What The Hell Is Wrong With The NFC South?

[BillsImpossible]

Atlanta 4-7
New Orleans 4-7
Carolina 3-7
Tampa Bay 2-9

Holy crap that's bad. I thought Drew Brees was elite? I thought Cam Newton was supposed to be great with a really good defense?

Anyone want Lovie Smith as the Bills head coach now?

Why is the NFC South floating in the pooper bowl?

You know what's going to happen.

A bad team is going to win the division with a losing record, and a better team like Seattle, San Fran, Detroit, or God forbid, Dallas will be sitting at home watching the playoffs.

The only remedy without changing the entire NFL playoff structure would be to add an extra wild card spot for each conference, and I think that is fair.

A 10-6 team is going to be out of the playoffs, while a 7-9 team advances?

Screw that, give me 2 more playoff games to watch please and thank you.

And what's up with the NFL's Wild Card Saturday? Never felt right, too busy of a day for me, and I often forget about the games.

Teams go all season playing on Sunday, maybe a game on Monday, and 1 game on Thursday. NFL playoff games on Saturday suck.

Add a new wild card playoff game for each conference, and play the games on a Sunday at 12:30, 4:30, and 8:30.

Everyone including the fans and networks win.

[stuckincincy]

Look on the bright side. When a near .500 team wins than division, we can moan for months about how BUF would have made the playoffs. Good stuff, eh? :drive:

[Fletch]

Look on the bright side. When a near .500 team wins than division, we can moan for months about how BUF would have made the playoffs. Good stuff, eh? :drive:

LOL

[Fletch]

Atlanta 4-7
New Orleans 4-7
Carolina 3-7
Tampa Bay 2-9

Holy crap that's bad. I thought Drew Brees was elite? I thought Cam Newton was supposed to be great with a really good defense?

Anyone want Lovie Smith as the Bills head coach now?

Why is the NFC South floating in the pooper bowl?

You know what's going to happen.

A bad team is going to win the division with a losing record, and a better team like Seattle, San Fran, Detroit, or God forbid, Dallas will be sitting at home watching the playoffs.

The only remedy without changing the entire NFL playoff structure would be to add an extra wild card spot for each conference, and I think that is fair.

A 10-6 team is going to be out of the playoffs, while a 7-9 team advances?

Screw that, give me 2 more playoff games to watch please and thank you.

And what's up with the NFL's Wild Card Saturday? Never felt right, too busy of a day for me, and I often forget about the games.

Teams go all season playing on Sunday, maybe a game on Monday, and 1 game on Thursday. NFL playoff games on Saturday suck.

Add a new wild card playoff game for each conference, and play the games on a Sunday at 12:30, 4:30, and 8:30.

Everyone including the fans and networks win.

NO has lost four games by 3 points or less.

None of those teams has much in the way of D or a running game. Newton's been struggling mightily all season long and has been injured all season. Tampa has no good QBs.

Just goes to show that just because a team has a QB like Ryan or Brees that they're not assured of being good like so many seem to suggest.

[BertSquirtgum]

No team under .500 should be allow in the playoffs.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

The South was hit with a lot of major player losses coupled with a particularly rough schedule draw (NFC North and AFC North). The class of the division is clearly New Orleans, but when you have a positive point differential and are at one point 3 games under .500 then you obviously have had a serious run of bad bounces or un-clutch defense. New Orleans has had 3 games where they lost a lead after the 2 minute warning.

[Ingtar33]

Atlanta 4-7
New Orleans 4-7
Carolina 3-7
Tampa Bay 2-9

probably going to be a 6 win team taking that division.

[gebobs]

probably going to be a 6 win team taking that division.
LOL, that would be sweet. The Saints finish Panthers, @Bears, Falcons, @Bucs. They should be 8-8.

[WagonCircler]

Amazing. Carolina has Scam Newton.

He was supposed to revolutionize to QB position. And change the game. And be worshipped as "an entertainer and an icon" (his words).

How could this be?

[Generalissimus Gibby]

No team under .500 should be allow in the playoffs.

I agree. The seventh seed in the other conference should take your spot if you can't finish above .500. This would be an interesting wrinkle as two teams from the same division could possibly play in a superbowl under the right circumstances, but it would be kind of fun. The only other way I can figure is a play in game but this is not baseball or basketball or even hockey and that would not happen. So really, the threshold should be 9 wins to qualify for a playoff spot. You only go 7-9, 8-8, or God forbid 6-10 (that is very possible with the NFC south this year) you should not qualify and the seventh seed from the other conference gets your spot.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

Amazing. Carolina has Scam Newton.

He was supposed to revolutionize to QB position. And change the game. And be worshipped as "an entertainer and an icon" (his words).

How could this be?
He got figured out. Oh don't get me wrong, he was surprisingly better than I thought he would be and did okay. However, the game has proven too cerebral for him. I know some are waiting in the wings to say "THAT'S RAYCISS" but please understand Warren Moon was largely a pocket passer and Randall Cunningham (later in his career) had the brains to rely on his reads and arm did just fine. However, the option read run first qb is an anomaly that will get you a few wins early on, but if you don't get them to make the transition to shoot primarily, run occasionally, to keep defenses off balance then you have a qb who is either going to have a very short career because of injury (see RGIII, to be fair Shanahan killed his career and if I were RGIII I would sue that organization), or one who will be riding the pine fairly quickly (see Geno, EJ, Vick, Tebow, Flutie etc). True, it helps to have a qb who can roll out or sidestep a pass rush, but if he can't stay in the pocket and rely on his arm he is not going to do much. I mean think about it Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (its already a forgone conclusion that one of these will be playing in the Superbowl) are pure pocket passers and both are first ballot hall of famers. Kelly lost four superbowls (but was good enough to go to four straight) and was a toughguy pocket passer. Randall Cunningham didn't make the superbowl once, and he was razzle dazzle.

[The Jokeman]

Amazing. Carolina has Scam Newton.

He was supposed to revolutionize to QB position. And change the game. And be worshipped as "an entertainer and an icon" (his words).

How could this be?
Maybe because Carolina has been horrible giving him anything to work with. They've stuck with two below average RBs and sure got Cam Benjamin this year and arguably he also has Olsen. Yet they've done little to build their offensive line either. That said Newton throws a lot of INTs which hurts him game too. Also the NFL is a passing league and always be a passing league because the talent on D makes running QBs not as valuable as in the college game. That said if Cam was available and had a choice of him over Orton? I'd likely take Cam.

[don137]

The crappy NFC South is a big reason why AFC North records are so good. They play each other and one can tell by the records the AFC North has dominated the NFC South.

[Forward_Lateral]

What's wrong with it? What isn't wrong with it is a better question.

Brees is getting old. Every team in the division has a garbage Defense. Cam Newton is a totally different player when he's forced to stay in the pocket. Matt Ryan is a choke artist. Tampa Bay is a joke.

That entire division is a dog turd.

[BillsOverDolphins]

Cam Newton is an abortion...can't wait to see the buyer's remorse in Carolina once they give him his payday. Good to see Steve Smith and LaFell show their talent w/o that one-trick pony holding them back.

[Ingtar33]

He got figured out. Oh don't get me wrong, he was surprisingly better than I thought he would be and did okay. However, the game has proven too cerebral for him. I know some are waiting in the wings to say "THAT'S RAYCISS" but please understand Warren Moon was largely a pocket passer and Randall Cunningham (later in his career) had the brains to rely on his reads and arm did just fine. However, the option read run first qb is an anomaly that will get you a few wins early on, but if you don't get them to make the transition to shoot primarily, run occasionally, to keep defenses off balance then you have a qb who is either going to have a very short career because of injury (see RGIII, to be fair Shanahan killed his career and if I were RGIII I would sue that organization), or one who will be riding the pine fairly quickly (see Geno, EJ, Vick, Tebow, Flutie etc). True, it helps to have a qb who can roll out or sidestep a pass rush, but if he can't stay in the pocket and rely on his arm he is not going to do much. I mean think about it Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (its already a forgone conclusion that one of these will be playing in the Superbowl) are pure pocket passers and both are first ballot hall of famers. Kelly lost four superbowls (but was good enough to go to four straight) and was a toughguy pocket passer. Randall Cunningham didn't make the superbowl once, and he was razzle dazzle.

i'm not sure about too cerebral...

listen, when Cam came out of college i was not a fan. He was asked to do very little in auburns offense, and showed little ability to stretch beyond what they asked him to do. He threw a handful of routs brilliantly, none of which were particularly hard throws, but he had fantastic timing with his wide receivers and really ate defenses alive with a strong arm and some solid accuracy on those routs (and killer timing).

In the pros he's shown me a lot better arm then i thought he had, and a better head for reading nfl defenses. I suspect his real problems right now are a lack of confidence, no weapons on offense, and a poor running game. In the right situation he could mature into a heck of a QB. but you leave him in a poor one long enough and i suspect his career will come appart completely. It's happened before to guys who had the tools to succeed but not the opportunity. Right now the situation in carolina is terrible, it would take a better QB then Cam Newton to succeed there. Which i think in the end is the root of the problem. He's not an elite QB, he probably never will be. But in the right environment he could be a top end qb. right now this is the wrong environment.