CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Saints are far from a clean team. But in the Dirty NFC South, that doesn't matter much anymore.
New Orleans (4-4) took the slimmest of division leads with its 28-10 win at Carolina (3-5-1) on Thursday night. It's one it won't relinquish.
Just like the first half of their season, the Saints struggled early during a needed first road victory. But just as we should expect for the second half of the season, they pulled away from overmatched division competition.
Sean Payton, the coach of still just a .500 team, was quick to point out what the Saints didn't do well. Despite the score, nothing was easy or comfortable. They didn't score in the first quarter, plagued by penalties and two turnovers — an interception and a lost fumble by quarterback Drew Brees. They gave up four sacks, and the defense didn't do much to stop the Panthers' running game.
Just like Sunday night at home against Green Bay, however, they eventually settled down by sticking to their steadiest force, the rushing attack. Mark Ingram, carrying another full load (30 attempts) with the Saints' pileup of backfield injuries behind him, ground out another 100-yard (exactly) game.
"I thought us being able to run the ball — it wasn't always pretty — yet we were able to control the game a little bit," Payton said.
Winning ugly in the NFL still counts as winning, and the Saints are one of the few teams in the NFL that can win ugly and still have an inflated margin of victory. It sure helps to play in the only division in the top-heavy NFC that doesn't have at least pair of teams with winning records.
Given their inability to win away from the Superdome, in contrast with their perfection inside, the win at Bank of America Stadium can leave one feeling the Saints have already won the South despite having half a season left.
“Everything we’ve been through, a couple of tough losses, we knew coming in today we had a chance to take control of the division," Ingram said. "We had opportunities here last year, we wanted to come back and take care of business."
The Panthers have the most favorable second-half schedule in the league, but that doesn't mean much. Injuries have ravaged their offensive line, their defense keeps wilting, and Newton is regressing as a passer with little help from the supporting cast.
The Saints' slate is stacked — they welcome the 49ers, Bengals and Ravens in their next three games and have trips to Pittsburgh and Chicago. The difference is, they're trending to not being overwhelmed by those teams after dropping games to the Falcons and Browns early.
Ingram has missed time this season with a hand injury but looks better than ever. Tight end Jimmy Graham and wide receiver Kenny Stills also are healthy after being slowed by ailments. The defensive front, led by Cameron Jordan, Junior Galette and Akiem Hicks, has rounded back into 2013 form. The maligned secondary is finding its way. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is calling better games, three in a row now after the bye. Payton and Brees have been up-and-down together before, so this is nothing new for them.
The Saints, despite ripping the Packers on Sunday and routing the Panthers four nights later, still don't look like the team many considered a preseason NFC favorite. The bad news for the rest of the conference: They have time to remove their blemishes.
Their reward will be a playoff game in the Superdome. Meanwhile, other, currently better NFC teams will need to battle just for the right to likely lose that game.
“One thing we’ve kept emphasizing, we’re in a sprint to get better, and our players have bought into that, Payton said. “They really believe that. We’ll make the corrections and adjustments we have to do.”
