NFC South

[Jack of Arcades]

Atlanta, Carolina, and Tampa Bay are all 5-2. Yet, of those 15 wins the only two of them came against good teams: Philly and New England (and calling these teams "good" Tampa's trying to a new strategy by not playing a quarterback at all; Carolina's first decisive win came today, and Atlanta's looked very bad against two of the worst teams in the league two weeks in a row.

None of these teams are really that good; Carolina's probably the best of the bunch. Tampa will likely freefall to oblivion if their QB issues don't get resolved. Atlanta might just coast to 10-6 thanks to a schedule which has them playing the rest of the way versus Miami, Green Bay, Detroit, Tampa Twice, Carolina Twice, and New Orleans. Their hardest game will come against Chicago (a better team), IN Chicago, in December.

Carolina's schedule is slightly harder, since they catch Dallas.They still play in Chicago, but a month earlier. They also travel to Buffalo version Holcomb in late November.

The NFC South just goes to show how records can be very misleading, and how strength of schedule is very important in considering the strength of teams.

Tampa is in bad shape with an injured Cadillac and an ineffective Chris Simms. Scoring 10 points on the worst defense in football is scary. Looks like it's between Panthers and Falcons now.

[TheRover]

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Tampa is in bad shape with an injured Cadillac and an ineffective Chris Simms. Scoring 10 points on the worst defense in football is scary. Looks like it's between Panthers and Falcons now.

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Am I the only one that thinks Tim Rattay=good? I'd hope they give him a shot fairly soon.

I think once Rattay gets familiar enough with the plays he'll be in there, Simms is just terrible.

[kyro]

Interesting, so we have a thread here to discuss the complete suckitude of the NFC South. I find this amusing (not untrue mind you, I refuse to ever disagree with JoA on sports), as the NFC North and AFC East are probably worse than that division as a whole. You also can't really applaud for the NFC West (49ers, Cardinals, Rams). I think the fact of the matter is, most of the teams SUCK this year. There are maybe 2-3 SOLID teams, a handful of decent ones depending on the week, and about 4 division-worths of crappy ass teams that are painful to watch.

Sick.

[Jack of Arcades]

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Tampa is in bad shape with an injured Cadillac and an ineffective Chris Simms. Scoring 10 points on the worst defense in football is scary. Looks like it's between Panthers and Falcons now.

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Am I the only one that thinks Tim Rattay=good? I'd hope they give him a shot fairly soon.

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No; Rattay showed a lot in 2003 stepping in for an injured Jeff Garcia (and actually showed he was probably better than Jeff Garcia). Since the mass exodus of talent in san francisco, Rattay's gone from one of the best looking young QBs in the league to looking absolutely clueless. Surrounded with talent, and in Jon Gruden's amazing passing system, he should be fine. The problem is the time issue; Bucs have 9 games left, how long will it take Rattay to learn Gruden's complex playbook?

[private joker]

Delhomme ---> Smith = Division Champs.

[Jack of Arcades]

Yeah, I was contemplating where the NFC South rank in terms of division strength. Behind the AFC West and NFC East obviously. But what about the AFC North and AFC South which have two top teams and two horrible teams apiece? I think you have to weight the top teams in a division, and honestly - which top team is worse than Carolina/Atlanta? New England, maybe? Cincy/Pitt, Indy, San Diego/Denver, NYG/DAL, Chicago, and Seattle are all better than Carolina/Atlanta.

Either Carolina is very good or Tampa is really bad, this game today is completely one sided.

[Jack of Arcades]

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Either Carolina is very good or Tampa is really bad, this game today is completely one sided.

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Tampa Bay with Simms is really bad.

[Jack of Arcades]

Bump sauce! Chris Simms is making me and just about everyone not named Anacardo look like an idiot. Even then they got thrashed by New England. Granted, going into New England and losing by 28 doesn't mean you suck 'cause plenty of good teams have taken their lumps in Foxboro in December.

Atlanta has to beat Carolina at home to even get a winning season but chances are they'll go 8-8. Tampa should get to 11 wins and Carolina to 10. Tampa is probably around... the 14th best team in the league? Something like that.

[Acehawk74]

Try 3rd best in the NFC, about 8th in the NFL. When Cadillac gets running, and the Defense plays solid, this team can hang with anyone(minus the Colts, which no one will nor can beat that is in the playoffs). Close, but they aren't as bad as you're saying they are.

[lastchance]

Chicago? NYG? Washington? Seattle? Carolina?

I really don't think TB is better than 3 of those teams above.

[Acehawk74]

Giants - Seriously, the Bucs stop the run even slightly, Eli beats themselves.

Carolina - Please. We split the season series with them, and they are about as strong as you would expect a wild card team to be.

Washington - Barber > Moss. We beat this team already once. There is your two teams.

I'd put Tampa and Washington even at best, but that's still at least tied for 3rd best in the NFC. I'll say what I've always felt about them. The Bucs run the football, and play defense, they can win against almost anyone in the NFC. Seattle imho is the only team that can flat out take Tampa to the woodshed.

[Jack of Arcades]

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Giants - Seriously, the Bucs stop the run even slightly, Eli beats themselves.

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Well, that's all well and good but it's not like the Bucs can just stop Tiki like that. KC has an awesome run defense, too, and look what happened there.

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Carolina - Please. We split the season series with them, and they are about as strong as you would expect a wild card team to be.

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Yeah, you're about even with Carolina.

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Washington - Barber > Moss. We beat this team already once. There is your two teams.

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You beat them by 1 on a fluke play at home. There's no way Tampa goes into Washington and wins.

PS: Moss had 4 receptions for 79 yards. Not exactly shutdown.

You are definitively not better than:

1) Indy
2) Cincy
3) Denver
4) New England
5) Pittsburgh
6) Chicago
7) Seattle

You are probably not better than

8) Jacksonville
9) San Diego
10) Kansas City
11) Washington
12) New York G

I'll put you around, eh, 11th.

[Clarkmeister]

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Try 3rd best in the NFC, about 8th in the NFL.

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No. They'll be the worst team in the NFC playoffs, provided the Vikings don't somehow get in. They're worse than every AFC playoff team, plus KC and SD. That makes them, what, 14th? They've got 2 good wins, @Carolina 20-10 (lost to them at home 34-14 however) and vs Washington 36-35 with a last minute TD. You bang on NE and their schedule but you suck on TB's nuts? Nice.