans Saints as the team plummets downward now on a five-game losing streak in what is shaping up to be one of their worst seasons in recent history. The most recent of those losses presented itself in the 33-10 lopsided fall to an also struggling Denver Broncos team.

New Orleans has hit several new historic lows or matched those of previous years seemingly by the week and continue to do so in a way that leaves reason to believe that major changes could be coming down the line sooner rather than later.

They’ve been plagued by multiple injuries and have had to deal with adversity like quarterback Derek Carr going down with an injury and unexpectedly having to be replaced by an inexperienced quarterback, but there are far more glaring issues on either side of the ball abound contributing to the team’s lack of success.

Here’s how some of the most major media outlets ranked the Saints moving into Week 8:

ESPN: 22 (prev: 18)

NFL: 24 (prev: 21)

CBS Sports: 22 (prev: 20)

Bleacher Report: 25 (prev: 18)

ProFootballTalk: 23 (prev: 18)

Yahoo Sports: 28 (prev: 23)

The Athletic: 22 (prev: 21)

FOX Sports: 24 (prev: 18)

The Ringer: 26 (prev: 22)

High: 28 – Low: 22 – Average: 24

It will be interesting to watch if the team can get back on track as it goes up against the Los Angeles Chargers on the road Sunday.

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NFL power rankings roundup: Saints stall out going into Week 6

A three-game losing streak doesn’t inspire much confidence. Here’s how the major media power rankings slotted the Saints moving into Week 6:

The New Orleans Saints continue to fall in the rankings after their third consecutive loss of the season, most recently defeated by 26-13 by the Kansas City Chiefs. A three-game losing streak doesn’t inspire much confidence, but there’s a feeling the Saints could be better than their 2-23 record suggests.

This week, some of the experts still ranked the Saints as highly as 13th, while some had them as lowly as 20th. But for the most part, the team still remains at the middle of the pack.

Here’s how some of the major media outlets ranked the Saints moving into Week 6:

ESPN: 16th (last week: 14th)

NFL.com: 16th (last week: 10th)

CBS Sports: 19th (last week: 12th)

Bleacher Report: 18th (last week: 15th)

ProFootballTalk: 16th (last week: 14th)

Yahoo Sports: 19th (last week: 16th)

The Athletic: 20th (last week: 16th)

FOX Sports: 13th (last week: 12th)

The Ringer: 18th (last week: 19th)

High: 13th – Low: 20th – Average: 17.2

These rankings are a very real assessment of where the team stands after it has fallen from grace. Getting back to the win column will involve the Saints getting back to the same type of offensive firepower that they possessed in the first couple of games of the season and finding a way to finish out games that are close effectively.

The Saints will aim to get back on track as they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, Oct. 13 at Noon CT/1 p.m. ET.

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Saints take a tumble in USA Today’s Week 5 NFL power rankings

The New Orleans Saints took a tumble in USA Today’s Week 5 NFL power rankings, even if they have an MVP candidate in Alvin Kamara:

How would you say the the New Orleans Saints stack up among their peers? They looked like one of the league’s best teams after a 2-0 start, but a couple of injuries to Taysom Hill defanged their offense, which put more pressure  on their defense, and now they’re 2-2. And that fall has been reflected in the latest round of NFL power rankings from outlets across the league media landscape.

According to USA Today’s Nate Davis, this two-game slump warrants a drop from No. 9 to No. 16, even if Alvin Kamara is turning in an MVP-quality performance:

RB Alvin Kamara leads the league with 97 touches, 536 yards from scrimmage and six TDs – quite the workhorse production from a guy who spent most of his career in a backfield timeshare. He should be in the thick of the MVP debate.

Davis has two different NFC South teams ranked ahead of New Orleans, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 6 and the Atlanta Falcons rounding out the top-10. The Carolina Panthers are stuck in a very distant fourth place.

Power rankings aside, the Saints are very much still in this. The Bucs have a 3-1 record. The Falcons own a tiebreaker but they’re also 2-2. Things could tilt back in New Orleans’ favor in a hurry. But that won’t happen if they keep playing sloppy football and this losing streak continues. Kamara needs more help offensively and Dennis Allen’s defense must show it can sack the quarterback and stop the run. Until those things happen the Saints will keep looking up at their competition.

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NFL power rankings roundup: Saints enter middle of the pack going into Week 5

The New Orleans Saints entered the middle of the pack in this week’s NFL power rankings roundup. Back-to-back losses haven’t helped their reputation:

The New Orleans Saints have found themselves right around in the middle of the pack after their loss against the Atlanta Falcons. In this weeks rankings, the Saints weren’t taking too far down mainly due to the circumstances in which their loss came. Outscoring offensively and not allowing any touchdowns defensively. Unfortunately though, this would be the second week in a row where the team had opportunities to close out games and failed to do so.

This week, experts ranked the Saints as high as 10th, while others ranked them as low as 19th. Pretty much in the ballpark of a 2-2 team with some upside. Here’s how the rest of the major media outlets ranked the Saints heading into Week 5:

High: 10th – Low: 19th – Average: 14.1

These rankings feel like a fair assessment of where the team is at the moment. There is still optimism with this team as their losses have been close against some quality opponents, however this could be lost quickly if they find themselves on the losing ends of the next couple games. Finding a win in the next two weeks will be critical for this team, as the schedule should lighten up soon after. But if this team wants to beat anybody, they have to find a way to finish.

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NFL power rankings roundup: Saints rankings plateau entering Week 4

The Saints’ ratings in NFL power rankings have plateaued after their Week 3 loss to the Eagles. They’ve got a lot to prove in Week 4:

The New Orleans Saints Week 3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles tamed how many media outlets view the team heading into Week 4, as many of their ratings of the Saints went down or stagnated compared to last week. Fortunately, many of the ratings did not go too low, and every outlet still has the Saints in the top half of the league, most of them by a good margin as well.

The Saints got all the way up to third in some rankings last week which was really fun to see, and this week they remained as high as seventh but also went as low as 14th compared to the low of 12th entering Week 3. Here is the full list of how they are rated:

High: 7th – Low: 14th – Average: 10.5

To be frank, many outlets see the Saints as we fans and media do still, good but not great. They rank behind the elite of the league who have been performing since Week 1 and even back to last season when factoring in expectations, but ahead of most of the middle of the road teams who are of a similar record. The first two weeks did a good job of solidifying the Saints for at least a week with a buffer for a loss, but their matchup with the Atlanta Falcons will be a critical one to keeping hopes high and potentially moving them up the boards again.

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Where the Saints come in on USA Today’s Week 4 NFL power rankings

Let’s take a look at where the Saints rank on the freshly-updated USA Today power rankings heading into Week 4:

The New Orleans Saints’ 2-1 start has left many media outlets feeling mixed on their reactions to how the team should rank among the NFL’s elite. On the one hand, they started off 2-0 and had 91 points through two games, and on the other hand, they looked less than stellar against the Philadelphia Eagles, especially without Erik McCoy.

Across the media landscape they have dropped a few positions but typically not too many, and this is the same case as the USA Today power rankings, which put the Saints at No. 9. Last week the Saints came in at No. 6on this list, however, their loss and a few teams continuing to look good moved them down a little bit. Here’s what USA Today’s Nate Davis had to say about the Saints after Week 3’s close loss:

“So much focus has understandably been devoted to their offense. But when was the last time you saw a slot corner (Alontae Taylor) among the league’s sack leaders (3½)?”

He makes a good point as well, the offense got a lot of attention when it was good, and the same when it was bad in Week 3. However we have neglected to talk about the defense, including Alontae Taylor, which with the exception of a few plays has looked pretty outstanding for having to carry the load in Week 3.

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Where the Saints clock in on USA Today’s Week 3 NFL power rankings

The Saints rocketed up the USA Today NFL power rankings. Their dominant Week 2 victory has left everyone looking differently at them going into Week 3:

The New Orleans Saints, spurred on by their “fresh approach” to football, have continued to rise in the USA Today power rankings. They leapfrogged from the 24th position in the power rankings after last week all the way up to 6th, joining some of the strong contenders in the league through two weeks.

This improvement was reflected across many media outlets, as their defeat of the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 44-19 really shook up how many people viewed the organization. Here’s what USA Today’s Nate Davis had to say about the Saints after Week 2’s landscape-changing win:

“They destroyed a bad team in Week 1, then destroyed a decent one Sunday. New OC Klint Kubiak’s system has certainly suited QB Derek Carr (league-best 5 TD passes and 142.4 passer rating while leading team to points on his first 15 drives of the season) and RB Alvin Kamara (league-best 5 TDs and 290 yards from scrimmage). Amazing how apparently declining vets can be revived by a fresh approach.”

Davis had high praise for new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and for good reason as many fans have seen him as the immediate reason for the turnaround of the team. Statistically speaking this is one of the best Saints offensive teams through two weeks ever, and that is validated by a whopping 91 points through only two games so far.

However, the Saints rank second of the NFC South teams, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rose from 11th all the way to 4th. The Atlanta Falcons also rose with their Week 2 win, going from 19th to 13th. The Carolina Panthers did end up falling the one spot remaining from 31st to 32nd after starting the season 0-2 and benching Bryce Young.

Overall a strong week for the Saints on the field, in the power rankings, and in the eyes of fans and media alike.

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NFL power rankings roundup: Saints make a huge jump going into Week 3

The New Orleans Saints have seen a meteoric rise in the NFL power rankings from major media outlets after their high-flying victory over the Dallas Cowboys:

The New Orleans Saints are cooking with grease now.

With another major victory in the books, taking down the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 44-19, the Saints have seen a huge jump in the NFL power rankings from many of the major media outlets. Playing at a high level for one game did not convince many people, especially against the miserable Carolina Panthers, but doing so for two consecutive weeks and putting up a whopping 91 points in that time frame has turned many heads. Taking down a much-hyped Cowboys team has its perks.

The Saints got as high as 3rd on the rankings this week with The Athletic viewing them as a top team in the NFL, where the absolute bottom is 12th from Pro Football Focus and Yahoo Sports, which is nearly higher than last week’s highest rating (11th from The Ringer). Here is the full list:

ESPN:  9th (last week: 23rd)

Pro Football Focus: 12th (last week: 14th)

NFL.com: 8th (last week: 24th)

CBS Sports: 6th (last week: 25th)

Bleacher Report: 4th (last week: 18th)

ProFootballTalk: 10th (last week: 23rd)

Yahoo Sports: 12th (last week: 22nd)

The Athletic: 3rd (last week: 11th)

FOX Sports: 9th (last week: 21st)

The Ringer: 11th (last week: 25th)

High: 3rd – Low: 12th – Average: 8.4

Many outlets now see the Saints as we fans and Saints media do, as a competitive team that may be something to watch for come playoff time if they keep up this type of momentum. This would really be the case if they look good in their next few matchups, taking on the Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, and Kansas City Chiefs during that span. Going 2-1 or even 3-0 during those games would launch the Saints even further up, and really solidify their standing for weeks to come.

First up is the Eagles though, and despite their 1-1 record, they have proven to be a competent opponent in the past with the Saints, and a team with a difficult to stop rushing attack for New Orleans in prior matchups. We will see if they are able to get to 3-0 and make their mark quickly on the landscape.

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