NFL: Sportskeeda's Top 5 Teams of the Year
As another great football season comes to an end, it's time to begin filling that void in your life as we take a look at Sportskeeda's top 5 teams of the year:
The standard of play in 2020-21 was high across both conferences and just about every division, which made it tough to choose just five standout teams. However on balance, these were the five best teams of the 2020 NFL season.
In descending order:
5. New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints make the list at number 5. They won the NFC South for the fourth season running but were beaten by rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Saints success stories of 2020: It was no doubt a disappointing end for the Saints, especially considering they had already bested Tampa twice during the regular season (including a blowout 38-3 win in November), but there was still plenty to cheer about down in the Bayou:
Alvin Kamara posted a career year. The elusive running back finished with 1,688-yards from scrimmage and 21 TDs (1st in the NFL). Latavius Murray and Taysom Hill continue to add big value as power backs, while Trey Hendrickson emerged as a legitimate threat on pass-rush (13.5 sacks; T-2nd in NFL). Cam Jordan and Demario Davis continued their dominant form on the defensive line. C.J. Gardner-Johnson stepped up and became a real menace on defense, too, and - when they were all fit - the Saints' young-looking offensive line proved to be one of the very best in the league (ranked 8th by PFF).
New Orleans has a few issues to address heading into the offseason: the franchise is way over the cap limit at present (though Drew Brees's announcement that he is taking a veteran's pay cut last week of $1 million per year helped them out no end there), but if this was a signal that Brees is set to retire, of course, they will need to stitch that somehow.
Sean Payton really does dream up some of the most imaginative offensive plays in the league though, so whoever gets the job behind the line next year, expect to see the Saints continue to compete at the very top, especially if Michael Thomas is back fit and raring to go -- I still don't think we got to see the Saints play their best game last year; they could have gone all the way with a kinder injury record.
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