The NFC South has been an extremely odd division over the years, where the last place team from the previous year wins the division the following year. I don’t think that’s going to continue this year, since the Falcons franchise is completely in shambles. The entire division has a pretty beneficial schedule, facing the AFC West and NFC North, which could help inflate the division champ’s record and possibly give them a first round bye. Will the South rise again and represent the NFC in the Super Bowl? We’ll see…
1. New Orleans Saints – I’m typing this around 10 AM Monday morning, to be posted Tuesday, but it looks like New Orleans is going to avoid being totally devastated by the weakening Hurricane Gustav, so I like the Saints to win the division. Drew Brees could be the 3rd best QB in the NFL and he made Antonio Gates into a star, so I think Jeremy Shockey (and probably the funniest over-patriotic tattoo in history) is going to love playing there. The Saints also improved their defense by drafting Sedrick Ellis and signing Jonathan Vilma. If the Saints can just find a way to take care of business against bad teams (something they couldn’t do last year) they can be a force to be reckoned with in the NFC, if they can’t, then they will become official members of the Carolina Panthers club.
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Tampa’s defense last year looked like the Tampa defenses of old, allowing the 3rd fewest points in the league, but we also can’t forget that they played a last place schedule and got to face the NFC West last year. They did manage to get 2 wins against playoff teams, Washington and Tennessee, but got dominated by the other 3 they faced. On the bright side, if Jeff Garcia can stay healthy and New Orleans continues to blow games against bad teams, then Tampa could be the first repeat division winner in NFC South history.
3. Carolina Panthers – Ever since they pulled off a pretty big surprise by going to the Super Bowl in 2003, a lot of people pick the Panthers every year as their “sleeper” pick, and they’ve been very mediocre in 3 of the 4 seasons since then. I think that’s where they are going to be again this year, if not a slight downturn. There’s absolutely no guarantee that Jake Delhomme will stay healthy, and if he does, if he’ll play well. They just picked up Josh McCown to back him up (unless they are high on Matt Moore). If they somehow fixed all of their offensive woes from last year, then they could seriously make a run for this weak division, but I’m leaning more towards 7-9 or 8-8 yet again.
4. Atlanta Falcons – Throwing a guy out there to start his very first NFL game never results in a great season as the Falcons are going to try with Matt Ryan. This reminds me of when the Colts threw Peyton Manning out there for the entire 1998 season, which resulted in them finishing 3-13. Manning is a fast learner, and the Colts have been fantastic since 1999, but no matter how great or horrible Matt Ryan turns out to be, they’re in a for a rough ride this year, especially since they have a first year head coach, no great receiving weapons, and a pretty terrible defense. As long as it turns out that Matt Ryan isn’t into some sort of illegal animal fighting, it will probably be a good year in Atlanta.
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