NFC South Preview
NFC South: Everyone In Transition, But Again In This Division Someone Has To Win.
This Division Feels Almost Pointless. Whoever Wins The Division Will Enter The Playoffs With The worst record Or Least Rank As The worst team In The Pool, But They Have Some Storylines To Follow. Bryce Young Will at least make Carolina Something Of A Watch Team. We've Never Witnessed A Player His Size Try To Excel At Pro Quarterbacking. He's Fighting The Odds More Than Anyone Ever. Can Adage "Heart Over Height" Weight In On Football Matters. In Tampa, Baker Mayfield Will Again Try To Remodel Himself In A New Offense But Possibly The Best Situation He's Played In His Entire Career. I Honestly Never Thought Derek Carr Would Play For Any Other Team. Still, the Raiders Fit The Look, But The Best Stories Sometime Originate From Unexpected Turns Of Fate. Carr Can Produce A Pseudo-MVP Season In New Orleans If All Goes Right. In Atlanta, Arthur Smith Has To Produce Some Form Of Progress. He Started Well Last Year, but The Ghost Of Marcus Mariota Proved His Undoing. If the Falcons Can't Maintain Their Strides Of Progress, Smith's First Run As A Head Coach Will End Ingloriously.
Carolina Panthers.
I Buy Much Into Preseason Results, Stats, Or Spectzaculative Notes. Teams Use Preseason As High-Level Simulations. From My Perspective, What We Know For Sure From Preseason, Bryce Young Completed An NFL Level Pass From The Pocket. I Know You're Thinking, Of Course He Can. Who Pays Me For These "Takes"? Please Don't Bring Up Young Height? No One Pays, And I'm Curious About His Height. I Had Genuine Concerns About What Aspects Of Young's Game Would Translate To The League. Already His Elusiveness Stands Out, Pocket Presence and Motion Control On Scramble. The Panthers Will Look To Move Him Out Of The Pocket More, I Guess, Anytime He's Under-center, And That Could Create Some Predictability, Which You Know You Don't Want As An Offense In The NFL. He's Not Fast, But His Feel For Angles Has No Match. Bryce Will Have To Lean In On His Receiving Core More Because Accuracy In Football Can Go So far. Receiver Will Have To Get Open For Young Because I'm Not Sure If He Can Throw Receivers Open From The Pocket. Dj Chark, Adam Theilen, Jonathan Mingo, and Laviska Shenault Will Have To Win Routes And Their Matchups Frequently If The Panthers' Offense Hopes To Show Any Signs Of Life. I like The Growth I Saw From Terrence Marshall In Moments Last Season, And Maybe This Year He Put Everything Together. Of Course, What Should We Expect From Young's Rookie Season Other Than The Growing Pains(lol) Of The New Rigors Of No Sundays Off? But He's Girded By One Of The Best Quarterback Assembled Offensive Staffs In The League, So He Wouldn't Shock Me If He Put Forth Steady Numbers. The Offensive Line, A Maturing One, Has The Large Responsibility Of Protecting Bryce Young. The Panthers Also Boosted A Strong Run Game Last Season But Lost D'onta Foreman. Miles Saunders Brings With Him Upgraded Numbers, But He Ran Behind The Most Imposing Offensive Line In Football Last Year, And He Can't Depend On That Certainty This Season.
The Defense Returned Most Of Their Studs. Panthers Defensive Coordinator Ejiro Evero Has a Solid Cornerback In Jaycee Horn At His Disposal, a Wrecking Ball In Brian Burns And Vet Shaq Thompson. The Panthers Posses Enough To Not Get Rail Roaded This Season. My Season Prediction:
3-14.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I'll admit I Cried A Little On The Inside Watching Baker Mayfield Complete A Touchdown Pass To Chris Godwin In Tampa's Final Preseason Game Versus The Ravens. Nothing About The Play, The Design, The Throw, or The Catch Moved Me, But Just The Call "Baker Mayfield To Godwin," Not Brady To Godwin. The Days Have Shifted, And The Reality Of Brady's Moving On To Another Life Has Settled In. His Presence Remains A Prominent Fixture On The Team In The Form Of a $35 million cap Hit this Season. The Baker Mayfield Experience Now Dawns Over The Team In His Third Starting Uniform Since Leaving The Brown's Last Year. Sticking Around In The NFL, Let Alone Securing Your Third Starting Gig, Requires A Level Of Skill In Itself. The NFL Attracts A Constanta Influx Of New Talent. Baker Proved He's Resilient And Adaptable. Like Everyone On The Bucs Bake Will Run A New Offense Under Dave Canales. The Rest Of The Offense Still Resembles The Unit from Last Year. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Have The Outsides, Russell Gage is In The Slot, and newcomer Trey Palmer looks good At Wide Receiver. Gage Went On IR, So He'll Miss Some Time.
The Bucs Struggled To Run The Ball Last Season, Finishing Dead Last. I Don't Think That Changes Even If The Offensive Line Stays Healthy, And A Pertinent Problem They Faced Last Time. Defensively, The Bucs Still Have Todd Bowles In Charge. Two of The Best Corners In The Game Flank The Outsides In Jameel Dean And Carlton Davis, With a Strong Set Of Safeties. We Know Mayfield Can Rifle The Ball With Sudden and Spectacular Arm Power. Still, He's Also Mishap Prone, Aa Marked By 66 Interceptions In His Short Career. An Astounding Figure Those 66 Interceptions For Anybody. He's Feast Or Famine, But He Gives You a Chance To Win Games, And This Division Remains One For The Taking. Season Predictions:8-9
New Orleans Saints
The Saints Made Several Moves, But Their Off-season Still Felt "Quiet" At Least By Saint Standards. I Cannot Remember The Last Time As A Football Follower, I Exited an Off-season Where The Saints Didn't Dominate The Conversation With Cap Moves and Draft TradeTrades. The Saints Made A Few Moves Some Franchise Impacting Ones. They Picked Up Derek Carr After The Former Raider Quarterback Became Available On The Market. The Saints Signed Carr To Four Year 150 Million Dollar Contract, And The Union Sounds Like A Real "Love Fest," You're valuing me as a quarterback and a human…" Carr Said at His Introductory Press Conference Considering How Things Ended With The Raiders, I'm Not Surprised Carr Felt The Desire Of "Wanting" Considering The Saints Were Willing To Trade For Him Went A Long Away To Carr To The Big Easy. Carr Will Fall Under Third 9
Or the Fourth Offensive Regime Since Jon Gruden And How Comfortable He Gets Running With Pete Carmichael's System. Carr Faced Down New Offensives Before, But At This Stage, The 32-Year-old Quarterback, the Hills Run Steeper. The Saints Needed A Steady Arm Because They've Shuffled Through Multiple Options Since Drew Brees Retired. Carr Favors A Field Offense Rather Than A Horizontal One That Favors Steady Completions Over Big Gains. He's Got An Air Yard Eating Arm. He Finished Fifth In Intended Air Yards, And I Expect The Saints To Lean In On That Strength. Changing A System requires a Quarterback To Delve Deep and Learn An Entire Set Of Plays, Terminology, And Structure(which Defines Plays Meet Which Situation). Carr's Learning A New City, Literally. On The Outside, The Saints Will Have A Talent Sure To Emerge As Carr's Top Guy Chris Olave. Olave Posted A Strong Rookie Season Where He led the Team In Targets, Receiving Yards, and Targeted Air Yards Despite Missing Several Games Due To Injury. Olave Also Got Open At One Of The Highest Rates In The League, And Carr's Acclimation With His Top Option Could Define The Impact Of His First Season In Nola. The Saints' Former Number One Target, Micheal Thomas, As To Prove He's Still Got High-end Receiving Skills In Those Legs And Hands. Admittedly, He Looked Good, If Only Briefly, Like A Plane In The Night Sky.
Rashid Shaheed Also Made Waves As a Rookie. On Defense, The Saints have A Blend Of Aging And Developmental Prospects. The Team Leans In On Vets Like Jordan, Marshon Lattimore, And Tyran Mathieu to Make Up The Bulk Of The Team's Impact on That Side Of The Ball. Still, up-and-comers like Payton Turner and Comer Bryan Bresee are To Emerge. The Lines Of The Defense Divide The Impact Along Two Planes, One Thats Steady and Another Unpredictable. The Saint's Defense Like To Play "Messy" And "Scrappy" Last Season And Expect That Style Of Play To Continue. The Saints Have Enough To Win This Division Outright More Because I Don't Think Anyone Else In The Division Could Threaten Their Slice Of The Little Continuity Left In The Division. Season Prediction 9-8.
Atlanta Falcons
Mariota Managed 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions, And A Couple Of Impressive in his 13 starts Before Ultimately Coughing Up The Starting Job To Rookie Desmond Ridder, Who Rode The Falcons Ship Home. Smith Didn't Much Care For His Quarterback Accuracy Or Arm Strength, you know, The Skills That Intrigued The Rest Of Us Football Minds; Smith, The OC In Tennessee, Demand Dynamism And Tension Creator, Something That Marcus Mariota's Legs Afforded Him. Marcus Barely Passed The Ball In His Starts, and His Accuracy Number Justify Smith's Stringent Approach To Passing The Ball. Ridder Took Over And Started Two Four Games, Notched 708 Passing Yards, Two Yards, 73/115(63.5% Completion Percentage) With Zero Interceptions. The Falcons Finished Top Three In Any Relevant Rushing Stat You Want To Comb Through, And Every Brings Their Hard Hat Forward. "It just all goes back to the monotony. Doing the same things over and over again until you master them." Falcons Offensive Lineman Kaleb McGary. Offenses In The NFL revolve around advanced evolution, Especially Passing Offenses; even Madden, A Video Game, adapts to "Spamming" A Play. They won't monetize their Way Through To The Playoffs and Ultimately Save Smith's Job.
The Falcons Have To Prove The Passing Game Can, To The Very Least, Threaten Defenses Even A Little To Keep The Effectiveness Of The Run Game Viable. Arthur Smith Won't Get Away From The "Run-first, run-often, and run-productively" Model Of Play, He's Built His Vision On The Principle Of The Running Game. The Team Just Drafted Bijan Robinson, The Best Running Back Prospect Since Saquon Barkley. All Signs Point To Falcons Trying To Grind Down Another Season Down By Down. Smith Caught Flack Beacuse His Rushing Identity Made a Star Out Cordarelle Patterson And Tyler Allegier But Allowing The Uber Pass Catching Talent Of Kyle Pitts To Fade And Not Full Eploring The Ranges Of Rookie Wide Receiver Drake London. Londons Already Made a Name For Himself As A Pass Catcher Despite The Challenges The Falcons Faced At Quarterback. London Absorbed The Bulk Of The Falcons' Targets, 114, And Converted 72 into Catches. Still, I Can't Imagine How Tough The Game Felt For a Young Receiver Heading Into Knowing You'll Only See So many opportunities On A Giving Day. Regardless, London Made Some "I'm Up Next" Level Catches Down Field; I Don't Think Another Bad Season Of Quarterback Play Will Slow Him Down.
I Need to find out Where The Once Promising Career Of Kyle Pitts Will Go From Here. Pitts's 1000-Yard Rookie Season Feels Like A Decade Ago. He Made The Pro Bowl And looked poised to be over As The Next Best Passing, Catching Wide Out Tight-end; then 2022 Happened. Pitts Missed Most Of the Last Season Due To Injury, And He Needs Targets Fed to Keep Him Engaged. The Falcons Added Former Raider Mack Hollins And Former Tampa Bay Buc Scotty Miller To Make Their Skill Position Group One Of The Best In The League. One Drake Commented On By, "It's [The Falcons] Going To Be Hard To Defend." The Biggest Name Acquired By The Falcons This Offseason In Contract And Notoriety And Potentially Impact Safety Jessie Bates. If Atlanta Pass The Ball, They're Better Equip To Stop The Pass. Jessie Bates Finished Last Season Ranked In The Top Five Of All Safeties Playing For The Bengals. Bates Generated an 86 Quarterback Rating When Targeted. The Secondary Also Hopes To See Former First Round Picks AJ Terrell And Newly Acquired Jeff Okudah Return To Form. Terrell Had A Level season a Year Ago When He Allowed The Fewest Yards When Targeted, But His Play Fell Off Last Season. Okudah Gets Some New Digs, New Scenery Out In Atlanta Away From The Chilling Of Detroit. The Former Number Three Pick Will Have One Year To Prove His Name And His Worth Entering What Essentially Boils Down To A Free Agency. The Falcons Might Shock The World And Shake The Foundation Of The Fabric Of Existence If They Manage To Threaten Or Even Win The Division. Ultimately, They Need More Time And A Formidable Passer. Season Prediction: 6-11.
