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

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.