Saints Still Run the NFC South
It’s important to not overreact to Week 1 wins too much. Regardless, the Saints still appear to be well in control of the NFC South in what could be the final season of Drew Brees’ NFL career.
Getting that first head-to-head win can go a long way for a team’s pursuit of finishing first in any given division. The Saints appear to be the better team and have put the Buccaneers in a position to have to dig out of a hill in order to avoid losing the tie-breaker.
Meanwhile, both the defenses of the Falcons and Panthers appear to remain a work-in-progress, so the Buccaneers will likely be the Saints’ greatest challenger in the NFC South.
There is still a lot the Buccaneers can work through as a team during the season before they match up with the Saints again. It will be important to do so because the margin for error became even thinner for Tampa Bay with this loss.