DIVISIONAL BREAKDOWN...part 2

DIVISIONAL BREAKDOWNS…part 2
I’m back!!! I am ready to tell you everything you need to know about the NFC and the upcoming season. Now as many of you know, last week I broke down the keys to the AFC season and now you get the NFC. Without a doubt, there are many more storylines going into this upcoming season for the NFC, then there are over in the AFC. So let me give you the most important info on this upcoming season for the NFC…

NFC SOUTH…
We will start with the home of the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. What a magical run they made last year. The flirtation with perfection, the losing streak, the Who Dat Nation, and oh yeah there was that little game in Miami. However, in all of my years of seriously following football, I do not remember a champion who has been discounted more without losing any major pieces then the New Orleans Saints. There was no major roster moves made, however most everyone has them behind the Colts in the “Power Rankings”. Why you ask…This team was very successful because of the number of turnovers that they were able to create from that defense last year. It is always dangerous to go into a game and believe that you have to create a turnover or two to win, but that is exactly what they did (and they did get them and that is why they won), much less go into a season hoping to duplicate the turn over’s from a year ago. With Brees and co. on offense, they will have no trouble scoring, but will they be able to score enough if the defense is not creating the turnovers…that is the million dollar question for the Saints. The Atlanta Falcons are sitting in a good spot, they are coming off of a “disappointing” 9 – 7 2009 season that saw the team record the 1st back to back winning season in franchise history. It was a disappointment, because there were many who believed that when they added Tony Gonzalez, they had added the piece that would push them from good team to elite team, and that did not happen due to injuries. Matt Ryan and Michael Turner both missed time last year with injuries. If this team can stay healthy, they will be as good on offense as anyone in the NFL with Turner, Roddy White, Michael Jenkins, and Tony Gonzalez all looking to get this team to the “elite” level. This is the 1st of many teams who made major improvements to their team through the draft. I love the addition of Sean Weatherspoon from Missouri. This kid is going to be a beast in this league. He is big and fast and is a playmaker that is always around the ball. This team lacked an identity on defense last year and I believe this kid is going to bring a certain swagger to this side of the ball. When you add Daunta Robinson to the cornerback position, I think this will be a much improved defense and that will mean trouble for the rest of the NFC. Let me just say that I do not believe the Panthers are going to be competing for the division crown this year (I could be wrong, it did happen that one time…kinda, I’ll explain later), I do think they had the best off season of any team in this division. They got rid of Jake Delhomme, they got a franchise quarterback in Jimmy Clausen, got a solid LB in Eric Norwood, and got depth at WR with Brandon LaFell and Armanti Edwards (who could create nightmares in some type of wildcat formation with Steve Smith and either Jonathan Stewart or DeAngelo Williams). The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are doing nothing more than getting Josh Freeman experience and hoping to earn the rights to draft Mark Ingram (Yes, I think he will come out early) so therefore, I am not wasting my time on them.

NFC WEST…
Much like the AFC West, I am very intrigued by this division even though I do not think this is the best division in the Conference. There are 3 legit teams who I could see winning this division. We will start with the only team who has no chance and that is the Rams. I do think Sam Bradford will be a good QB, however, do not play him to soon, he is not Peyton Manning and he does not have the supporting cast of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco, if this kid takes a beating to soon, he will never get over it and you will have thrown $50 million down the drain. As for the rest of the division, the Cardinals have owned it for the last couple of years, but how things have changed. Good-bye Anquan Boldin and Kurt Warner, Hello Derek Anderson. They had a good draft, but the question has to be asked, who will take up the slack left by Kurt Warner? As great of a player as Boldin is, Warner was the leader. He was the guy who was calm when it mattered and he found a way to keep everyone healthy. Neither Derek Anderson or Matt Lienart (who is scheduled to be the starter tight now) have been consistent through out their NFL careers and with the lack of a consistent ground game (No, I do not trust Beanie Wells), this team has some serious issues that they must find a way to resolve. Next, you have the Seahawks, who have been taken over by Pete Carroll in his attempt to get out of L.A. regardless of a really bad situation with the Trojans (REALLY, WHO LEAVES L.A. FOR SEATTLE?). This team has had more turnover than any team in the league. They have had something like 90 player transactions since Carroll took over. Say what you want to, but this is HIS team. The best thing he did was to trade for Charlie Whitehurst from San Diego. This kid could develop into a fine QB in the NFL with the right guidance. The Seahawks had a great draft adding Russell Okung to an offensive line that must play better for this team to have any chance of doing anything. With their second pick of the 1st round Carroll drafted the hard hitting play making safety from Texas, Earl Thomas. Both of these guys should be starting the minute games start to count and they look like they will be in the league for a long time. They also added Golden Tate, a talented WR from Notre Dame, and sent their 5th round pick to the Jets for Leon Washington (find me a player who will give you more production in the 5th round than Leon Washington---you can’t do it). Pete Carroll had a great 1st off season and has created a lot of excitement in Seattle this year. However, the team that I am most looking forward to seeing this season is the San Francisco 49ers. Alex Smith played really good late in the season last year and who knows how much better he will be this year with a healthy Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree for an entire season. The Niners went OL with the2 1st round picks they had and then took hard hitting safety Taylor Mays in the 2nd round (He could be an impact player as a rookie, I really thought this was a steal at the spot where they got him). You can tell this is Mike Singletary’s team, they will be physical. The defense will be led by Patrick Willis, and they should be good enough to win this division.

NFC NORTH…
As badly as I want to start off talking about Detroit, I just can’t do it. The biggest key to this Division is the same as it has been for the last 5 years…Is Brett Favre coming back? As of now, it is being reported by his kicker, Ryan Longwell, that he will be back. There are a couple of interesting things to consider before you just assume they will win the division and be back in the hunt for the Super Bowl, 1. Are there any hard feeling between the guys and Brett? Obviously, I have not spoken to any of the Vikings players directly, however, I have seen interviews and heard the comments. Jared Allen seems to getting tired of talking about it. Shiancoe seemed irritated by the way he was perceived after “The Text Heard Round The World.” And regardless about who is the better QB, the Viking players are people and many of them have grown close with Tarvaris Jackson. Many of the guys in the locker room made a playoff run with Jackson. I wonder how many of these guys have issues with the way Brett has handled this and made himself bigger than the team? Meanwhile, in Green Bay there are 2 people who are loving every moment of this, Ted Thompson and Aaron Rodgers. The Packers were smart enough to part ways and turn the reigns over to Rodgers and he has been nothing short of spectacular during his time as starter. This offense looks like it will pick up where it left off, but the Packers must get better play from a defense that allowed over 50 in a PLAYOFF GAME to Arizona. The corners are getting older, they are still productive, but as Arizona showed, they can be exposed and scored upon if you can go after them. Clay Matthews is a really good LB who should really establish himself as a leader on defense going into his 2nd season in the league. I really do not know what to make of the Chicago Bears. I seem to be the only person alive who is not sold on them. If you read the “experts”, they all suggest this team is going to contend for the Divisional crown…I just don’t see it. The offensive guru who has been brought in for Jay Cutler likes to throw the ball all over the place and for Cutler that means lots of picks. This guy forces too many throws and that will cost his team too many games. They failed to do anything at the WR position and this will hurt them because they still do not have a # 1 receiver. The addition of Julius Peppers to the defense was nice, but Cutler is going to keep this defense on the field too much for them to be very successful. And last but not least, The Lions. I love the off season they have had. It seems like everything they wanted they got best case scenario for it. They acquired depth on offense with Nate Burleson, and Tony Scheffler, they got the 2nd best running back in this draft in Jahvid Best, and the guy named Suh is a game changer along the DL. They did all of this while Matthew Stafford, last seasons top overall pick, is going into his second year and they still have the most physical receiver in the league in Calvin Johnson. We know this team will score, and therefore, they will be as good as the defense allows them to be.

NFC EAST…
This has been the best division in the NFC for the last several years, and this will be no different. I could easily see 3 of these 4 teams making the playoffs or I could see only 1 team getting in. There is no team in football that made greater strides towards improving this off season than the Washington Redskins. This team in one move was able to make themselves significantly better and hurt another team in the division at the same time. Of course, I am talking about the addition of Donovan McNabb. Say what you want about the Kevin Kolb, but the truth is we have no idea what he will be. HE threw for a lot of yards, but I am not talking fantasy football, I am talking the real thing and he is still very unproven. Meanwhile, Washington added a Hall of Fame QB with several good years left in him. They added a coach who knows how to run the ball in Mike Shannahan. HE will come in and try to make something work with a group of guy who most believe are finished. However, there were very few people who thought that Terrell Davis, Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, Reuben Droughns, or Tatum Bell was going to be productive backs? Shanahan knows how to be production from his RB’s and for the 1st time since John Elway retired, he has a QB he can trust. The Philadelphia Eagles will be tied to the Redskins for the next several years. Any success the Redskins have will have to be attributed in a small part to the Eagles. The Eagles begin the season without McNabb for the first time since 1999. Again, I realize that they have stud receivers in DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Machlin and a solid back in LeSean McCoy, but where is the leadership in that group. Do any of you really believe that Jackson or Machlin are going to listen to Kolb if he struggles knowing that they have been more successful than he has through their brief careers? Of course not, this has all of the makings of a train wreck if the Eagles do not get off to a good start to the season. The New York Giants were hurt by the injury bug as much as any team in the league last season. This team was torn apart with injury after injury. The injury bug got the likes of 2 offensive linemen, Ahmad Bradhsaw, Brandon Jacobs, and Justin Tuck. Eli Manning had great numbers but they have to get more from the running game and they will have to get back to pressuring the QB. They are hoping the addition of Jason Pierre – Paul will do this. Another key to this will be finding a way to get Osi Umenyiora happy and back on the field. His bad attitude has moved him to 3rd on the depth chart. A happy Umenyiora will go a long way to helping this team get back to the playoffs. As bad as this defense was against the pass last year, they really tried to improve that by adding a ball hawking safety in Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant. And finally, we have the Dallas Cowboys---AMERICA’S TEAM. There has never been a team to host the Super Bowl and play in the game and many experts believe this will be the first. It may very well be. A lot of that is going to depend on all of these personalities not blowing up and killing themselves. The Cowboys have as much talent as any team in the NFL and are really set to get to the next level. They finally got that whole not won a playoff game in 12 years monkey off of their back, but where do they go from there? They got one of the biggest steals in the draft when the best receiver fell to them at ---. IF Miles Austin can perform at the level he performed at last year, that will give Dallas a very good 1 – 2 punch and when you add in Jason Whitten and Patrick Crayton, the passing game will be fine. The Cowboys have the best stable of running backs in the entire league with Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice. Jerry Jones has said that Jones will get the bulk of the carries, but all 3 of these guys will see the field and all bring different things. Jones is the fast back with break away speed, Barber is good for those tough yards, but he has a tendency to wear down over the course of the season, so Choice will get his carries as well. Yes, this offense is the major story about this team, but make sure not to forget a defense that has one of the best pass rushers in the game in DeMarcus Ware. Any time you get to the QB, you will be able to create turnovers and that always leads to good things. Keith Brooking came in last year and brought some much needed leadership to this team and that is what I think helped this unit to finally come together and become one of the better defenses in the league. This team has all of the talent and they have to be considered one of the favorites to be playing in the last game of the 2010 season.

There you have it, an introduction to all 32 teams in the NFL this season. What do you think, what are the keys for YOUR TEAM? I am not looking for predictions just yet, those are coming. What team do you think is going to have the biggest turn around from a year ago? GIVE ME FEEDBACK AND SOME OF YOUR THOUGHTS.

Until Next Time…