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I'm not sure the Saints are really that big a surprise, remember they've been playing at or near 500 for a while, sure last year when they were homeless they reverted to the Saints of old, but they were homeless. Given how they had been building the team the last few years, and the addition of Brees and Bush more of us should have expected them to have a good season (I'll admit I too was surprised for a couple weeks then I poked at the old standings and remembered).

And the Vikes played really well last season once they got rid of Daunte.

Now the Ravens are a surprise, they didn't make that many exciting off season moves. And you can't really say it's because the AFC North isn't its typical grinder because the North's schedule is heavily backloaded (the Raven have 4 or their 6 division games in the future). They've been playing some darn good football, especially on defense but it's looking like the offense is finally running on most cylinders.

yeah but with a new coaching staff, you'd expect some growing pains or trouble acclimating. But that hasn't been the case with the Saints.

As for the Ravens, I think you can pass over the top on them, but running against the Ravens is nearly impossible.