Here it is: The final divisional preview: the NFC South, home of the defending champion New Orleans Saints.

Blogs from Carolina and Atlanta sent along some thoughts. They’ll follow mine.

Andy Tellijohn, Zoneblitz.com

New Orleans Saints
Carolina Panthers
Atlanta Falcons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Saints won’t repeat the record they had last season but they’ll come close. The offense will still be explosive and aggressive and the defense will play off of that with its aggressive style.

There is too much firepower for any team to overtake New Orleans at the top of the South.

I think Atlanta and Carolina will compete for second place. Atlanta is the trendy pick but I’m higher on Carolina than most. I see them as a sleeper. They’ve got two fantastic running backs and Matt Moore solidified the quarterback position last season. The defense is suspect but if the Panthers can run well and control the clock they’ll be more competitive than people think.

I do expect Michael Turner to rebound and for Matt Ryan to continue progressing as a quarterback. And the Falcons could easily make me eat my words. It’ll be a good fight for potential wild card spots.

Tampa has added some interesting pieces. But they’re not close yet to knocking off any of the big three.

For the opinions of a couple team blogs click past the link:

Dave the Falconer, Atlanta Falcons
www.thefalcoholic.com

New Orleans
Atlanta
Carolina
Tampa Bay

The Saints are the returning champions, and there’s no reason to think they’ll fall off the wagon in 2010. The Falcons have gotten markedly better and healthier this season, so they’ll be nipping at the heels of the Saints. The Panthers are in a re-loading year and the talented Bucs are simply re-building. I expect the Falcons to grab a wild card spot.

Austin Penny, Carolina Panthers
www.catcrave.com

New Orleans
Atlanta
Carolina
Tampa Bay

The NFC South as a whole will likely not see a change in the final standings in 2010. While the Falcons and the Panthers have made some improvements, they still are not close to the Saints. And while the Bucs will be better in 2010, they are still a cut below the Falcons and Panthers. The two common divisions that the South plays this year are the NFC West and AFC North, one of which is relatively weak and one of which is pretty strong.

The Saints take advantage of their own top-heavy division, as well as the match-ups against the NFC West, and frankly I found it hard to strike them with any losses at first glance. I picked a hiccup in Dallas and a loss in Baltimore towards the end of the season as their two losses. Minnesota and perhaps Cincinnati are arguably the only other two speed bumps on their schedule, with maybe a Pittsburgh team with Big Ben back posing a bit of a threat, but the only traveling they have to do in that three game mix is to Cincinnati. Don’t expect the Superdome to be any easier to play in this year.

The Falcons fans who may read this will probably be upset about the 9-7 record I have assigned to them. This was the hardest team to predict, given that I honestly think they will be a tenth win there somewhere. The problem is that, looking at the schedule before the season starts, it’s hard to pick it. The game that I would be most willing to give them a victory in is the opener against the Steelers, who will be without Roethlisberger. My issue is that Heinz Field is no easy place to play on opening day, with or without Big Ben. I don’t think the fact that the two uncommon NFC teams the Falcons play based on last year’s standings are the Packers and Eagles helps them out one bit either, although I have them slated to beat the Eagles. They will finish second in the South based on a tiebreaker of more wins over common opponents than the Panthers.

The Panthers will benefit from an ultra-easy schedule as they look to build some experience on what will be a very young team. If the Panthers had a schedule like they had in 2009, this prediction would look a lot different, but there are a couple of stretches during the season that could prove beneficial for them. This team will suffer from stretches of inconsistency though, a main reason why I have them splitting the season series with the Bucs. If a second receiver can emerge from the group of youngsters behind Steve Smith and take some of the pressure off of him, the Panthers may be able to sneak in another win, but I don’t really see them getting beyond ten wins without some major surprises taking place.

The Buccaneers will improve from the 3-13 season they had in 2009 in Raheem Morris’ first year as head coach, but are still a ways away from being a legitimate contender. The Bucs could potentially win six games, and maybe seven if some of their young players develop faster than expected, but again, it’s tough to pick those games out on the schedule the way it’s set up. With Antonio Bryant and Mark Clayton gone as receiving threats for Josh Freeman, it may be tough for this team to generate offense at times.

To see Zoneblitz’ AFC North preview, click this link.
To see Zoneblitz’ AFC South preview, click this link.
To see Zoneblitz’ AFC West preview, click this link.
To see Zoneblitz’ AFC East preview, click this link.
To see Zoneblitz’ NFC East preview, click this link.
To see Zoneblitz’ NFC West preview, click this link.
To see Zoneblitz’ NFC North preview click this link.