The New Orleans Saints are coming off back-to-back-to-back NFC South championships. With Tom Brady entering the division, joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, some predict that dominance to end.
Saints star defensive end Cam Jordan thinks chatter like that is premature.
Jordan joined NFL Network's Good Morning Football on Monday and noted the Bucs are still playing for second place.
"But I do know we have to step up our game, we've got to elevate," Jordan said, smirking wryly while discussing the Bucs. "They've got the second-greatest quarterback of all-time, right behind Drew Brees, and now we've got a head-to-head two times a year. We've got our work cut out for us and then they have an addition, you bring in Rob Gronkowski and LeSean McCoy, you already had two 1,000-yard receivers in (Chris) Godwin and Mike Evans. This is a team that's fighting for second place."
On paper, the Saints might have the deepest team in the NFL with stability and playmakers on both sides of the ball, starting with Jordan, Brees and Michael Thomas.
The Bucs countered by adding Brady to an offense of stars in Godwin and Evans and bringing in Gronk and McCoy as well. Coupled with a good rising young defense, Brady's ability to protect the football could immediately turn Tampa into a Super Bowl contender.
The first goal each year for every team is winning the division. The Saints have done so three straight years but have come up shy in the playoffs each one. In 2020, winning the NFC South becomes more difficult with Brady in Tampa.
The battle for supremacy kicks off from the start with the Saints hosting Brady's Bucs in Week 1. The continuity with New Orleans bringing back most of its veterans could give it a leg up against a Tampa squad playing its first game of the Brady-era against a division foe.
