By William Burns
Last year the NFC South Division was the best division in football. The south had three teams with positive point differentials, how many points a team is either winning or losing by. All three of those teams also had 10 or more wins and it was the only division that had three teams with winning records.
Most people only care about who wins the Super Bowl, but it is important to track how your team places in the division as well. Through the first five weeks of the season, two teams have winning records, but can they hold out? Will any of last season’s success carry over to this year?
Through four weeks, the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints (4-1) are atop the division. Carolina, 3-1, won the first game of the year and dropped the second, then came back and won two straight. The bottom half of the division is brought up by an interesting Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ team, and a sad Atlanta Falcons’ team.
The Carolina Panthers, led by quarterback Cam Newton and running back Christian McCaffrey, look to make it back to the playoffs after a disappointing loss in the wild card game last year. Newton, who has been with the team since 2011, has led the team to four playoff berths in seven seasons and made it to the Super Bowl in 2015. Newton has 883 yards in four games for an average of nearly 211 passing yards per game. Add his 165 rushing yards to that and Newton has almost 1050 yards on the season, accompanied by seven passing touchdowns, three rushing touchdowns and three interceptions. Christian McCaffrey has shouldered the brunt of the rushing attack with 329 rushing yards on 63 attempts for 5.2 yards per carry. McCaffrey also has 192 receiving yards catching 27 of 32 passes targeting him. Despite these impressive numbers, he has no touchdowns. Newton’s favorite receiving target has been Devin Funchess, who has caught 18 passes on the season for a total of 238 yards and a touchdown. Newton has spaced out his passing touchdowns, as seven receivers have one. The highlight of their offense has been place-kicker Graham Gano, who is perfect on extra points and field goals on the season, including a 63-yard field goal to win the game against the New York Giants; the field goal tied for the second longest kick in the history of the NFL. The defense is held down by linebacker Luke Kuechly and defensive back Donte Johnson. Kuechly has 29 tackles and an interception and Johnson has three interceptions; the pair has four of the Panthers’ seven interceptions. This success has come without Pro-Bowl tight end Greg Olsen, who has been one Newton’s favorite targets over the last few seasons, and inside linebacker Thomas Davis, who brings instant fire and drive to the defense. The Panthers will be a force this season if Newton can keep his interceptions down. Watch for Newton to break the all-time rushing record with a single franchise this season too.
The New Orleans Saints are on fire right now, having just blown out the Washington Redskins, who, before the game Oct. 8, had the best passing defense in the NFL, but that was before quarterback Drew Brees said otherwise. Brees shredded the defense for 363 yards and a trio of touchdowns. He also broke Peyton Manning’s all-time passing yards record of 71,940. Brees is also on track to break his record for touchdowns as well; he has 1,658 yards on the season with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. His favorite target downfield has been Michael Thomas, who has 519 yards and three touchdowns on the season. Besides Thomas, six other Saints’ receivers have triple digit yards. The ground game for New Orleans has been dominated by Alvin Kamara, who is one-yard shy of 300 yards accompanied by five touchdowns. Demario Davis leads the team in tackles but overall the defense hasn’t been stellar. Their high scoring offense makes it hard for other teams to stay in games. With a passer like Brees heading the offense, there isn’t any pressure on the defense. Watch this team to see more records broke, and a lot of offense this season.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have not made the playoffs since 2007 but had a hot start out of the gate this season with flashy quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick became the first quarterback to throw for over 400 yards in three consecutive games, but on his third game the team had four turnovers and a high-powered Pittsburg defense took advantage of them. Fitzpatrick has 1,356 yards this season with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. Jameis Winston is poised to retake the starting role at quarterback as his suspension is over. The Bucs do not rely on the ground game as much as other teams, with the leading rusher, Peyton Barber having only 148 yards followed up by Fitzpatrick with 62 yards. Mike Evans has been stellar this year, with 426 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 29 receptions. DeSean Jackson has had an even better year, with 424 yards on only 17 receptions for nearly 25 yards a catch and three touchdowns. Chris Goodwin has three touchdowns as well with a little less than 200 yards. The defense for the Bucs has struggled, but even so, Lavonte David has 34 tackles and Jason Pierre-Paul has four sacks. The Bucs may be 2-2, but they have shown that they can be dangerous if they can put an entire game together. Watching this team might not be as exciting as it was the first two games, but they have the potential to put on a show.
The Atlanta Falcons are 1-4 on the season but their one win did come against division opponent Carolina Panthers, the Panthers’ only loss. Atlanta’s offense has not been bad, but the defense has. Quarterback Matt Ryan has thrown for 1,600 yards with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions. The ground game is solid also, as Tevin Coleman shoulders nearly half of the workload with 225 yards of the team’s 446. Julio Jones far outclasses everyone else for receiving yards on the team with 564 and no touchdowns. However, Calvin Ridley has 302 yards and has established himself as Matt Ryan’s favorite red zone target with six touchdowns. For defense, Duke Riley has 33 tackles and Damontae Kazee has two interceptions. Despite only having one win on the season, the team recognizes that the season is still young and with a few adjustments the season could easily be turned around. If Atlanta gets it together, they could return to the playoff team they were last year. Watch for some defensive changes here in upcoming games to give the offense the support it needs.
Wins don’t just come from total yards a team can put together, the game is equal parts offense and defense, and as of right now, the Saints have the most complete group, but with the addition of two Pro-Bowlers to the Panthers, the race could get interesting. The final standings in the division will be as follows: Saints (13-3), Panthers (12-4), Falcons (9-7), Bucs (7-9). The Saints and the Panthers will make the postseason.
