NFC South Sees Some Separation In Week 2

The Bucs’ hopes of returning to the top of the NFC South in 2026 looked dire enough when they struggled their way through the first half of Sunday afternoon’s home opener against the Browns at Raymond James Stadium. Then, Cleveland went on a 17-3 run in the second half before the game went into a weather delay that lasted 2 hours and 12 minutes.

Out of the delay, the Bucs’ attempt at coming back and salvaging something out of their home opener fell flat. In the end, it was a disastrously embarrassing 23-19 loss for a team that came in as eight-point favorites.

After all, the defeat dropped Tampa Bay to 0-2 for the first time since 2014, and it was a loss that came at home to a Cleveland team that was reportedly already exploring a quarterback change for Week 3 before it even took the field in Week 2. The loss was the Bucs’ ninth in their last 11 games dating back to last season, too, and it featured yet another bad performance from Baker Mayfield, who signed a three-year, $165 million contract two weeks ago.

So, it was already bad enough for Todd Bowles and Co. at 0-2 with 2-0 Minnesota and 1-1 Green Bay set to visit town in the next two weeks. But factor in what else went on throughout the NFC South in Week 2 and there’s already some early separation between the top and bottom halves of the division.

At the bottom of the division are the 0-2 Bucs and 0-2 Falcons, who lost 34-3 at home to the Panthers Sunday afternoon. Atlanta has proven to be the laughingstock everyone expected it would be in the first two weeks of the season, granted Kevin Stefanski’s team has also been missing its top two quarterbacks for both games.

Atop the division after impressive wins in Week 2? The aforementioned Panthers, who lost 59-37 to the Bears in Week 1, rebounded with another big offensive performance and a shutdown performance from the defense against a bad Falcons offense. Bryce Young threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns and Carolina’s defense racked up five takeaways. By virtue of getting a division win, it’s Dave Canales’ team atop the NFC South right now.

But the more impressive win out of the South in Week 2 game from the Saints. After storming back from a 21-0 deficit in Detroit against the Lions last week and falling just short for a 31-30 loss in overtime, Tyler Shough and Co. erased another late deficit in Week 2 against the Ravens in Baltimore.

This time, New Orleans trailed 17-9 in the fourth quarter only to come back with a Shough touchdown pass to Chris Olave and a 1-yard touchdown run by the second-year quarterback with 1:28 left. Then, Lamar Jackson had a deep ball intended for Rashod Bateman intercepted by Julian Blackmon, sealing the win for Kellen Moore’s team.

That’s an extremely impressive road victory for the Saints, who now sit at 1-1 and have largely looked like the best team in the NFC South through two weeks. Here’s a look at the current standings heading into Week 3:

NFC South Standings

Carolina Panthers – 1-1 (1-0 in NFC South)
New Orleans Saints – 1-1 (0-0 in NFC South)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 0-2 (0-0 in NFC South)
Atlanta Falcons – 0-2 (0-1 in NFC South)

It’s Early In The NFC South Race, But The Bucs Need To Figure It Out

It goes without saying that we’re only two weeks into an 18-week regular season. So, anything and everything can pretty much change on a weekly basis, especially this early on. But it’s hard not to look at the overall body of work for each team in the NFC South and see that there are two halves to it.

There’s the top half, with the 1-1 Panthers and 1-1 Saints. Both teams only sit one game up in the division race, but both teams have also looked much improved over the first two weeks of the 2026 season. In other words, they’ve looked like contenders to potentially win the division, whether it’s Carolina repeating or New Orleans capturing its first NFC South title since 2020.

Not to mention, the Panthers will see the Browns in Week 3, while the Saints will return home to face the Raiders. Both teams should be favored to get to 2-1.

In the bottom half, it’s the 0-2 Bucs and 0-2 Falcons. Tampa Bay could reason with its Week 1 loss by taking away some positives and realizing that it lost by six on the road against a very good Cincinnati team, and it did so while giving the ball away four times. But after losing a game at home to Cleveland in the fashion that it did on Sunday? There have to be some real concerns for Todd Bowles and his team, who could be home underdogs in Week 3 against the 2-0 Vikings.

The Falcons, for their part, will be underdogs in Week 3 as well given that they have a short week before traveling up to Green Bay to face the Packers on Thursday Night Football. Atlanta is a mess, and that mess may not be solved in 2026.

But for Tampa Bay? This team has to figure things out fast. Losing Sunday’s game was in many ways, inexcusable. Yet it happened, and now the Bucs are 0-2 and needing to dig themselves out of a hole.

“Nobody’s coming to save us,” Bowles said after the game. “We’ve got to fix ourselves, and we’ve got to fix it in a hurry.”

The Bucs do have to fix it in a hurry. Because even if the Panthers and Saints may not be 13- or 14-win teams the way the top teams in other divisions tend to be, both teams look improved. And Tampa Bay can’t count on barely scraping by and being the best of the bad in the NFC South anymore.