Team Outlooks: NFC South

These lists will go in order of last years division standings, and I will not be predicting standings here. This is just an objective view on what has happened with these teams over the offseason and a general educated guess of how they will fair in 2010.

Almost every season the NFC South has a new division champion. Even though we have the Saints at #2 in our Week 1 Power Rankings, by season's end it is possible someone like the Falcons could take over. More after the jump. 

New Orleans Saints

WHO DAT? WHO DEY? I don't know which one goes for the Saints and which one goes for the Bengals. They are both ridiculously stupid. I guess I can't call the Saints one stupid because they are the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS. 

Moving on. It's going to be even harder than normal to repeat this season. The Saints have a ton to live up to and are going up against a bunch of really good teams that got better this offseason. We really don't even have to talk about their offense, you know exactly how good it is going to be. Or will it? Unfortunately for the Saints, Drew Brees is on the cover of Madden 11. The Madden Curse has never been broken and it will be a miracle if Drew doesn't get hurt or play terribly or make some huge playoff game deciding mistake. If he does survive, he truly is Breesus. 

Atlanta Falcons

If Statlanta didn't have the defending Super Bowl Champions in their division they would easily make the playoffs. Another year of improvement for Matt Ryan, Roddy White and a healthy Michael Turner add up to lofty expectations here. 

Adding Dunta Robinson to the secondary looks like it has been working out so far. According to an interview with coach, Dunta has added a lot of energy and is "running around like a rookie." That's really important for the Falcons because it was obvious that their weak point last year was their secondary. 

Carolina Panthers

I'd look for the Panthers to rebound a little after last year's very disappointing performance. Their defense is under-going some changes, highlighted by the loss of Julius Peppers, but they still have Jon Beason leading the team at middle linebacker. 

Obviously they are going to run the ball well, I don't even have to talk about that aspect of their offense. Expect 2 running backs with 1,000 yards this season. Their passing game should improve though. Now that Delhomme is gone it is time for Matt Moore to step up. He's looked good in the games he has played in, and hopefully for the Panthers he and Steve Smith will develop good chemistry as the season rolls on. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

Oh Tampa, how quickly they fell from a playoff contender to one of the worst teams in the league. They seriously have nothing going for them on offense besides Josh Freeman, who is now banged up. When he came in to the starting position half way through last season he really did add a spark, though not enough, it visibly improved the team. They were still losing, but they weren't as bad. Actually they even beat the Saints late in the season. 

Now they are fully relying on Carnell Williams again. He has to stay healthy, no more tandem backfield unless their new additions step up and play well. On defense they could play a somewhat decent game. They still have Gerald McCoy, Ronde Barber (though I don't know how he has stayed on this team for this long) and Aqib Talib. Those bigger names are really going to have to make some big plays though.