The new NFC South

[meatpile]

I'm starting to feel good about our chances in this division.

Atlanta:

1 - They've got a green qb who's likely to get hurt running the ball.
2 - They've just dropped $13 million in signing bonuses for Warrick Dunn, Todd Weiner, and a return man. Weiner has only started 20 games in 4 years, and Dunn doesn't frighten me anywhere near as much as Anderson does.

New Orleans:

1 - They lost Williams. They got some dman good picks, which they'll need, as they also appear to have lost half of their d-line.
2 - Duece doesn't scare me the way Williams did. I might be stupid, but that's it.
3 - Brooks struggled his sophomore year as the starter. Great fantasy numbers, but not great football winning numbers.

Tampa:

1 - cap trouble. The ONLY thing that really scares me about Tampa is Gruden. Gruden goes against the grain that Seifert, Hurney, and Richardson discussed about the transition to the new South. Smashmouth football in Tampa is history. We switched.


All of these teams seem to be declining, except for the Panthers who can really only move up. We've got fast LB's to stop the run, Peppers should hit the pass rush. Last year Jenkins and Giblet did a good job of stopping up front, but the LB's gave it up. That's being fixed. The secondary is a major concern - But the pass rush should help. Grant was great at covering - his tackling skills likely were exposed b/c the lb's weren't doing their job.

Can you tell i'm getting pumped? And I've consumed 40oz. of strong coffee.

 

[Piper]

Yeah, we are looking at a weaker division.

Atlanta is a wildcard, depending on Vick. They do ahve some talent at linebacker and the secondary, if they can ever get a decent line, it will be a good defene.

Weiner is a good RT. They need him to protect the blind side. Move big boy to guard, line is a little better.

The other two, yeah, I'm not crazy about what they have done at all. Too bad we can't play our division rivals 3 times instead of twice.

 

[Y2Buddy]

AS LONG AS WE CAN TACKLE!

Tampa keep in mind still has the entire defesive coaching staff. I think the D was giving up a little due to the poor off. output. So they will still be good. I am more fearful of a full dose of Alstott than I am split time between Dunn/Alstott. They are upgrading their TE and with Gruden, they will be better on offense, and that will also improve their D. I think the Bucs will be very tough to beat. And I'm still hurting from the last time we played Gruden.

New Orleans now free of Ricky Williams in a way is good for us. But then again, they no longer have that distraction and they can move on. Their D is also very good and I think their offense will be better this year, more diminsional. We would be lucky to split with this team.

Atlanta is still hard for us to beat no matter how bad they are. Now with Anderson, Dunn, and Smith, they're at a cross roads. New ownership and probably a new coach soon. This is maybe Reeves last year. It appears Joe Gibbs is going to be a part owner of the Falcons. Not that it means he plays a vitale role, but where he goes, he wins, and I'm sure there will be some benefit to free advice. Vick still needs more time, but like I said, the Panthers have a hard time with Atlanta.

On the bright side, SF and Rams are gone. The Panthers IMO are making all the right moves. A lot will depend on Weinke though. I think his level of play will elevate this year, and in 2 years, our division could turn out to be one of the toughest in the league.

 

[Piper]

>>Tampa keep in mind still has the entire defesive coaching staff. I think the D was giving up a little due to the poor off. output.

They still lost their best corner and best linebacker. And again, no draft picks, and they are in long term cap trouble. Now they have two QBs that hold on to the ball too long. And Alstott, eh, he'd better cut out the fumbling. I think he's about worn out, frankly.

>>They are upgrading their TE and with Gruden, they will be better on offense, and that will also improve their D.

I think you are giving Gruden too much credit. Yeah, offensive mastermind, all that. You still need the players. All I see is Keyshawn.

>>Their D is also very good and I think their offense will be better this year, more diminsional. We would be lucky to split with this team.

Again, they are losing talent. Lost their two best pass rushers on the defensive line. Without that line, their defense goes from great to only good. And they are taking an awful risk with Carter. And that offensive line that was so good for so many years is now showing age.

Really, Haslett gets the dumbass to the year award. When he ran Ricky, they won. But when he got cute and tried to let Books be the star, they lost. They were running it down the Skins throat last year, but then Haslett started passing the ball. With this philosiphy, he almost lost to us TWICE. Only Ricky saved them.

Now they don't know what their strength is.

Cap is king. And cap says these two teams are in trouble for the next few years.

 

[Y2Buddy]

Originally posted by Piper
>>Tampa keep in mind still has the entire defesive coaching staff. I think the D was giving up a little due to the poor off. output.

They still lost their best corner and best linebacker. And again, no draft picks, and they are in long term cap trouble. Now they have two QBs that hold on to the ball too long. And Alstott, eh, he'd better cut out the fumbling. I think he's about worn out, frankly.

All that and McKay is still considered a cap guru. The Bucs have some money still, not a lot, but they have some. Plus they don't have to pay 1st round picks, which I guess is the only advantage to not having any, but still. Do you mean they lost Jamie Duncun? He doesn'tl eave that big a hole to fill. I've always liked Brooks though.

WTF am I doing? I hope the Bucs suck and I like their in cap trouble, but I don't think it's that bad. Surprisingly though, I think the Texans are getting into a little trouble myself. Not that they're in our division. We'll just see about Alstott though.

 

[PanthersReturn]

Agreed with Piper on both Gruden and Haslett. Haslett played LB at IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) - Pennsylvania Conference division II - my conference as an undergard.

He was dumb to separate from Ricky - they won't be able to overpower teams, and putting his chips on Brooks probably won't pay-off.

Gruden is good - about the same level as Cowher. I'm optimistic with Fox - I like the moves, especially considering our financial position. I think JR has "re-energized" without the big names. I'll take potential and improvement, instead of overpaying for "one hit wonders", or mortgaging the farm for one player.

 

[magnus]

Well the Bucs' cap trouble isn't that bad, it's just that they'll have to sign players where their picks would have gone. Consequently, they'll either be overpaying for a backup, or reaching in later rounds, or putting long term money into a player who would be taking up space that a later round pick could have solved.

Plus, they've really not done much of anything so far in free agency, so either they'll be scraping in June or just making stopgap decisions.

 

[Piper]

I'm looking more at 2003 for the Bucs cap trouble. It won't be so bad now because they don't have to worry so much about picks, but I think they will go heavy on the free agents.

They have aging talent. And it will only get older, because now it will be harder to develop through the draft.

And that's the thing. In the past, they drafted well. So far, the last two seasons, Cosey Coleman is their best draft pick, and that ain't saying too much.

For next year, they still have a good pass rushing front 4, and Lynch and Duncan are still playmakers. Losing an all around linebacker like Brooks will hurt, though. Any replacement will likely be a significant downgrade.

But the big problem is offense. Gruden's a west coast guy. I don't see a WCO here. Not yet. It may take him a season or two to bring it. I think, in the end, he'll look to rebuild, and try to do it quickly.

 

[Y2Buddy]

Duncan signed with the Rams. The Bucs still have Brooks, no?

 

[Piper]

Oh, I was thinking it was Brooks. My bad.

OK then, that's not as bad, they did draft a mike fairly high a couple of years ago. Duncan was solid, though.