Here’s what I don’t get re Saints ranking predictions

I agree with all of the above posts and I think that the other driving factors are that the Saints are........boring.

The "high octane offense" is gone. Sean Payton's pettiness is gone. There are no NFL superstars on the team. And I think the biggest thing is it is perceived that the morale is gone from the building. And yes, these are all subjective and have no quantitative reasoning but those seem to be the reality.

The Saints played a lot of backup QB led teams last year and while they won, they didn't win in huge fashion like they would have in the past.

Couple this with the Derek Carr and his teammates drama, the team not playing to the level they could, boring play calling and then ending the season with a definitive win only for Dennis Allen to apologize for it left a very bad taste with not only Saints fans but the football community in general.

So, yes, the Saints are under the "you have to prove it to us" to believe mode.