there's only five elite teams in the NFL right now: Patriots, Broncos, Seahawks, 49ers, and Falcons. The Pats/Hawks/Niners might be "more elite" than the Broncos/Falcons, but no other team is quite on their level. The Texans proved in their games against the Patriots that they don't belong there, and no other team besides the Packers is even in the conversation. The Packers... well, that's kind of tricky. The only playoff teams they beat last season were the Texans and the Vikings (lol Vikings), and they appeared very average most of the season (ie the Jacksonville game, for example, or especially the Giants game). For a team that's supposed to be all offense, they finished 13th in total yards... behind Carolina, Tampa, and Indianapolis, plus behind New England/Denver/Atlanta/San Francisco (Seattle was 17th, but have the #1 or #2 defense). Hell, their running game made Atlanta's look serviceable.
The Saints shouldn't even be in the conversation for winning the NFC at this point, there's just too many teams they match up against poorly that should and will beat them next season unless they can massively improve their defense. here's a spoiler: it won't.
THESE ARE MY WORDS, IF IN EIGHT MONTHS THEY TURN OUT TO BE WRONG YOU CAN FORCE ME TO EAT THEM.