Danno

2013 PFF All-NFC South Team
Ben Stockwell | January 23, 2014

The Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints dueled for the division title and as a result it’s no surprise to see them take the lion’s share of the nominations in this All-Division team while the Buccaneers add their terrific trio on defense and one player on offense. Just a year removed from falling a step short of a trip to the Super Bowl, the Falcons collapsed to a shocking 4-12 season and are shutout from this squad despite seven players making the team last season.

OFFENSE

Quarterback: Drew Brees (NO)

Though Cam Newton made some decisive plays for the Panthers en route to their division title, in terms of consistent production and performance through the air, Brees was in a league of his own in the NFC South this season. A rare blemish on otherwise consistently solid season or better for Brees was his poor display in what proved to be the division decider in rainy conditions in Week 16. From Week 3 to Week 10, Brees had a passing grade of +1.6 or higher in six of seven games.

Running Back: Darren Sproles (NO)

Not a vintage season in the backfield in the NFC South with not a single back topping the 1000 yard mark and DeAngelo Williams leading the division with 201 carries. Getting the nod is the versatile Sproles who combines his ability as a runner with his startling ability as a receiver both out of the backfield and split out of the slot. Only Jamaal Charles and Matt Forte were targeted more times than Sproles this season who forced 15 missed tackles as a receiver.

Fullback: Mike Tolbert (CAR)

Tight End: Jimmy Graham (NO)

Thanks to the absence of Rob Gronkowski for much of the season, Graham was in a ‘league of one’ as the best receiving tight end in the NFL. No surprises then that his 1,215 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns see him take an entirely unsurprising spot in the All-NFC South team. Graham also cut down his drops considerably this season, putting only six passes on the ground after putting down 15 a year ago.

Wide Receivers: Marques Colston (NO) and Vincent Jackson (TB)

Physicality in spades for this All-division team at the skill positions with the combination of Jackson working out wide and down the field and Colston adding physicality on short and intermediate routes especially over the middle. Colston fell short of the 1000-yard mark, but with only three drops and bringing in 70.1% of the passes targeted in his direction, he added to his reputation as one of the league’s most efficient targets. Catching only 50% of his targets, Jackson wasn’t quite so efficient but we’re not about to play down his season based upon inaccurate quarterback play. Jackson finished 10th in the league with 431 yards on deep targets.

Left Tackle: Jordan Gross (CAR)
Left Guard: Travelle Wharton (CAR)
Center: Ryan Kalil (CAR)

Right Guard: Jahri Evans (NO)

A rough start to the season as a run blocker saw Evans not really hitting his stride until midseason in an area that is usually his strong suit. His pass protection was the stronger area of his game this year. After letting up eight pressures in the first four games (2 Sk, 1 Ht, 5 Hu), Evans let up only 10 pressures and no sacks (3 Ht, 7 Hu) for the remainder of the regular season.

Right Tackle: Zach Strief (NO)

While his run blocking might not be up there with what you might expect from a right tackle, Strief’s pass protection this season was the epitome of consistency only grading negatively twice — the playoff defeat to Seattle and in St Louis in Week 15 when he was flipped to left tackle mid-game to face off with Robert Quinn. An extremely good rebound season from Strief who graded negatively in five of his last six starts in an injury hit 2012 season.

DEFENSE

Defensive Interior: Gerald McCoy (TB) and Star Lotulelei (CAR)

Edge Defenders: Greg Hardy (CAR) and Cameron Jordan (NO)

There’s no drop off in talent or performance at the edge of this All-Division team either, with Hardy and Jordan bringing the heat and being far from one dimensional with it. Jordan had a slight slump through playing with an ankle injury, but rebounded through the second half of the season finishing spectacularly (+14.8) in his last four games including the playoffs. Opposite him, Hardy also finished strong collecting 28 pressures (7 Sk, 9 Ht, 12 Hu) in the final three weeks of the regular season. Including their playoff games, these two combined to notch 173 total pressures this season, not a bad pairing off the edge.

Linebackers: Lavonte David (TB), Luke Kuechly (CAR) and Thomas Davis (CAR)

Cornerbacks: Darrelle Revis (TB) and Keenan Lewis (NO)

Rumors of Darrelle Revis’ decline have been greatly exaggerated. Targeted only 63 times this season, he surrendered completions on only 54% of his targets (34 of 63) and gave up exactly 400 yards in coverage, no-one surrendered fewer yards per coverage snap than Revis this season (0.72) and he was only penalized once. Joining him is Lewis who embraced his role playing on an island in Rob Ryan’s defense and, like Revis, surrendered fewer than 500 yards in total and less than a yard per snap played in coverage (0.89, t-8th in the NFL).

Safeties: Mike Mitchell (CAR) and Kenny Vaccaro (NO)

Previously notable mostly as an “Al Davis pick”, Mitchell had his struggles in run defense but was solid in coverage and was by far the league’s most productive blitzing safety on a per snap basis. On 23 blitzes, Mitchell recorded 11 total pressures converting seven of those into hits (three) and sacks (four), a 63.6% conversion rate. Alongside him, Vaccaro put in a strong rookie season for the Saints both as a run defender (+5.3) and in pass coverage (+2.3). Vaccaro was among the top safeties in the league with seven total pass breakups (1 Int, 6 PD) and his 27 stops were just outside the top 10 safeties in the league (t-14th).

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker: Graham Gano (CAR)

Punter: Thomas Morstead (NO)

Metronomic consistency from Morstead whose blend of accuracy and hang-time saw him earn a positive punting grade in 15 of 16 regular season games. The one “blip” was a 0.0 grade against the 49ers. He also handled kickoffs extremely well for the Saints.

Return Specialist: Ted Ginn (CAR).

Special Teamer: Will Herring (NO)

One of the league’s best in kick coverage, Herring totaled 11 special teams tackles with only one miss and one penalty.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blo...fc-south-team/

jeanpierre

Read this article on PFF, and these are the two questions that come to my mind reading this...

How do the justify their evaluation these players when compared to actually watching these players performances?

Strief played fine at times in pass protection, but he was sorrowful in screens and stretch runs to his side - slow footed, stiff...

And the second question is how much of Strief's performance is because he plays alongside Jahri Evans?!?

Seattle, Shaun Alexander and Walter Jones enjoyed the spotlight for that team when, from what I saw, it was HOF play from Guard Steve Hutchinson who deserved the credit; if fact, Hutchinson signed a FA contract with Minnesota and Alexander and Jones performances arced down while Adrian Peterson blew it out running behind that Vikings line that featured Hutchinson...

Carolina's line from Center, Left Guard to Left Tackle - wow...

Maybe Terron Armstead can help turn things around; Grubbs needs to look in the mirror for what he's being paid..

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

hagan714

carolina will be a team to watch.

papz

Will some good coaching in Tampa(and now they do), all the NFC South teams are teams to watch.

RailBoss

Agreed the NFC South will be the best division to watch. Will be interesting to see if Atlanta will resurge and how Tampa will do with
Lovie at the helm. I suspect that Carolina is going to be tough to beat.