Unpredictable NFC South Makes Panthers' Road To Playoffs Doable

A rebuilding project in Tampa Bay, and questions about defense in New Orleans and Atlanta give the Carolina Panthers a good shot at winning a second straight NFC South title and returning to the NFC playoffs.

The South is not as strong as the NFC East, which on paper is the league's strongest division. But the South is not as sub-par as the NFC West either.

Winning the division is the Panthers' best road to the playoffs because the East is deep enough to steal both wild card spots in the NFC. To that end, the Panthers likely need to hold off Atlanta and New Orleans.

The Falcons figure to be the slight favorite over the Panthers. After surprising the NFL by winning nearly three times as many games last season (11) as in 2007 (4), the Falcons return promising young quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner. The offense should be bolstered by tight end Tony Gonzalez, acquired in a trade with Kansas City recently.

The Falcons defense has major holes, though. Atlanta cut veterans Lawyer Milloy and Keith Brooking. Unproven players must step into new roles for the Falcons to hold together a top-12 unit that carried the team at times last season. If that does not happen, Atlanta could fall back out of the playoffs.

The Saints again figure to be an offensive juggernaut with little defense. Quarterback Drew Brees, running back Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston all return, as does offensive mastermind coach Sean Payton. But New Orleans did little to upgrade its defense, which last season finished in the bottom third of the NFL for a second straight season. So the Saints again figure to flirt with .500 and miss the playoffs.

New coach Raheem Morris has immediately made the Buccaneers much younger, and more inexperienced. Tampa Bay, which lost its last four games to miss the playoffs last season could surprise...but only because most experts are picking them to win less than six games.

The Panthers have plenty of flaws, too. But with most of the players and the head coach back from a 12-4 team that dominated the line of scrimmage last season, Carolina has a strong chance to win the division and return to the playoffs.