NFL Football Revealed on Squib Kick

Countdown to the Draft- This week is the NFC South

by Jesse on March 6th, 2006

The NFC South. No one quite knew what to make of it last year. Coming into the season people were expecting a lot from the Falcons. They were coming off a trip to the NFC Championship game, where they were outplayed by the Eagles.

This was to be Vick’s year. This was to be the year he really took the next step as a passer.

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Down in Louisiana the Saints never really had a chance. Aaron Brooks wasn’t any better than last year, when he wasn’t any better than the year before. He always plays just well enough to get you close, and just poorly enough to make sure you never win. That’s why he was benched at the end of the year.

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Jon Gruden’s magic touch had supposedly worn off in Tampa. He came into the year with Brian Griese at quarterback, who is anything but notable. Behind him was another kid of a former great. People were starting to wonder if Chuckie had only been able to work his magic with Tony Dungy’s players. He was essentially given a playoff-worthy team when he took over, after all. He then won a Super Bowl, and had done nothing since.

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The Panthers came into the year hopeful. Two years ago they made it to the Super Bowl where they lost after a last-second field goal. Last year they were a good team, but injuries destoryed them. This year they came back still riding the last bit of the previous year’s winning streak, and they had a healthy Steve Smith, who might just be able to step into the big shoes left by Muhsin Muhammed.

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If before the season had started you had asked me to rank the NFC South, it would have looked something like this:

Atlanta
Carolina
New Orleans
Tampa Bay

Things change awefully quickly in a few short months, don’t they?

We’ll be taking a closer look at each of these teams over the rest of this week.

Tommorow: The New Orleans Saints

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