The New Orleans Saints are entering Week 6 of the 2021 NFL regular season on a bye week. Now is the time we get to look into some of the team statistics along with how other rivals are doing in the NFC South. Starting off with some stats regarding the Saints.
Heading into this bye week, New Orleans finds themselves in third place in the division. They are 3-2 on the year while losing a tie breaker to the Carolina Panthers due to a Week 2 loss. This is the first year that we have gotten to see a Saints team without Drew Brees and it has been interesting so far to say the least. Jameis Winston has played good football though, good enough to win games. He has thrown for 892 yards, 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions. The only issue is that Sean Payton clearly doesn’t fully trust him to lead this offense just yet. Alvin Kamara has taken on a full-on workhorse back role as well, rushing for 368 yards while only hauling in 15 receptions for 113 yards. With Michael Thomas and Trequon Smith still on the injury list, Marquez Callaway and Deonte Harris have become the top two wideouts. They both have over 200 yards on the year with Callaway scoring three times and Harris scoring twice. Defensively, this team is still the great unit that they were last year. The pass rush hasn’t been incredible but nobody has run consistently on them all season long. Demario Davis is still the leader of the group alongside Cameron Jordan but the real surprise has been the secondary. Marshon Lattimore is back to his normal form, locking up opposing teams’ number one receivers easily. In terms of special teams now, that is where they have some issues. New punter, Blake Gillikin, has been stellar. He is actually coming off of a game in which he downed three punts inside the five-yard line! It’s the kicking that been problematic. Wil Lutz is on the verge of returning following core muscle surgery and since then they have tried a few kickers. Aldrick Rosas missed a number of kicks before being let go, then they signed Cody Parkey, who again missed a kick and was subsequently let go. Hopefully, Lutz can get back soon because this is going to be a real problem down the line.
As for the remainder of the division, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just won their Thursday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles. They are first in the division with a 5-1 record. The Carolina Panthers as we mentioned earlier are in second place with a 3-2 record and that forsaken tiebreaker. Then to wrap up the division we have the Atlanta Falcons who are 2-3. This is a division that likely won’t be locked down until the end of the year. It seems like the Saints, Buccaneers and Panthers all have a shot to win the division, though the Buccaneers are rightfully the favorites at the moment. This Saints team will get some work in and hopefully return to the field in Week 7 with a chip on their shoulder to improve to 4-2.