NFC South Predictions 2007

New Orleans Saints - 9-7

Schedule

1. L - at Indianapolis
2. W - at Tampa Bay
3. W - Tennessee
4. bye
5. L - Carolina
6. W - at Seattle
7. W - Atlanta
8. L - at San Francisco
9. L - Jacksonville
10. L - St. Louis
11. W - at Houston
12. W - at Carolina
13. W - Tampa Bay
14. W - at Atlanta
15. W - Arizona
16. L - Philadelphia
17. L - at Chicago

Don't worry about Drew Brees, he'll be fine after Thursday. In fact the whole offense will be fine. Brees will be fine, Bush will make fines, Colston will be solid, McAllister will pound away and the offensive line will run people over.

The Saints weakness will be the defense. They have a pass rush and little else. Their secondary is slow, the linebackers miss too many tackles and the defensive line can be pushed around.

But this is the NFC and a team with a solid offense can ignore a sieve-like defense on their way to the playoffs.

Carolina Panthers - 9-7 - Wild Card

Schedule

1. L - at St. Louis
2. L - Houston
3. W - at Atlanta
4. W - Tampa Bay
5. W - at New Orleans
6. W - at Arizona
7. bye
8. L - Indianapolis
9. L - at Tennessee
10. W - Atlanta
11. W - at Green Bay
12. L - New Orleans
13. W - San Francisco
14. W - at Jacksonville
15. W - Seattle
16. L - Dallas
17. L - at Tampa Bay

If a quarterback controversy breaks out then you can just throw this prediction out. When David Carr starts looking like a good option to start, your team is in trouble. Steve Smith and a fine collection of possession receivers will make Jake Delhomme look just good enough. The sooner the Panthers realize that DeShaun Foster just isn't good and hand the job over to DeAngelo Williams the better they'll be.

John Fox is smart enough to cover the weaknesses in his defense. There is still some potential in that unit, though it is overly frail. The Carolina defense won't carry the team to victory, but it won't drag them to defeat either.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 7-9

Schedule

1. W - at Seattle
2. L - New Orleans
3. L - St. Louis
4. L - at Carolina
5. L - at Indianapolis
6. W - Tennessee
7. L - at Detroit
8. W - Jacksonville
9. W - Arizona
10. bye
11. W - at Atlanta
12. W - Washington
13. L - at New Orleans
14. L - at Houston
15. L - Atlanta
16. L - at San Francisco
17. W - Carolina

Tampa Bay is a bad team. With the defense aging and the offense lacking, they need to just take the shot and rebuild.

The Bucs have rounded themselves up quite a collection of signal callers. The thing is, when you have a quantity of something, it tends to lack quality. Jeff Garcia, Chris Simms and the "retired" Jake Plummer are quarterbacks that you can win with if you surround them with a plethora of talents. They won't carry a team. John Gruden will do his best, but in the end he'll probably lose his job.

Atlanta Falcons - 4-12

Schedule

1. L - at Minnesota
2. L - at Jacksonville
3. L - Carolina
4. L - Houston
5. L - at Tennessee
6. L - NY Giants
7. L - at New Orleans
8. bye
9. W - San Francisco
10. L - at Carolina
11. L - Tampa Bay
12. L - Indianapolis
13. L - at St. Louis
14. L - New Orleans
15. W - at Tampa Bay
16. W - at Arizona
17. W - Seattle

I gave serious consideration to the Falcons as my sleeper. There is the Ewing theory potential from the loss of Vick, a running back by committee, a defense with potential and a hot new coach.

I decided against for a couple of reasons. Joey Harrington is just bad. He doesn't need a change of scenery, he just needs to not start. Warrick Dunn is old, Jerious Norwood is unproven, the team lacks an offensive line and quality receivers outside of Alge Crumpler. The defense has potential, but key players in Rod Coleman and John Abraham have injury issues.

Bobby Petrino may be the hot new coach, but he is from the college ranks and recent history has shown us in Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, and such that college is not where you want to find your head coach.

Read more of my picks by watching the NFL Predictions 2007 tag.

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	AFC South Predictions 2007	Adam Hobson	Fri Sep 7	0
	NFC West Predictions 2007	Adam Hobson	Sun Sep 9	13
	NFC North Predictions 2007	Adam Hobson	Sun Sep 9	0