The NFC South may be the most interesting division in football this year. I saved this one for last for a reason. I went over rosters and stats from last year. I checked draft reports. I consulted a Magic Eight Ball and made sacrifices to the Dark Lord Cthulhu in a vain attempt to get a handle on what is going on and pretty much came up empty. I’m just going to throw some shit at the wall and see what sticks.
New Orleans Saints – This team suffered so much offseason turmoil. From the bounty scandal, which probably goes far deeper than the Saints and Redskins, to the fact they seemed to drag their feet on getting a deal done with arguably one of the most important people on the team, Drew Brees. They’ve lost their head coach for the year, and (in a weird twist) instead of having one guy take over for him they are going to have one coach for the first six weeks of the season and another coach for the remainder. What? Vilma was suspended for a year and several other key defensive players will be serving suspensions when the season starts. They should have signed Brees as quickly as possible, he had them by the balls once the penalties came down and his contract status was an unneeded distraction. This team could come out in full Patriots “fuck you” mode and go 15-1 blowing teams out on their way to the playoffs, or they could fall apart and get run over by the rest of the league. Chance of making the Super Bowl – I am going to go with the conventional wisdom, no team has ever played the Championship in their home stadium, I don’t think the Saints will change this trend – 0%.
Atlanta Falcons – Matt Ryan is the Marty Schottenheimer of quarterbacks, great during the regular season but when the pressure is on he folds like origami. I honestly don’t have much to say about this team. Until Matt Ryan proves he can win a playoff game, they are going to be stuck in the good-but-not-great zone. Chance of making the Super Bowl – Sell! Sell! Sell!
Carolina Panthers – Now this is a team that deserves some space. Let’s talk about Cam Newton’s insane season last year. He passed for over 4,000 yards, rushed for over 700, had 14 rushing TDs and 21 passing TDs (22 turnovers, which isn’t terrible but not great either). Can he repeat the feat? I honestly don’t think so. Second year QB’s tend to slump a little, coaches have a year of tape to study tendencies and only the truly great QB’s learn to mask things or they are so good they still execute the game plan. The other bit of news out of Carolina is that they have some swagger, which I like. You need a little swagger to compete in the NFL. Center Ryan Kalil bought a full page ad in a newspaper telling Carolina fans the Panthers would win the Super Bowl this year. Newton came out a little while later and backed him up. The real question with this team is the defense, which was one of the worst ten defenses in the league last year. The division is definitely up for grabs if they play well on both sides of the ball. Chance of making the Super Bowl – 10%
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Believe it or not, Freeman was the bright spot on this team last year — and he didn’t have a great year. The Bucs were a terrible rushing team and another one of those bottom-ten in the league in defense teams. Freeman should bounce back if the Bucs can get a running game going but this isn’t the type of defense the Bucs used to play. This is a team that seems to be in building mode which is a shame because there is so much turmoil in the division around them and the chance to strike is now. Put this team back on the grill, they aren’t quite ready yet. Chance of making the Super Bowl – Roughly that of Mitt Romney getting genuine applause at the NAACP.
Other Sports News – The Olympics are in full swing and it appears as though London made a few mistakes. The Torch can only be seen by people who bought tickets to track and field and the Chief of Games came out and said that the Torch was not a “tourist attraction”. Say what? Lots of venues appear empty as seats are reserved for family and press that are not showing up and instead of throwing open the doors to fill the arena (which would be smart), scalpers are charging upwards of 3 grand for the more popular events. Bob Costas did a wonderful job of making Americans look like elitist douchebags during the parade of nations and NBC is being pretty dickish about coverage. Apparently they have never heard of IP masking.
Next Week – The AFC North
