NFC South's Updated Predictions After a Preview

What have we learned?

Well, first off, the NFC South is still up for grabs, despite New Orleans' hype. But who will ultimately emerge as NFC South Champion? Let's see.

Atlanta

They may have found themselves a starting QB in Matt Ryan, which is what I suspected. Ryan's playing style resembles a prototypical NFL quarterback, in that he's shown to be a presence in the pocket.

His poise and decision-making at BC have proven him ready for NFL play and it showed in the Falcons' preseason matchup with Jacksonville. Chris Redman and Joey Harrington didn't see much playing time, and Shockley didn't do a good job at all, going four for 15 with an INT.

Norwood, Turner, and Snelling shared most of the reps at tailback, with Brown getting a few handoffs. The running game looks decent at best for this year's Falcons team, with Norwood and Turner taking most of the reps.

Most of their success on the ground will depend on a weak offensive line that allowed five sacks against Jacksonville and 47 last year. 

Luckily, Ryan has a few recievers that he can throw to, led by Roddy White and veteran Joe Horn. White had a good showing with five receptions for 47 yards and a TD. Though they haven't been known as a team to go to the air a lot, I feel that this will be the bright spot of the Falcons' offense this year.

The defense faired well last year, giving up only 265 yards a game on average, which isn't horrible. This put them at ninth in the league, based on a YPG scale. They even managed to pick up three fumbles against the Jags in their loss.

So here's my prediction: Based on the evidence presented from last season and this recent preseason game, the Atlanta Falcons go 6-10 or 7-9.

I think that, though they're expected to be pretty much horrible, they'll tough it out and win six or seven games, led by their rookie QB. They'll be in competition for third place in the NFC South and will have a promising future to look ahead to.

Carolina

Disappointment clouded this team last season after Delhomme suffered an elbow injury, and the Panthers had no one to replace him. Moore performed decently, along with Testaverde, and Weinke just sucked.

But Jake's back and hungry for a shot at the big time. The Panthers' QB is quickly losing time, with his age starting to creep up on him, and he is in desperate need of a winning season. We didn't see much out of Delhomme in the Panthers' preseason game, with Jake only throwing the ball once, resulting in an incompletion.

The coming weeks will come to show us more about Jake, and I believe it will be mostly good things.

The running back situation in Charlotte is still sketchy. DeAngelo Williams played great, racking up two TDs on nine carries for 55 yards against the Colts. Even the backups played well, racking up 146 yards between the three of them (Goings, Birmingham, and Toefield).

Stewart was MIA with a toe injury, but it appears that we'll be seeing him sometime before the season starts. Williams' success on the ground was largely due to a powerful offensive line, which opened up gaping holes for him to glide through. The OL looks very good this year, and rather beefy, with all five guys coming in over 300 pounds.

Wideouts should be no problem for Carolina in the upcoming season. Steve Smith is back again and looks as good as always, that is, when he's not hurting teammates.

D.J. Hackett is on the rise, and he showed many good things last season with Seattle. And even Moose is back, and though he's a little older, I think he'll do a good job contributing to the offense. Dwayne Jarrett is still a bit of a question mark, but he did well in the matchup versus the Colts, racking up three receptions for 43 yards, catching all of those passes in traffic.

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