tiggerpolice

The New Orleans Saints signed Drew Brees with hopes he'll stabilize their quarterback situation. The Falcons acquired defensive end John Abraham to destabilize other teams' quarterback situations.

Carolina nabbed wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson in free agency to play opposite Pro Bowl wide out Steve Smith. The Buccaneers garnered versatile linebacker Jamie Winborn and are angling to land cornerback Charles Woodson to counter any threat of being outflanked.


The offseason personnel jockeying among teams in the NFC South has, at least on paper, strengthened a division that has had Tampa Bay, Carolina and Atlanta play in the NFC championship (Tampa Bay won the 2003 Super Bowl) every year since the division was formed in 2002.

And the draft is less than three weeks away.

"Getting Drew Brees is going to give the Saints real stability at the position," Falcons coach Jim Mora said. "That's a team that's had a lot of talent but has had some inconsistency. He could give them a calming influence, a calming effect. Obviously, Tampa and Carolina, it's a dogfight every game."

All four NFC South teams will have the immediate chance to mark their turf this season as they will play each other within the first five games of the 16-game schedule.

Atlanta opens with Carolina and Tampa Bay, respectively, before playing the first game in more than a year inside the Hurricane Katrina-damaged Super Dome in New Orleans.

The NFC South champion Buccaneers and the Panthers, who advanced to the conference championship where they lost to Seattle, swept Atlanta last season. The Saints were the only division foe the Falcons (8-8) beat. At 3-13, they were also the only team in South with a losing record.

"Everybody thought it was the weak sister division," Carolina coach John Fox said. "Really, it's proved to be just the opposite."

In adding Johnson, the Panthers provide Pro Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme another option besides Smith, a one-man wrecking crew last season.

"You've got to match up to a bigger receiver," Mora said. "They've got two receivers that complement each other very well. They'll be able to spread the field more.

The Falcons could put Pro Bowl cornerback DeAngelo Hall on Smith but they don't have another cornerback — they are trying to find one — with the size to combat Johnson. So the plan is to counter Carolina's passing attack with the Panthers' recipe for success: a relentless pass rush.

Abraham, along with end Patrick Kerney and tackle Rod Coleman, give Atlanta three Pro Bowlers whose pass rushing abilities allow for more defenders to be used in coverage.

"We've got good defenses in the division, maybe the best D-lines in the league as far as talent levels and the game is played up front," Fox said.

Tampa Bay, meanwhile, has been the least active team in the division, in regards to player movement, with good reason, Gruden said. They like the team they've got, re-signing key components, namely quarterback Chris Simms.

"It's such a rarity," coach Jon Gruden said about keeping the brunt of the team intact. "It's not a common trend in this league, that's for sure. It gives us a chance to get better, you know. They've all played together. At the same time, we realize we have some areas where we need to get better."

The chronically underachieving Saints, who had to endure a season of road games last season after Katrina, bounced coach Jim Haslett and inconsistent quarterback Aaron Brooks. They hired highly regarded offensive assistant Sean Payton from Dallas as coach and signed Brees, who is coming off shoulder surgery, for the franchise's latest round of rebuilding.

The Saints also have the second overall pick in the April 29-30 draft, which they could use to select tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson or defensive end Mario Williams or use the pick as trade bait.

Said Payton: "The first approach for us has been kind of to wipe the slate clean as best we can. You see some guys that have talent. Our expectation maybe of playing hard might be a little different than the players' expectation. And that's OK, but it's important that they understand that.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/spor...9nfcsouth.html

papz

This year we are the toughest division in football. All of the defenses are stacked... besides us of course. The NFC will be represented this year by one of the teams in our division.

ssmitty

quote: The chronically underachieving Saints.....


that's putting it mildly, would'nt you say? smitty

Euphoria

I think the division could be pretty tough aside from one team... US.