NFC South Preview

[Carolina Crazy V2]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/207141-2009-nfc-south-preview

For having no free-agent pickups and 21 of 22 returning starters, the Panthers have had a relatively loud offseason. Most of it was filled with Julius Peppers drama...

[ncbobcat]

I agree mostly. Though I think the Saints and Falcons records/standings should be flipped. The Saints always disappoint when lofty expectations are put upon them.

[QuasiYoda]

Wow a Football Pundit actually predicting the Panthers to repeat their NFC South Dominance.

How unusual.

[Carolina Crazy V2]

Wow a Football Pundit actually predicting the Panthers to repeat their NFC South Dominance.

How unusual.

The gods have sent him.

[Kyle82]

I'll take 10-6. :thumbsup:

[N'wahlinsCayenne]

I agree mostly. Though I think the Saints and Falcons records/standings should be flipped. The Saints always disappoint when lofty expectations are put upon them.

What lofty expectations? All I've seen is predictions we'll finish second or third in the division and barely make or miss the playoffs.

And I don't get his comment about Greer, saying he's only slightly better than Mike McKenzie so our secondary will only be slightly better. First of all, MM played with flat tire last season and was nowhere near himself coming off a torn ACL and ruptured patella tendon. If he's comparing Greer to the 2008 MM, I strongly disagree. If he's saying Greer is better than MM 100% healthy, I'd be more than happy withy that.

[ChadroChill]

"The Saints are relying on free agents and rookies to boost their team into the playoffs. That is not a good sign as they have struggled in the past when the pressure is on the new-guys."

Y'all do know that this is from bleacher report which means that anybody can write an article for them.

That's a funny take on the saints. "We struggle when we have new guys." Like when we got this new quarterback in 2006 named Drew Brees, and a rookie wide receiver from that same year named Marques Colston. Yeah man that was the worst. Lets not forget that veteran mlb we got last offseason named Jonathan Vilma. Man we really cannot depend on new players.

I guess he thinks that the saints best options for the future is to only use players that were already on their roster. No point in drafting, trading, or picking up free agents.

[SorthNarolina]

that article was just bad, he's just pointing out the obvious about each team and then makes baseless opinions

this was written by a guy who probably likes to write previews for each division and he's not familiar with ours.

[Carolina Crazy V2]

"The Saints are relying on free agents and rookies to boost their team into the playoffs. That is not a good sign as they have struggled in the past when the pressure is on the new-guys."

Y'all do know that this is from bleacher report which means that anybody can write an article for them.

That's a funny take on the saints. "We struggle when we have new guys." Like when we got this new quarterback in 2006 named Drew Brees, and a rookie wide receiver from that same year named Marques Colston. Yeah man that was the worst. Lets not forget that veteran mlb we got last offseason named Jonathan Vilma. Man we really cannot depend on new players.

I guess he thinks that the saints best options for the future is to only use players that were already on their roster. No point in drafting, trading, or picking up free agents.

I'm pretty sure that he's saying when you guys pick up a lot of free agents and the pressure is on them to perform, you guys don't do well. Brees and Colston is only two players, but this year you guys are counting on a bunch of new players to help your defense. Could cause a chemistry problem.

[ChadroChill]

I'm pretty sure that he's saying when you guys pick up a lot of free agents and the pressure is on them to perform, you guys don't do well. Brees and Colston is only two players, but this year you guys are counting on a bunch of new players to help your defense. Could cause a chemistry problem.

I think the guy above you is right when he says that this is really just a baseless opinion. I don't want to sound like a douchey saints fan, but this guy clearly does not know his stuff. The one guy who we got in recent years who we actually though would help and didn't was Jason David. but besides that most of our pick ups have been pretty good.

I know that Brees and Colston are only two players but that is because i didn't want to be annoying to you guys and rattle off all these players and talk about how good they are. I figured if I gave some extreme examples of some "new guys" we have relied on in the recent years that it would show how ridiculous of a statement that was.

[Carolina Crazy V2]

I think the guy above you is right when he says that this is really just a baseless opinion. I don't want to sound like a douchey saints fan, but this guy clearly does not know his stuff. The one guy who we got in recent years who we actually though would help and didn't was Jason David. but besides that most of our pick ups have been pretty good.

I know that Brees and Colston are only two players but that is because i didn't want to be annoying to you guys and rattle off all these players and talk about how good they are. I figured if I gave some extreme examples of some "new guys" we have relied on in the recent years that it would show how ridiculous of a statement that was.

I see your point, but i agree with the article in the area that you guys struggle as a team when expectations are high because of free agent pick-ups.

Check out this article that I wrote: http://www.carolinahuddle.com/forum/carolina-panthers/12919-no-reason-afraid-saints.html

[ChadroChill]

I see your point, but i agree with the article in the area that you guys struggle as a team when expectations are high because of free agent pick-ups.

Check out this article that I wrote: http://www.carolinahuddle.com/forum/carolina-panthers/12919-no-reason-afraid-saints.html

Yeah you are right. There is no denying that we have not lived up to preseason expectations for the past few years.

The optimistic saints fan in me will continue to think that this year will be different, and here is why:

For the last few years, our defense has gone by the "bend but don't break" mentality under our DC Gibbs. But since we fired him and hired Gregg Williams, there are reasons to believe that previous years struggles will be different this year. Our new defense goes by the motto "knock them the **** out!" He promises to offer pressure schemes that will make sure the opposing quarterbacks don't have all day to throw on us and burn our secondary. He also has talked about playing to our players strengths instead of trying to force square pegs into round holes. There have been lots of talk by our beat writers (granted you have to take everything they say with a grain of salt) that our safety Roman Harper is primed for a breakout year.

I do agree that some of our high draft picks don't pan out exactly how we hope. Reggie Bush comes immediately to mind. But I think last years Sederick Ellis was a good pick up, and he seems like he could be a pretty good player.

Malcolm Jenkins has potential, but of course he might not meet that potential in his first year. But at the same time, it is possible that by the middle of the season he is a starter.

I am sorry for the long rant, but I honestly think that the saints managed to improve greatly over this offseason. You can't seriously write them off, simply because they have had bad luck in the past, and say their new free agents are going to be a bsut because free agents in the past have been busts.

[QuasiYoda]

I'll be happy to see the actual play begin so we can see it for ourselves.

Been watching clips from last year of late but still 2.5 months from reg season live action