NFC South Report

AFC East standings
1. Atlanta Falcons 8-0 (1-0)
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4-4 (1-1)
3. New Orleans Saints 3-5 (1-1)
4. Carolina Panthers 2-6 (1-2)

Atlanta Falcons (8-0)

Team Stats
Overall passing yards - 10th overall
Overall rushing yards - 26th overall
Pass defence - 12th overall
Rush defence - 21st overall
Turnover differential - +10

Player Stats
Offence
Leading passer - Matt Ryan - 2,360 yards - 17 TD's - 6 INT's - 68.9% completion percentage - 103.0 QB rating.
Leading rusher - Michael Turner - 517 yards - 4.0 yards per carry - 4 TD's - 64.6 yards per game.
Leading receiver - Roddy White - 709 yards - 47 receptions - 4 TD's - 15.1 yards per catch - 88.6 yards per game.

Defence
Leading tackler - Sean Weatherspoon - 40 solo - 12 assists - 52 overall tackles.
Most sacks - John Abraham - 7.0 sacks.
Most interceptions - Thomas DeCoud - 4 INT's.
Most forced fumbles - John Abraham - 4 FF's.

Say what you want about the Falcons but they remain the only unbeaten team in the NFL to date. The interesting thing about that is that there isn't really any one area in which they've drastically improved. Their QB has been better, their receivers haven't been dropping the football, Michael Turner seems to have more of a spring in his step, the defensive line play has greatly improved (John Abraham is still playing like he's 24, not 34) and the secondary has coped with the loss of ProBowl CB Brent Grimes exceptionally well. The only criticism levelled at the Falcons is that they haven't really beaten any strong teams yet. However, you can only beat what's put in front of you and the Falcons have beaten everybody they've faced so far. Future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez is playing at a Pro Bowl level. Critics and rivals will always say one thing, though. The Falcons are nothing until they win a playoff game.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-4)

Team Stats
Overall passing yards - 16th overall
Overall rushing yards - 9th overall
Pass defence - 31st overall
Rush defence - 1st overall
Turnover differential - +9

Player Stats
Offence
Leading passer - Josh Freeman - 2,047 yards - 16 TD's - 5 INT's - 55.7% Completion percentage - 95.1 QB rating.
Leading rusher - Doug Martin - 794 yards - 5.2 yards per carry - 5 TD's - 99.3 yards per game.
Leading receiver - Vincent Jackson - 710 yards - 31 receptions - 6 TD - 22.9 yards per catch - 88.8 yards per game.

Defence
Leading tackler - Lavonte David - 54 solo - 13 assists - 67 overall tackles.
Most sacks - Michael Bennett - 6.0 sacks.
Most interceptions - Ronde Barber - 3 INT's.
Most forced fumbles - Michael Bennett - 3 FF's.

Everyone expected the Bucs to improve, but this much? They 4-4 but that isn't the whole story. With that record, they have a point differential of +41 and a turnover differential of +9. Like the Falcons, the Bucs improvements have been widespread. They now rank first in run defence compared to their last place ranking last season. The main area of improvment, though, has been the overall offence. Josh Freeman has cut out the mistakes, Doug Martin is running the ball like a machine and Vincent Jackson has brought that big-play threat to the team. He's also freed up Mike Williams who is seeing a lot more single coverage and getting a lot more yards and scores as a result. There are chinks in the armour though. The pass defence is terrible where they rank second to last in the league. Despite Ronde Barber having a Pro Bowl level season, the play at corner has been inconsistent to say the least. Eric Wright hasn't turned out as the Bucs would have hoped and the troubled Aqib Talib has been traded to the New England Patriots. If the Bucs want to make the playoffs, they'll have to improve against the pass but it's clear to all that this is a franchise that's headed in the right direction.

New Orleans Saints (3-5)

Team Stats
Overall passing yards - 2nd overall
Overall rushing yards - 31st overall
Pass defence - 27th overall
Rush defence - 32nd overall
Turnover differential - 0

Player Stats
Offence
Leading passer - Drew Brees - 2,549 yards - 22 TD's - 8 INT's - 61.1% completion percentage - 95.8 QB rating.
Leading rusher - Pierre Thomas- 301 yards - 4.7 yards per carry - 1 TD - 37.6 yards per game.
Leadng receiver - Marques Colston- 626 yards - 44 receptions - 6 TD's - 14.2 yards per catch - 78.3 yards per game.

Defence
Leading tackler - Curtis Lofton- 54 solo - 22 assists - 76 overall tackles.
Most sacks - Cameron Jordan - 6.0 sacks.
Most interceptions - Patrick Robinson - 2 INT's.
Most forced fumbles - Will Herring/Cameron Jordan - 2 FF's.

One of this season's biggest disappointments, the New Orleans Saints entered this NFL season on the back of what was probably one of the most tumultuous and devastating offseans in NFL history. The had to deal with the Bountygate scandal and the loss of their head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis for the entire season and their assistant coach Joe Vitt for the first six games. They've had two head coaches this season and have had to try to implement a new defensive scheme under Steve Spagnulo whi clearly doesn't have the front seven he needs and the loss of key OG Carl Nicks. While Drew Brees has once against sparkled, the Saints rank second-to-last in rushing offense while having one of the best running back committees in Darren Sproles, Chris Ivory, Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram. Their defence which has been much-hyped in past seasons has been anaemic. Malcolm Jenkins and Roman Harper are unbelievable overrated, as is CB Jabari Greer. However, the Saints are headed in the right direction after winning three of their last four. While it would take a statistical anomaly for them to make the playoffs, they could act as a spoiler in the weeks to come.

Carolina Panthers (2-6)

Team Stats
Overall passing yards - 21st overall
Overall rushing yards - 13th overall
Pass defence - 11th overall
Rush defence - 18th overall
Turnover differential - -5

Player Stats
Offence
Leading passer - Cam Newton - 1,902 yards - 6 TD's - 8 INT's - 57.0% completion percentage - 77.7 QB rating.
Leading rusher - Cam Newton- 347 yards - 5.9 yards per carry - 4 TD's - 43.4 yards per game.
Leading receiver - Steve Smith - 630 yards - 38 receptions - 1 TD - 16.6 yards per catch - 78.8 yards per game.

Defence
Leading tackler - Luke Kuechly- 44 solo - 33 assists - 77 overall tackles.
Most sacks - Charles Johnson - 7.5 sacks
Most interceptions - Jon Beason, Charles Godfrey, Huruki Nakamura, Captain Munnerlyn, Luke Kuechly, Josh Norman - 1 INT
Most forced fumbles - Charles Johnson - 3 FF's

Another extremely disappointing side, the Carolina Panthers have seriously regressed this season. After finishing 6-10 last season there were plenty of positive predictions in store for Cam Newton and his side. The simple truth is that Newton has regressed. His throwing mechanics seem to have changed in the offseason and he doesn't really have a true receiving threat outside of Steve Smith. The Panthers also have a good running back committee with Jon Stewart, DeAngelo Williams and Mike Tolbert but they rank right near the bottom of the league when you exclude Newton's yards. What's really bothering fans is Newton's attitude. He's not used to making mistakes at this level and he's made quite a few this season. He sulks and pouts, simple as that. He needs to show more leadership in his locker room or his team will never recover. They've also fired GM Marty Hurney and unless the Panthers have a major recovery it looks like head coach Ron Rivera will follow him at the end of the season. Jerry Richardson wants Bill Cowher.

Division Pick
Atlanta Falcons

Easiest division to call by far. Falcons are a full four games ahead of their nearest rival at this stage and show little sign of letting up. This should hopefully be the year that the Falcons finally get that playoff monkey off their back. I doubt any teams secure a wildcard berth but I feel the most likely to achieve that would be New Orleans.

What was the point in writing these? 26 views, not a single comment!

NFL South if it makes you feel better.

Falcons pretty clearly the class of the division, Bucs sorta repeating 2010 in looking bright on a paper schedule so far. Panthers need to go back to the drawing board, and the Saints have more problems than just Sean Payton (he wasn't going to make the defense passable)

Pr4wn wrote:Michael Turner seems to have more of a spring in his step, the defensive line play has greatly improved (John Abraham is still playing like he's 24, not 34)

I think this could be down to the fact he's seeing a lot fewer carries compared to previous seasons, also on the drive where Cowboys went no huddle Abraham seemed to show his age don't think he got to Romo once on that drive.

For the Bucs the draft class is looking great, do have to worry slightly about how long Martin can last, think you still need help on the O-line and definitely need to add some CBs in the offseason, if you have any intentions of challening next year.

Don't really understand what has happened to the Saints rush game, surely it can't all be because Nicks left? Sproles, Thomas, Ivory, Ingram is still one of the top committees around arguably on run close by what's happening in Pittsburgh, Houston with Foster + Tate. Defense is truely horrible impressive they're even in with a shot (however slim) of making the playoffs.

Not sure what's happened in Carolina 3 top backs in Williams, Stewart and Tolbert yet they can't do anything on the ground.

Really easy division to pick the winner for.

The Saints remain a passing team, and those do tend to have their issues running the ball. Grubbs hasnt exactly replaced Nicks that well either. I'm not really a fan of Ingram either tbh, felt that was a luxury pick by the Saints.

Sproles and Thomas certainly backs that contribute more in the pass game, and Ivory is buried because hes useless in that area.

Good write up. Falcons have been very good, not sure if they'll finish undefeated bu they do seem to be a very hard team to beat. I've been very impressed with the Bucs lately. Their defence seems to fight more than last year when they seemed like they had just given up. Martin seems like a really good pick now, excellent performance last week. The Panthers have disappointed me, they've gone from an exciting team to watch to being boring and not very good. The Saints were always going to be in disarray after the offseason but have been poor nonetheless. Brees' contract won't help them sign any other big names either next year.

Good job Pr4wn. Gotta be the easiest division to call this year.

As you say, the Falcons can only beat whats put in front of them, but it hasn't been the hardest schedule by a long shot. There clearly still in a class of their own and I'm pretty sure I called them to win the division.
I suppose the best bit of credit I can give them is how they fought back to win against Oakland and Carolina by driving down the field in very short time frames with minimal timeouts to win the games. Those are the kind of trap games that define your season and Ryan has done a fantastic job taking them to be in the position to kick a game winner in both circumstances. Better sides have lost in those situations in the past.

I reckon they can win a playoff game, but I still have doubts about their Superbowl potential.

Otherwise; The Bucs impress me having started off a little bit shaky. Freeman is playing well, VJax is playing well and allowing Mike Williams back into things plus Doug Martin has suddenly become a beast. I think they would struggle to get a wildcard in the NFC... they'll be there or thereabouts but I just see them faltering.
Please ban the orange uni's though...

The other two have been a let down. Saints defence is utterly horrible and you have to question getting Spagnulo in to run a different form of defence to the one that has brought them adequate (defensive) success in the past. They never run the ball that well - Sproles is deceptive in that he gets the yards and you think of him as an RB, but in reality he is doing a lot of it on swing passes and screens. Brees is still a statistical nightmare... literally ruining the record books due to the inability of DBs to do anything about it under the current penalty landscape. I sort of hope they do end up with a loosing record, but I figure they may well him 8-8 or even 9-7

I wasn't a massive Cam Newton fan in the past and i'm still not really. The sophomore slump was somewhat inevitable, but has probably been that little bit worse than I expected.
I did however expect there running game to actually bail them out but it continues to do absolutely nothing despite containing some talented guys.

They weren't that great on D last year tbf, Spags just requires a surplus of pass rushers for his scheme and the Saints are lacking.

Apologies Prawn, I had a glimpse earlier but then had to dash...

Atlanta clear favs to top the Div, whether they can stay as 1st seed in the NFC is the challenge.

Saints (just) and Buccs are still in the wildcard picture, less said about the Panthers the better!!

As you say Atlanta can only beat what's in front of them, and they're doing it well. Look solid, good offense, defense doing well. This Weeks game though is important in what happens the rest of the season, win and I think they could go far in the play offs, lose and the doubtscould show.
I expected Tampa to do well & improve, but not as quickly as they have done, great credit go to everybody at the club, could be a challenger next season.
Carolina I think could be better without Newton, his attitude and displays haven't done anything to make me believe that he's the one to lead them forward.
As for my beloved Saints, only one thing to say really, thank god for Drew Brees, poor defense, not particularly great offense, personally hope we don't get into the play offs, as changes need to be made and if we do will just paper over the cracks like last season did.