Seemingly everyone has their own NFL power rankings these days, offering a subjective look at how dominant each team is around the league. It isn’t worth much in terms of thoughtful football analysis, but these exercises are useful if you’re curious about a team’s perception in the media, or on a national scale. We’re tracking more than a dozen power rankings each week from national outlets and team blogs throughout the 2022 season.
And the New Orleans Saints helped themselves in a big way by rallying to wipe out a 16-point Atlanta Falcons lead in the fourth quarter. That resilience in a tight spot has given their reputation a big boost — for the most part. Some commentators are rightfully pointing out that the Saints shouldn’t have ended up there in the first place, but there’s something to be said for recovering from self-inflicted problems.
See for yourself. Here’s the average positioning of each NFC South team after Week 1:
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 3.2 (+0.6 over last week)
- New Orleans Saints: 13.4 (+3.7 over last week)
- Carolina Panthers: 28.1 (-2.5 over last week)
- Atlanta Falcons: 30.2 (+0.3 over last week)
So the Saints have made the largest jump in their perception around the league, while the Panthers saw the greatest fall. The Buccaneers and Falcons are stagnant. Let’s take a deeper look at what’s being said about New Orleans from around the NFL’s media landscape: