With weeks to go before any games are played, I wanted to go ahead and give my projections for the 2013 season.  The first division I will be projecting will be the NFC South.  I will be taking a look at each team’s offense, defense, and special teams and predicting their order of finish.

Atlanta Falcons:

Sep 30, 2011; Atlanta, GA, USA; Carolina Panthers fullback Mike Tolbert (35) is tackled by Atlanta Falcons defenders in the second half at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-US PRESSWIRE

• Offense:  Matt Ryan returns after leading the team to a 13-3 season last year.  He passed for 4719 yards with 32 touchdowns and 14 interceptions at a 68.6 % completion rate.  The receivers are led by Roddy White and Julio Jones who combined for 171 catches, 2549 yards, and 17 touchdowns.  Tony Gonzalez decided to come back after considering retirement to provide Ryan a security blanket over the middle.  The running game will be led by Steven Jackson and Jacquizz Rogers, who was the 3rd down back, with Michael Turner having been cut.
• Defense:  The Falcons lose John Abraham and his team leading 10 sacks.  The hope is his production will be replaced by Osi Umenyioura and Jonathan Massaquoi.  Umenyioura in particular, is coming in highly motivated after not being brought back by the Giants. They also picked up a couple of players to help with the pass rush in the draft in Malliciah Goodman and Stansly Maponga.  Leading Tacklers Stephen Nicholas and Sean Weatherspoon head up the linebackers.  While in the secondary, Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford were drafted to help replace Dunta Robinson who was also cut.  Thomas DeCoud and William Moore return at Safety with a few players drafted to provide depth like Zeke Motta and Kemal Ishmael.
• Special Teams:  Leading scorer Matt Bryant returns at kicker.  Matt Bosher will handle the punting duties.  In the return game, Jacquizz Rogers will return kicks with several players competing to return punts.

Carolina Panthers:

• Offense:  The offense begins and ends with Cam Newton.  Newton passed for 3,869 yards with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.  In addition, he ran for 741 yards with 8 more touchdowns.  DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart assist with the running attack with Mike Tolbert at Fullback and Kenjon Barner brought on as a third down back.  Steve Smith heads into his 12th season still leading the receiving corps.  Brandon LaFell and Domenik Hixon will compete to be the number two.
• Defense:  Carolina returns the core of a pretty salty defense.  Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy bring the pass rush.  Dwan Edwards, Star Lotulelei, and Kawann Short clog up the middle against the run and collapse the pocket against the pass.  Luke Kuechly mans the middle, with Thomas Davis and Jon Beason on the outside.  In the secondary, competition will be fierce for the corner position.  Charles Godfrey will be at free safety, after that every other position is up for grabs.
• Special Teams:  Graham Gano and Brad Nortman handle the kicking and punting duties as of now.  The return positions will be looked to be handled by Ted Ginn and possibly Barner.

New Orleans Saints:

Courtesy of thesportsbank.com

• Offense:  Drew Brees headlines an explosive passing offense.  The rushing offense still needs work.  The 25th ranked running attack lost Chris Ivory, so Mark Ingram will be expected to pick it up in his now third season along with Pierre Thomas.  Marques Colston, Lance Moore, and Jimmy Graham are the main receiving threats.  Kenny Stills was brought on as depth through the draft.
• Defense:  The Saints will be moving to a 3-4 defense under Rob Ryan, with Akiem Hicks and Cameron Jordan at the Ends and Brodrick Bunckley at Nose.  Johanthan Vilma will be the leader of the defense. Curtis Lofton will be probably be at the other inside spot.  Several players will battling for time and the two outside line backer positions.  Kenny Vaccaro was brought in via the draft to provide competition for Melvin Jenkins and Roman Harper at the safety position.  Patrick Robinson and Jabari Greer are the corners.
• Special Teams:  Garrett Hartley and Thomas Morestead handle the punting and kicking duties.  Darren Sproles and Travaris Cadet if he makes the team will return kicks and punts.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

• Offense:  Josh Freeman returns as the starter at quarterback, but is playing for a contract extension and now may be watching over his shoulder with the drafting of Mike Glennon out of NC State in the third round.  That situation may bear watching.  The “Muscle Hamster” Doug Martin will lead the running game after rushing for 1,454 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.  Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams will be the main receivers.
  

  Courtesy of biographyplayers.com

• Defense:  The big story on defense was the trade for cornerback Darrelle Revis.  The secondary will need to be top-notch against the pass because  the Bucs let their leader in sacks  from last year Michael Bennett sign with the Seahawks.  Da’Quan Bowers and Adrian Clayborn are expected to pick up the slack here.
• Special Teams:  Connor Barth again will handling the kicking duties and Michael Koenen will punt.

My predictions for the division are as follows:

1- Carolina Panthers

2- Atlanta Falcons

3-New Orleans Saints

4-Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I think the Panthers will be challenging the Falcons for supremacy in the NFC South.  I also feel that the Panthers will be playoff bound because of a punishing running game and a suffocating defense.  The Saints and Bucs have a lot of problems on defense which I think will hold them back.  What  do you think Panther fans?  Agree or Disagree, let us know in the Comments Section below.

Tell us why or why not in the comments section.

For instance, the KC Chiefs will likely have a West Coast offense with lots of short passing with some jitterbug runs from Jamaal Charles or him catching swing passes from Alex Smith. The Miami Dolphins look to be a more wide-open offense with young gun Ryan Tannehill now surrounded by some powerful weapons at the WR and TE positions – not to mention their defensive overhaul.

The 2013 iteration of the Carolina Panthers looks a lot like many teams from the 1970′s. Speaking of the Miami Dolphins, recall a young Don Shula taking the expansion Miami Dolphins to relevance with an unselfish team-first, “no-name” defense, a slick and thus aptly-named QB in Bob Griese, and a 3-headed hydra backfield with Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris. Don’t forget one of my all-time favorite players, Hall of Fame wideout Paul Warfield. One year, he had only 29 receptions for the heavily-grounded offense, but 11 of those went the distance.

Not to bad when 1 catch out of 3 means 6 (points)!

In their 1972 perfect season, what’s usually lost in the hype was that they were #1 in offense AND defense in the NFL. OUCH.

Dec 30, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams (34) carries the ball up the field against the New Orleans Saints during first quarter of their game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

While I make no such grandiose predictions of the same for this year’s Carolina Panthers, I DO see some similarities.

Mainly, I see a team with one dangerous WR, Steve Smith, and a lot of role-players otherwise on the offense.

The Dolphins had a TE named Marlin Briscoe. The Panthers have a similar-type player in TE Greg Olson.

The offensive backfield is similar. Shula had Csonka; Rivera has Jonathan Stewart. Shula had Jim Kiick – sort of a jack-of-all-trades – and the Panthers have Mike Tolbert. Shula’s most electrifying player was a speedster with a great nickname….Eugene “Mercury” Morris. Rivera now has 2 of those – DeAngelo Williams and 6th-round draft pick, the rookie from Oregon, Kenjon Barner.

Neither of them have cool nicknames, but hey, it’s the play on the field I’m comparing.

With limited help in the passing game, the Panthers have another threat that the Dolphins really didn’t have – a true dual-threat QB. Bob Griese was slippery and could scramble but was a physically small man, even for the times, and wasn’t about to take many hits. Cam Newton is much, much more dynamic.

When Ron Rivera took the team over, the Panthers were already built very much like a power running team. They just lacked the defense against the run to fully exploit it.

Now, with two strong young and talented defensive tackles, the Panthers’ 2012 “soft, gushy center” of the defense won’t be so soft in 2013. Luke Kuechly led the NFL in tackles and has already made his presence known, but now he’s got some help in front of him so he might not make quite as many tackles, frankly….the hopes are the defense won’t be on the field so much this year.

That’s exactly where a power running game helps – it keeps opposing QBs like, oh, say…Drew Brees and Matt Ryan on the bench where they can’t hurt you. If the Panthers can dictate the pace of a ball game, they are going to have a very good shot to win.

If everyone on the offensive line is healthy, it should be one of the better overall units in the NFL – Byron Bell or not. Bell’s a better run-blocker than he is a pass protector so a running offense would benefit him as well.

Also if you’ll recall the first two games last year – the Panthers ran 2-to-1 vs. passing and won that game against the Saints. The other? They passed 2-to-1 vs. running (season opener @ Tampa Bay) and lost. Those first two games should have set the tone for the offensive play-calling the rest of the season, but Chud wasn’t always on top of the running game.

Jan 23, 2013; Mobile AL, USA; Senior Bowl north squad running back Kenjon Barner of Oregon (24) carries against defensive back Jordan Poyer of Oregon State (14) during the Senior Bowl north squad practice at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

If the Panthers decide to go the “ground and pound” route, they could be a force to reckon with. Today’s NFL defenses are built around the pass rush and pass defense, team speed and smaller, faster defenders. These things go in cycles, and we’re at one extreme now more or less because of the liberal rules in the passing game. Fine.

The advantage can go to Carolina when pounding the rock with any of 4 different ball carriers when you include Cam Newton…possibly 5 if Barner is tossed into the mix for a few plays a game early on as he learns the ropes.

The personnel should dictate what you do, not the other way around. You play to your strengths, and I’d say Carolina’s backfield is much stronger than the receiving corps is. They’re also taking up the lion’s share of salary cap space.

USE THEM!

A powerful running game does a number of good things. It runs the clock, shortening the game. It really does make opposing defenses a step slower as the game wears on as the physicality wears them out. It’s no secret it takes twice as much energy to play defense than offense, and when an offense can put together long, slogging drives, the defense gets tired.

A tired defense helps the opposing offense down the stretch as they’re less able to make plays and just get worn down. Also, a lot of defensive backs these days are used to covering and not tackling; tackling is almost a lost art these days, and bringing down a Mike Tolbert is NOT something a 190-lb DB wants to do – or even CAN do in some cases.

As running teams keep running and the game goes on, the gains on the ground tend to get a little bigger. When you have a mix of power sledgehammers and lightning bugs, those fast guys seem to get a little bit faster in the 2nd half…and the Panthers have been known the past 2 years for giving up leads (when they get them) late in the game.

I say it’s worth attempting. A strong running game would make the vertical passing game MORE effective – even if pass attempts are going to be down – as safeties start sneaking towards the line of scrimmage or defensive coordinators start calling “8 in the box” defenses to try and stop/slow down the run. That’s where the play-action deep pass comes in.

With nobody (yet) stepping up in the WR corps, signs point more and more to a 1970′s-style extremely physical offensive style being the direction to go. Smitty has lost at least a step in speed and nobody so far has stepped up to claim the WR2 spot, so they may go with what’s proven.

The Panthers have so much money and talent in the offensive backfield – it’s time they started earning those big paychecks.