NFL Power Rankings, Week 8: Eagles collapse in fourth quarter during loss to Panthers

4. New Orleans Saints

After enjoying a week off following a historic outing by Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints knew they would be in for quite the tough battle on the road Sunday when facing a hot team in the AFC with the Baltimore Ravens. Even though it took until the fourth quarter to get their act together, the Saints were able to hang on for the 24-23 win thanks to some extra help from Justin Tucker missing the extra point with less than a minute left.

Regardless of what happened with Tucker, wins like this show why New Orleans is considered one of the top teams in the NFC since their toughness came out when it mattered the most to defeat Baltimore. And with five wins in a row, the Saints are showing a few similarities from last season in which they recovered from a poor start to the year before emerging as one of the top teams to beat in the NFC.

With all of the weapons Brees has on offense, New Orleans is going to be a tough team to beat moving forward with only one loss to their name heading into a Week 8 meeting with the Minnesota Vikings. All things considered, this could very well turn into an early playoff battle between two of the top contenders in the NFC at the moment who look to end October on a positive note with a win.