No One Wins in the NFC South

Week 13 proves to be disastrous for the NFC South

By Doug Knopf

Every team in the NFC South lost this past week except for the Falcons, but their victory could prove to be the most devastating.  

A roller-coaster season for the Saints took a sharp turn downward with a seemingly huge defeat at the hands of Atlanta. New Orleans’ biggest hero, Drew Brees, found his kryptonite throwing five interceptions in a must-win game against the Falcons. The Saints had a significantly unbalanced offensive attack, having Brees throw 50 times in a game in which he was obviously struggling.

AP Photo/ Rich Addicks

About two-thirds of the plays were passing plays, even though Pierre Thomas was averaging 6 yards per rush. The Saints were never out of it, but played like chickens without heads.  With his worst quarterback rating in months, Brees fell short in the most important game of his season so far. Now, at 5-7 the Saints are a long shot at a wild card spot and should probably start looking towards next year. A disappointing season without their head coach can at least leave the Saints with a better draft pick and maybe something to smile about.

The Falcons, even though they beat the Saints in style, should be concerned. It is almost embarrassing to score only 23 points in a game in which they had five takeaways. The major weakness was in their pass offense.  A previously thought of MVP Candidate, Matt Ryan, now looks like an average quarterback who relies on his running game to get by. Only completing 55% of his passes in the last game and throwing only 2 touchdown passes in the last three games, Ryan is struggling. The Falcons will not go far in the playoffs with their franchise player performing poorly.

The team that actually suffered the greatest loss due to this past weekend’s showing is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Doug Martin had one of his worst performances as a Buc to date. Recently, teams seem to have found a way to slow him down. The Bucs need to clean up their act if they want to be taken seriously in the NFC.  Their loss to Denver, putting them at 6-6, makes them currently the ninth seed in the playoffs. A win would have put them in a tie for the final wild-card spot with the Seahawks and given them the ability to control their own destiny.

We all knew the Panthers were not going to win their game against the Chiefs. The Panthers are going nowhere this season and should now look to add some defense from the draft in April. A spiraling season and a taste of defeat could be just what Cam Newton needs to make him a great player. Every week we watch him mature through press conferences and we hope to see him mature on the field. Football is an emotional game and we saw that on Sunday with these two teams.