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.

It’s official now and Osi will be wearing the red and black uniform of the Atlanta Falcons this fall. For the Falcons’ part, they’re getting a younger, healthier version of DE John Abraham, whom the Falcons let go test the free agent waters in the offseason.

The result is more or less a wash…they lose one accomplished pass rusher and signed another to take his place. However, it isn’t the only move the Falcons have made and the entire NFC South should be an even harder division to break out ahead of the pack than last year for the Carolina Panthers.

Atlanta also let go RB Michael Turner, replacing him with former St. Louis Rams RB Steven Jackson. While Jackson has a lot more career carries than does Turner, he’s also held up better over his career. Turner was obviously past his prime, and Jackson is either there or past his as well. The difference is that Jackson is the complete back that Turner never was.

Turner was basically a one-trick pony; hand the ball off to him and let him pound the rock between the tackles. Granted, he was incredibly good at his “one trick,” but Steven Jackson is a guy who can stay on the field for all 3 downs since he can block in pass protection as well as catch the ball out of the backfield.

As a result, the Falcons will have to do fewer substitutions at the positions as they did when Michael Turner was there and thereby opponents won’t be able to get clued-in as to what play they might run, given the makeup of the Atlanta backfield on a particular play.

Jan 23, 2013; Mobile AL, USA; New Orleans Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt and head coach Sean Payton watch the Senior Bowl north squad practice a day after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (not pictured) reinstated New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton after his season long suspension. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Also, don’t forget TE Tony Gonzalez un-retired and will be a Falcon for 2013.

The New Orleans Saints get the biggest “bounty” of all as they’ll have their highly-touted Head Coach, Sean Payton, returning and will be at the helm from now onward. Recall, he was banned from football for the entire season last year and the Saints struggled mightily – especially in the first half of the season.

That’s not going to be a problem now and the evil genius of Payton along with his All-Pro quarterback, Drew Brees, can plot and scheme on the offensive side of the ball. Expect them to start out the season with a chip on their shoulder as they intend to prove they belong atop the NFC South, Falcons be damned.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers faded toward the end of the season but still finished 7-9 along with the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints. They have a team with a lot of youth in key positions and will undoubtedly be wiser heading into pre-season games and should grow from there.

What does this mean for the Carolina Panthers’ chances at finishing at least second in the division, or trying to win it outright?

With the salary cap restrictions and subsequent inability to grab solid free agents, other than Ted Ginn, Jr., it will be an uphill climb. As such, they were unable to upgrade the problem areas they had last year – namely RT, OG, DT, OLB, and FS. With only 5 draft picks coming to them next month, GM David Gettleman can nary afford to miss on any of them….and the odds are that he will miss on at least one if not more. Such is the nature of the NFL draft and the unpredictability of people that have never played an NFL down.

Yes, Gettleman has added low-cost options like DT Colin Cole, who very well could improve play over Ron Edwards, but the team still has a lot of question marks.

The one position where they may do nothing more is at cornerback. I recently spoke with Carolina Panthers’ fan favorite Captain Munnerlyn and got his ideas about the corners as a group and will be posting that interview next week. A bit of a “teaser” is that Captain is really psyched about the group they have, now that Gettleman has added Drayton Florence and D.J. Moore.

Overall, the cap problems have largely forced the Panthers to stand still while especially the Falcons and Bucs have had some room to make moves…not to mention the Saints getting their head coach back.

Rivera’s going to really earn his continued employment as Carolina’s head coach in 2013 with a strong team effort.

Let’s hope Rivera’s there in 2014 as well.

Dec 16, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Keenan Lewis (23) defends a pass against Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant during the second half at Cowboys Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Lewis, a 3rd round pick by Pittsburgh in 2009, signed a 5 year deal reportedly worth $26.3 million dollars. The deal is guaranteed to pay Lewis $10.5 million. This move will improve the Saints secondary. It has also been reported that Nnamdi Asomugha plans on visiting the Saints after making a trip to the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49′ers. If Asomugha does sign with the Saints it will give Rob Ryan 2 premiere cover corners. That would allow for Ryan to utilize his corners and free up the rest of his defense to bring pressure on the opposing quarterbacks. The Saints defense would improve dramatically if Asomugha is signed, but even with the addition of Keenan Lewis the secondary will be better.

It’s tough to sit here and watch all this activity in free agency taking place within our division and see the Panthers not involved. But that is the shape Marty Hurney left the franchise in when he was relieved of his duties. The highlight of the offseason for Carolina will surely be the draft. That is where we will be able to make the biggest impact on this roster. April 25, 2013 seems so far away.