2007-09-17

Recapping the NFC South

Tampa Bay: 1-1 (DIV) 1-0
Carolina: 1-1 (DIV) 0-0
Atlanta: 0-2 (DIV) 0-0
New Orleans: 0-2 (DIV) 0-1

One more thing about yesterday's game which I found interesting. The Football Outsiders DVOA Projections predicted that Tampa Bay would win the NFC South while New Orleans would finish last. And while the FO guys did everything they could to explain why that would not happen yesterdays results would indicate the numbers don't lie. Quite simply, the Bucs are for real and opposing teams underestimate them at their own risk.

HOUSTON 34, CAROLINA 21
Chalk the Panthers loss up to a Texans team which has sleeper written all over them, and much like the Bucs will finish better than most people expect. The Swashbuckling Steve Smith notched three touchdowns and 153 receiving yards but the rest of the Panthers offense failed to show up, which is nothing new for Carolina. What is surprsing was the defense giving up 34 points to what had been an inept Texans offense. Maybe it wasn't such a bright idea for the Falcons to trade away Matt Schaub (227 yards, 2 TDs).

JACKSONVILLE 13, ATLANTA 7
I don't know if the Falcons defense is that good or the Jaguars offense is that bad but one thing is for sure, Joey Harrington is not the answer at quarterback for Atlanta. Harrington was sacked seven times and Warrick Dunn scored the first and only touchdown of the season for a Falcons team which appears ready to hit rock bottom. Carolina travels to Atlanta next weekend in what should be a rebound game for the Panthers.

2 comments:

T.K. said...

The Schaub trade was foolish, but not as foolish as it could have been... I wonder if Atlanta would have reversed plans had the Vick story broke earlier in the year. Still, I'm not entirely sold on Houston yet, especially considering they may be without Johnson for a while. (Which sucks for me since he's been one of my top fantasy guys the first two weeks.)

Count me in the "Jags offense is really bad" category. Del Rio made a huge mistake by dumping Leftwich at the end of the preseason (regardless of whether or not Garrard was performing better, it sent a really bad message to the rest of the locker room), and without any receiver talent defenses are free to load up against Jones-Drew & Taylor. Looks like their window to pass the Colts has closed.

Ski said...

It certainly helps having a weapon like Andre Johnson, but Schuab has given every indication he is a better quarterback than Harrington. Sure Schuab has a smaller sample size but based on Harrington's performances in Detroit, Miami and now Atlanta there is little reason to expect him to perform above the extremely low bar Joey has set for himself.

I'm starting to like Houston a lot this season especially since Jacksonville and Tennessee have looked less than impressive. I'm not sold on Vince Young, who is wildly inaccurate as a quarterback and it's only a matter of time before their backs fall back down to earth. What I don't understand is why MJD isn't getting the ball more when he's been such an explosive play maker. That Jaguars offense needs a spark.