Heading into Week 12 of the NFL season, the New Orleans Saints sit at 2-8 on the year and in fourth place in the NFC South. Coming off of their first win since Week 5 against the New York Giants, the team has a little bit of momentum going for them just in time for Falcons week. Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough received the first win of his career in just his second game as the team’s starter and is looking to follow up an exceptional performance with another impressive outing against a second straight divisional opponent.

Taking a look this week at where the national media has this team ranked isn’t at all a surprise, as they remain in the bottom five of the league in everyone’s power rankings. With that said, the team does have a chance during the latter half of this season to give themselves a nice little boost due to the strength of their remaining schedule. Games against the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans and a couple more divisional matchups could allow the team to move up the charts in the next few weeks. But they’ll first have to take care of business against the Dirty Birds on Sunday.

With the start of Week 12 shortly upon us, let’s check out where the New Orleans Saints are ranked according to the national media:

“After beating Carolina in Week 10, the Saints will come out of their Week 11 bye with a chance to make it two straight wins when they face the Falcons in a game that has suddenly become a battle for third place in the NFC South, thanks to Atlanta’s losing streak. This will give Tyler Shough (vs. Kirk Cousins) a chance to vanquish another division opponent and build off a solid outing against the Panthers. The rest of this season should be used to determine where Shough is in his development and whether the Saints must consider a quarterback in the next draft. That answer is likely no right now, but that shouldn’t be something that is settled in November. Changes are coming this offseason, but perhaps a lot of the big pieces — head coach, GM and QB — will remain the same.”

“The rest of this season has to be about Tyler Shough’s growth. They have to find out if he’s their guy.”

“The rest of the season will be one long tryout for Shough to be the quarterback of the future. If he struggles and the Saints have a top pick in the draft, they could be selecting a quarterback to eventually be his replacement. If Shough builds off the Week 10 win over the Panthers and plays well, the Saints might table drafting a quarterback and look to build around him instead.” — Katherine Terrell

“It would be fair to cast them as something of a spoiler down the stretch − except their schedule is so bad (easiest in the league actually), they might only be spoiling their own 2026 draft position.”

“Tyler Shough led New Orleans to a 17-7 win over Carolina in his debut. He plays the Dolphins, Jets, Titans and Falcons (twice) down the stretch. It’s the kind of slate that could lead to some undeserved optimism about last year’s second-round pick, but it shouldn’t keep New Orleans from taking a quarterback in 2025 if the right one is there.”

“They can deliver a death blow to their hated rivals from Atlanta.”

“The Saints entered their bye on a high note after knocking off the rival Carolina Panthers. The schedule sets up favorably coming out of New Orleans’ off-week, too. 

Facing the Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins in back-to-back contests gives the Saints a legitimate chance to improve upon their 2-8 record. 

Wins will also indicate rookie quarterback Tyler Shough is playing well. The most important aspect of New Orleans’ upcoming schedule is whether he is prepared to take over the offense through the rest of the 2025 campaign and into the future. His second start was promising.

The second-round rookie needs to stack quality outings and prove the Saints don’t need to draft another quarterback.” — Sobleski

“There’s a real chance for growth down the stretch from rookie QB Tyler Shough. The Saints play just one more opponent that currently has a winning record.”