The Saints clinched ridiculously early, the Falcons failed again and the Panthers fell behind the Buccaneers.
Here’s our review of what happened around the NFC South this week.
Saints (10-2) beat Falcons (3-9), 26-18
You know you’re dominating when you win the division when there’s still a month left to play in the regular season. New Orleans sewed up its third straight NFC South title on Thanksgiving despite a mediocre outing from Drew Brees (one touchdown, 88.7 passer rating). What won the day was a ferocious pass rush that sacked Matt Ryan nine times. They also contained Devonta Freeman, limiting him to just three yards per carry. While they look undeniably tough, this team was always supposed to win the division this year and their overall talent level is light years ahead of the other three. These Saints will be judged by how deep they go in the playoffs.
Buccaneers (5-7) beat Jaguars (4-8), 28-11
Sometimes winning just means making fewer mistakes than your opponents. The Bucs did that on Sunday courtesy of a disastrous outing from Nick Foles, who committed turnovers on three straight possessions and got benched in favor of the far superior Gardner Minshew. They didn’t do anything special offensively, but Tampa has to be giddy with the progress of first-round pick Devin White, who scored a touchdown on one of his two takeaways. This victory pushed them ahead of Carolina in the standings.
Panthers (5-7) lost to Redskins (3-9), 29-21
Ron Rivera is an outstanding individual and is deservedly well respected for the way he conducts himself as a coach. There’s more to the job than that, though and Rivera is failing his team on the field. After Bill Callahan fell behind 14-0, he made adjustments to get Washington back in the game. Rivera didn’t respond well, resulting in a slow motion catastrophe 29-0 run that sank the ship. It probably won’t happen until the season is over. This loss likely ended Rivera’s time in Charlotte, though.
Falcons (3-9) lost to Saints (10-2), 26-18
Injuries can’t be helped. That being said, Atlanta went all in to upgrade its offensive line this past offseason and it’s been a total failure. Dan Quinn’s seat is just as hot as Rivera’s – if not hotter – and Thomas Dimitroff’s questionable team-building since the outstanding 2016 draft class have put the Falcons in terrible position to compete in the long run. They won’t have the cap space to make the moves they need to turn that around, either.
