NFC South standings, Week 4: Falcons and Panthers remain knotted up at the top

We're through three weeks of the NFL season, and the NFC South is settling into two tiers. The Falcons, thankfully, are in the top one.

NFC South Standings

Falcons: 3-0
Panthers: 3-0
Buccaneers: 1-2
Saints: 0-3

The Falcons stand alone on top of the division because I am ridiculously biased in their favor. For the third straight week, they muddled their way through part of a game and then pulled off the comeback, except this time it was a super awesome return from an 11 point deficit to win by 11 points. They look like they'll be competitive, at the very least, all year long.

The Panthers narrowly beat a Saints team without Drew Brees. We can certainly debate the quality of Atlanta's opponents, but Carolina isn't out here beating world beaters, either. They're still 3-0, though, and have Cam Newton and that defense to carry them. It's going to be very interested when the Falcons and Panthers meet up, and it may help clarify how this division is going to shake out.

The Buccaneers have had some success this year, but they're clearly a limited team until the defense gels and Jameis Winston grows into the quarterback everyone thinks he can be. I do think this is a team with enough talent and promise to make noise in the near future, but they're going to have to turn this ship around (ha!) quickly to hang around in 2015.

The Saints are dead in the water. Drew Brees could be out this coming week against Dallas, they're just not a good football team, and there may be a difficult (albeit short) rebuilding process in the team's future. They had one hell of a run as a hated rival and frequent NFC South champion, but it appears that has come to a close.

Your thoughts on the state of the division?