Teams are listed in expected order of finish and team names are preceded by Rank within Conference / Rank within NFL.

NFC South

5/10. Buccaneers:

They needed to do some housecleaning, and man did they ever, showing 18 players the exit. They’ve had one of the busiest and most meaningful FA periods of any team in the league. If all that new talent jells, the Bucs should be back in the playoff hunt.

What I don’t understand is why they put so much of the blame for last year’s fall, on the defense. They were ranked #5 overall, and #4 vs pts scored (16.5). That’s incredible. Was it really Sapp and Lynch to blame? Or were they simply scapegoats? Maybe, maybe not. Tampa was an unimpressive 13th vs the run.

I’m not ignoring the problems with WR Keenan McCardell, his contract demands and likely holdout. His best years are behind him and he shouldn’t be especially hard to replace. He’s cutting his own throat.

7/13. Falcons:

Alex Gibbs will have the O line performing at a higher level this season. That should help in several ways.

It’ll keep Vick healthy, it’ll give him more time to get the ball to his ho-hum receiving corps, and it’ll improve the yardage of a running game no one is afraid of going into the season, but could learn to fear by midseason.

What Atlanta really needs to be concerned about is how they’re going to improve a defense that was ranked last overall and 30th vs pts scored. They attempted to address this through free agency and added some depth if nothing else. If the new personnel can lift them to a top 15 D, they could be a force in the NFC.

12/24. Panthers:

They lost some key players on both sides of the ball. Sadly, most of the replacements for those players are obvious downgrades.

They also didn’t draft anyone who will be able to come in and start immediately. This is tough, because the Panthers can’t rely on having another lucky season. Carolina’s D was pretty good last year (#8 overall, 10th vs pts scored), so a slip of one or two spots wouldn’t seem to mean much.

Except that they only had the 16h overall ranked offense. Thanks to key free agency losses the O will be lucky to rank in the top 20 this season. So any slip by the D becomes enormously consequential.

14/27. Saints:

Another team that had a good draft and is loaded with talent.

It’s also a team whose coaching staff needs to be canned. There’s no acceptable reason for this team to be mired in mediocrity.

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