NFC South Belongs To The Saints

We learned several things after the New Orleans Saints topped the Carolina Panthers, 31-13.  First and foremost the NFC South clearly still belong to the Saints.  The only team that had the win/loss record to derail the Saints NFC South Championship hopes (and a high seeded playoff spot) went down like a sack of potatoes to one of the best teams in the NFL.

It was only last week that we were questioning the Saints ability to make a run at the Super Bowl and with good reason. They could not find an answer for the Seattle Seahawks and their dual-threat offense.  They lost to the Seahawks 34-7.  However, after having a week to analyze what happened they defeated a team with a very similar offense, arguably the exact same offense.

Panthers QB Cam Newton rushed for 48 yards against the Saints, while Seahawk Russell Wilson rushed for 47 yards. However the difference came down to containment. The Saints were able to stifle the passing attack of Newton, holding him to just 160 yards through the air. They allowed Wilson to throw 310 yards.

The difference came down to defense. Wilson got comfortable both in the pocket and on his feet thanks to an ineffective defensive line. However, when they played the Panthers the Saints D-line was all over Newton. Newton was never comfortable in the pocket, feeling pressure on nearly every play.  He was sacked five times and hit seven times and hit hard.

The Saints may have discovered how to contain this new breed of offense and it is a simple answer: Pass pressure.  You are not going to stop these young guns from breaking out of the pocket every now and then, but if you can stifle them through the air then they will have a hard time scoring.

The Saints also were able to throw the Panthers defense off their game a bit simply by running the ball. When the Seahawks stopped the Saints passing game, New Orleans had nothing to fall back on, so they lost big. However, against the Panthers they ran only 14 run plays for 66 yards.  That was enough though to open up the passing game for Brees.  If the Saints can continue to improve on the run, they will become Super Bowl contenders.

So the Saints clearly own the NFC South, and they are well on there way to being Super Bowl contenders by learning from their mistakes.