The first four games of the season for the NFC South have produced some interesting results. Teams have dealt with major injuries, inconsistent play and have not lived up to many prognosticators’ preseason predictions. At the quarter pole of the NFL season one thing is for sure. We do not know what we should know!
What we should know is which team is the best. Many believed that the Saints would be the class of the South this year based on the improvements they made on defense and key additions made in the off season. So far the defense resembles that of the 2012 season and has left head coach, Sean Peyton looking inquisitively at his defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. The offense has not looked as good since Mark Ingram injured his hand and it seems that Drew Brees is missing “do everything” running back Darren Sproles who is enjoying success in Philadelphia this season. A less than impressive 38-17 showing this past week at Dallas left many in “Who Dat” nation wondering if they were not watching the “Aints!”
New Orleans gets to return home this week to take on Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers looked terrible in their first three contests which culminated with a 56-14 beat down at the hands of division foe Atlanta on Thursday night football. That Thursday night match was played without the heart and soul of the Bucs, defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. Middle linebacker Mason Foster and running back Doug Martin were also missing . The Bucs gave up more than just points in the blowout loss to the Falcons, they also seemed to give up on Josh McCown as their quarterback. McCown was injured and replaced by second year trigger man Mike Glennon. Glennon shows signs of life for an offense that has looked lifeless. He continued that into week four where he orchestrated a game winning drive and a 27-24 victory over Pittsburgh. They hope to keep the train rolling against the Saints.
Atlanta has enjoyed an up and down first four games of the season. They opened the season with a close division win over New Orleans in a 37-34 shootout only to lose to Cincinnati the following week 24-10. They were riding high and watching return man extraordinaire Devin Hester rewrite the record books while trampling Tampa Bay but came up small versus the Minnesota Vikings in Teddy Bridgewater’s debut at quarterback. The rookie bested “Matty Ice” to the tune of 41-28. The Falcons have been plagued by injuries on their line which has made their running game virtually non-existent. The passing game led by Ryan and Julio Jones continues to pace them. They both will need to come up big this week as they take on the red hot New York Giants who are coming off two straight victories fueled an extremely efficient Eli Manning.
After two consecutive wins over the Bucs and Detroit, the Carolina Panthers looked like they were on their way to living up to the hype and improving on last season’s marks. They have followed those two victories with two defeats versus AFC North opponents. Both the Steelers and Ravens used a strong running game to trample Carolina. The defense has clearly missed the Kraken (Greg Hardy) and on top of that, the offense is dealing with injuries to everyone who has lined up in the backfield. It is clear that they could use a weapon like Steve Smith on their team. Instead they got to witness first hand just how much juice he still had in the tank as he lit his former teammates up for seven receptions, 139 yards and two touchdowns while helping Baltimore to a 38-10 victory. They now welcome in an even more potent passing offense in Chicago as they look to get back on the plus side of .500. The Panthers have not put a complete game together yet and if they don’t they will be hard pressed to stop a Bears offense looking to improve after last week’s loss to the Green Bay.
