NFC South Report, 2021 Week 5

The NFC South is continuing to chug along, and it’s nice that the Atlanta Falcons can call themselves winners this week alongside the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints.

The Carolina Panthers have lost a second straight game, which might be leaving the Carolina faithful a bit nervous after a soaring start in Matt Rhule’s second season.

Let’s examine exactly what happened this week for our division foes, and where the division stands as the Falcons take the week off.

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers haven’t fared well against the NFC East this season, dropping its second game of 2021 to the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-18.

Quarterback Sam Darnold’s hot start was quelled a bit with only 177 passing yards and a touchdown compared to 3 interceptions. The team is still missing Christian McCaffrey to injury, but saw rookie Chuba Hubbard rush for 101 yards on 24 attempts to pace the ground game.

Carolina’s schedule doesn’t get any easier with the Vikings, Giants, Patriots and Falcons coming up (okay, the Giants aren’t that good, but they beat the Saints, so y’know), so they’ll need to hope Darnold shakes this performance off and that McCaffrey gets healthy soon.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Bucs are still very good, which sucks, and Tom Brady ate the Miami Dolphins defense alive with 411 passing yards and 5 touchdowns.

If it wasn’t already abundantly clear, the Bucs are going to be a problem this year, though the NFC is more crowded at the top than usual. Brady and company won’t have an easy jaunt back to the Super Bowl. That doesn’t mean they’re not the favorites, though.

New Orleans Saints

All you need to know is the Saints beat the Washington Football Team and we didn’t, and that life can just be sweeter not thinking about that football team in Louisiana when they win. Though, Kenny Stills is also back in New Orleans, so that’s newsworthy?

That’s the NFC South for you in Week 5. Currently, the Falcons are at 2-3 and a game behind Carolina and New Orleans, while Tampa Bay is leading and will likely continue to do so.

Let’s see how the next week treats the division with the Falcons set for their bye.