NFC South: Best In Show?

Three out of four teams with winning records.

The fourth team broke even to finish their season.

Two teams in the playoffs.

Success like this in one division is usually associated with the NFC East.  In 2008, the NFC South attempted to stake claim as one of the NFL's toughest divisions.

A 12-4 Carolina Panthers team advanced to the playoffs for the third time in six seasons and boasted the NFL's third-leading rusher and third-leading receiver.

An 11-5 Atlanta Falcons team quickly recovered from the saga that is known as Michael Vick to make the playoffs for the first time since Vick took them there in the 2004-'05 season.

The Falcons found a head coach, quarterback, and All-Pro running back in what turned out to be a magical 2008 season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers began 9-3, but lost their last four games to finish 9-7.

They lost their Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden and their All-Pro LB Derrick Brooks, and reached in the draft for inexperienced Kansas State QB Josh Freeman.

The 8-8 New Orleans Saints saw their QB Drew Brees throw for the second-most yards in a season in NFL history, but had a below-average defense that did not show up every Sunday.

When it was all said and done in 2008, no NFC South team had a playoff victory, including the division champion Panthers.

With every team returning most of their starters with the exception of the re building Bucs, the NFC South will be no cakewalk, in 2009 either.

The Saints attempted to improve their defense by selecting Ohio State CB Malcolm Jenkins with their first overall pick.

The Falcons did the same by using seven of their eight draft picks on defensive players.

The Panthers followed suit by moving up in the draft to select Florida State standout  DE Everette Brown.

Defense seems to be the recurring theme in the NFC South's 2009 offseason, and with DE Julius Peppers not having signed his franchise tender, and absent from Carolina's mini-camps, it is sure to be the theme through the entire season.

The Panthers will attempt to have two winning seasons in a row, something they have yet to do since their inception in 1995.  Being in the NFC South will make that goal even harder.

It's no secret how to win in the National Football League: Tough defense, and running the football to set up the pass.  Though it sounds simple, it's very rare that an NFL team can put those three things together for success. 

In 2008, the Carolina Panthers were successful in all three aspects, which contributed to their 2008 NFC South Division title.

To win in the NFC South in 2009, Carolina will have to improve it's defense tremendously.  With Drew Brees and his 5,069 yards passing, and reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year Matt Ryan (3,440 yards, 16 TDs) in the division, Carolina unquestionably will have to improve on their 16th-ranked pass defense from a year ago.

The improvement began with the release of the wildly inconsistent Ken Lucas, and continued by drafting two defensive backs in the draft.

The Panthers defense showed promise early last year. Through their first eight games, they ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in every defensive category. The final eight games however, were a different story. Carolina's defense gave up 350-plus total yards in six of the season's seven final weeks, including 400-plus yards on three occasions

In short, the defense faded throughout the final weeks of the season. Carolina still managed to finish 12-4 and obtain a first-round bye, but the weakness of the defense shined through in Charlotte on a Saturday night that Panthers fans will always remember, but try to forget.

Carolina has seemingly always had trouble covering tight ends in the past.  With the addition of Tony Gonzalez by the Atlanta Falcons, the Panthers must solve that problem in order to defeat their bitter rival from the south. 

In their second meeting last season, the Panthers and Falcons engaged in a shootout that ended in a 45-28 victory for Atlanta.  If Carolina could not stop the Falcons without Gonzalez, Carolina's new defensive coordinator Ron Meeks faces a tough challenge stopping them with him this season.

Carolina, however, seems to have recognized its weaknesses entering the 2009 NFL season. 

If you want to win in a division that boasts Drew Brees and Matt Ryan, you must rush the passer.

Though they finished ninth in the NFL with 37.0 sacks as a team, Carolina faces the prospect of losing Julius Peppers and his 14.5 sacks from 2008.  Take away his stats, and the Panthers finish 29th in the league in team sacks.

Knowing that Peppers is yet to sign his franchise tender, and having failed to bring in any big-name free agent pass rushers, Carolina got lucky in the draft.

Florida State DE Everette Brown fell to the second round of the draft, where Carolina quickly moved up to select him. Brown, who many considered the pass rusher coming out of college, is sure to make an immediate impact.  If Julius Peppers does return before the season, then Carolina will have even more pass rushing firepower.

With the Saints using their first three picks of the draft on defense, including Ohio State CB Malcolm Jenkins, and Wake Forest S Chip Vaughn, they are looking to improve their defense that ranked 23rd overall in the NFL last season.

With Drew Brees and Reggie Bush returning, the Saints offense is mostly intact with the exception of released Deuce McAllister.  If the defense can improve, then New Orleans will be able to compete atop the division with the likes of Carolina and Atlanta.

The NFC South enters 2009 with more hype then anyone in the division received in 2008.  Last season the Saints were the favorite to win the division, with the Buccaneers closely behind.

Those teams finished as the bottom two.

The Panthers enter this season with a chance for two straight division titles, something they have yet to achieve.  With the return of 21 of 22 starters from a 12-4 team, the Panthers playoff chances look decent entering the season.

However, in one of the NFL's toughest divisions, one that includes a list of players that could fill up the majority of a Pro Bowl roster, each team faces an uphill battle.