2009 NFC South Preview

The NFC South should be known as the most competitive division in the National Football League.

The division has been the home to some of the greatest players ever to play the game of football, as well as some of the most underrated players ever to play the game of football.

But yet it also is the home of "snake bitten" franchises.

The Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers never had back-to-back winning seasons.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost its first 26 games in franchise history including being the first team ever to finish a season winless.

The New Orleans Saints are the only team in the division without a Super Bowl appearance and have only won two playoff games in franchise history.

But the question is.....

Who will come out on top in 2009?

Here's my take.

4.Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Bucs are obviously in a rebuilding stage.  They released many  veteran players such as Jeff Garcia, Derrick Brooks, Joey Galloway, Cato June, Warrick Dunn, and Ike Hilliard.

They hired the young Raheem Morris to replace Jon Gruden.

And the biggest loss may be Monte Kiffin, the Bucs former defensive coordinator.

The Bucs defense will probably struggle.

Outside linebacker, defensive tackle, and safety (starting saftey Tanard Jackson is suspended the first four games of 2009 season) may be problem areas for the Bucs.

The Bucs also have question marks on the offensive side of the ball. They drafted rookie quarterback Josh Freeman, who may take a little while to develop.

Other moves involved signing running back Derrick Ward and trading for tight end Kellen Winslow

They Bucs have a quarterback of the future and a pass catching tight end, as well as a pretty good receiver in Antonio Bryant.

But who will start at QB this season?

Most likely it won't be Josh Freeman.

So it's between veteran QBs Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown.

I don't think either will guide the Bucs to the playoffs, heck they'll be lucky to have eight wins this season.

3.Carolina Panthers

The Panthers have a strong running game with the tandem of Deangelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart, a great offensive line, the all-around great receiver in Steve Smith, Pro Bowler Jon Beason, and the very athletic Julius Peppers.

The question marks are at defensive tackle, the cornerback spot opposite Chris Gamble, and of course quarterback.

The loss of starting defensive tackle Maake Kemoeatu, a 350 lb. space eater, is a huge loss for Carolina.

The ability to stop the run is huge in this division with running backs Michael Turner and Derrick Ward.

Richard Marshall is taking over the cornerback spot left by Ken Lucas.

Marshall is a liability in coverage and will have to prove he can step up this season.

Jake Delhomme had a horrific performance against the Arizona Cardinals last year.

A lot of Carolina fans thought he'll get over it, but he didn't show it against the New York Giants in Monday night.

Delhomme didn't even have that great of a year last season.

He only completed 59.4 percent of his passes and only had 15 touchdown passes. The success of the Panthers running game over shadowed his mediocre play.

Delhomme has to improve his play, maybe a better pass catching tight end will help.

2.New Orleans Saints

This was actually a close one between the Saints and Falcons.

The Saints did everything right during the offseason.

They hired Greg Williams as their new defensive coordinator.

They also added defensive Paul Spicer, safety Darren Sharper, cornerback Jabari Greer, and drafted the talented CB/S Malcolm Jenkins in the '09 NFL Draft. They already have Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Sedrick Ellis, and Randall Gay.

The Saints have loaded their defense with star power but like every other team with a new defensive scheme, I feel that there will be a learning curve.

Darren Sharper will also be playing free safety with the Saints. But will he still have the range he showed in Minnesota?

And he won't have much help with Roman Harper playing along side him.

Also, expect Charles Grant to eventually get replaced by Paul Spicer at defensive end.  Grant doesn't draw any respect as a pass rusher and teams will be focused more on Will Smith.

Also, there are HUGE question marks at both outside linebacker spots.

On offense, the Saints are stacked.

Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Lance Moore, great offensive line, and all.

A lot of NFL analysts and sportwriters don't think the Saints are a balanced enough offense, but I'm telling everyone that buys into it.

Pierre Thomas is NO push over.

Thomas played great the second half of last season and can easily have a 1,000 yard season.

But Jeremy Shockley has to step up and prove he was worth the second and fifth round pick New Orleans used to acquire him.

Overall the Saints have a pretty good team this year and my decision took some time.

But I think the eventual winners of the NFC South are....

1. Atlanta Falcons

Have the Falcons ever had back to back seasons? Nope.

How many times have they made the playoffs in back to back seasons? Nada.

Did they have a true franchise quarterback before last season? Never!

Matt Ryan gives the franchise hope.

But it isn't just Ryan.

Michael Turner, Roddy White, and Tony Gonzalez make this offense a legit threat but solid players like Michael Jenkins, Jerious Norwood, and Marty Booker (seems like this old guy still has plenty of pop in him) makes the offense nothing short of dangerous.

If anyone were to ask me, "Would you rather have the Saints' offense or the Falcons' offense?", I would honestly have to pick Atlanta's balanced attack over the Saints high scoring pass offense.

The reason why?

The Falcons could milk time off the clock and keep the opposing offense off the field with long time consuming scoring drives.

Now defensively the Falcons made a ton of changes.

Most people say they lost five starters on defense.

I say they were weeding out the weak links.

Let's start with the linebackers we "lost".

Michael Boley had a great season in 2007 but his production fell last year drastically when Mike Smith came into town with his Cover 2 defense.

Boley is a downhill attack type linebacker that likes to blitz.

It seemed like Boley couldn't get to the ball at times and he was later replaced by Coy Wire.

Keith Brooking was basically getting too old and couldn't run sideline to sideline for sixty minutes.

And that was a deciding factor for the Falcons to decline Brookings contract option for another year.

The Falcons also decided to let Lawyer Milloy walk into free agency.

Milloy was simply just a run stopper.

He was a huge liability in coverage and was beat for two long scores by Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin.

And you wonder why Milloy is still a free agent?

Grady Jackson wasn't retained by the Falcons because he was old, slow, and was ineffective against the run.

Jackson didn't have any burst off the line of scrimmage.

And plus the Falcons were 24th in the league against the run anyways so what was the point of keeping him?

The only player the Falcons "lost" was CB Dominique Foxworth.

Foxworth had a great season, but wanted too large of a contract.

The Baltimore Ravens gave Foxworth a four year $28 million contract, way too much cash for a guy who only had 10 passes defensed.

The Falcons have players who fits Brian Van Gorders' system.

Mike Peterson who played under Mike Smith's defense in Jacksonville (Van Gorder was the linebackers coach)  is a huge improvement over Brooking.

In the recent preseason games, Peterson showed a lot more quickness and aggression, although he's just a year younger than Brooking.

Peterson is also a very vocal player who has taken Curtis Lofton under his wing.

Lofton by the way had a great rookie season.

Even though he didn't play nickel or dime situations, he had 94 tackles and a sack.

Lofton will be an every down linebacker this season and should have a solid season.

Stephen Nicolas will start at SAM linebacker (strongside linebacker) this season.

I really don't know what to expect with Nicolas, but he was a complete maven on special teams and played in 3-3-5 formations for extra pass rush last season.

Peria Jerry will replace Grady Jackson at nose tackle (well at least it seems like he will).

Jerry is nice and laidback in person, but on the field he's a tough, nasty defensive tackle with a mean streak.

Okay, maybe I'm over doing it but this guy jumps off the line so quick that he's drawing double teams in preseason play already.

At first, I thought cornerback was going to be a huge problem but Brent Grimes has the ability to be a Cortland Finnegan type player.

Rookie Chris Owens should end up starting by mid-season.

He's the best open field tackler the Falcons have at the cornerback position.

Two of the most underrated players in the NFC South may be safety Eric Coleman and defensive tackle Jonathon Babineaux.

Coleman lead the team in solo tackles last year and was hands down the best defensive back the Falcons had last year.

Babineaux lead ALL defensive tackles in the league in tackles for loss last season (fourth in the league overall).

But after all of that, what really makes the Falcons the favorite in the NFC South is special teams.

No, the Falcons don't have a returner like Clifton Smith or Reggie Bush but the Falcons have great punt coverage.

Matter of fact, the Falcons had the best punt coverage unit the league has ever seen last year.

Check the history books if you don't believe me.

The Falcons set an NFL record for punt return yards allowed in a season with only 49 yards.

Most teams give up 49 yards in their first game.

The Falcons' punter, Michael Koenen, is the best angular kicker in the NFL.

That's what made him the first punter in NFL history to be franchise tagged.

The Falcons are my favorite to win the NFC South, but as we all know anything can happen in this division.