Continuing with my first blog series of the offseason and full of speculative anticipation for the 2013 NFL season, here are my reasons to love and hate every NFL team this year, NFC South edition:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Love - A Worst-to-First-Class Secondary
Sure, there's a chance the Bucs were bitten by the overcompensation bug in the offseason, but there's no denying that they've assembled a Justice League-quality secondary squad based on past performance. If Darrelle Revis plays at even 75% of his former strength, this should be the best trade acquisition of the offseason. But even if he's not, ex-49er Dashon Goldson and ex-Saint Jonathan Casillas will add some serious juice to the league's worst pass defense of yesteryear and take pressure off of QB Josh Freeman to play an oft-intercepted hero who doesn't trust his defense.
An equally viable reason to hate the Buccaneers is Greg Schiano's iffy quality and vision as a coach. I get bad vibes from the guy, not only for his pathetic college-style gimmicks (like the infamous kneeldown of twenty-ought-twelve at the Meadowlands) but because of all of the recent "buzz" around whether or not Josh Freeman will continue to start at QB. There's no denying Freeman is in a do or die situation coming into his fourth year [and final contract year] with Tampa. The Buccaneers even drafted QB Mike Glennon in the third round to put the pressure on, but we're already dealing with some shady Schiano double-speak about how Glennon "is going to be a tremendous QB in his time" while Freeman "is going to have a big year." All of this after propping Glennon up as a more-than-ready rookie starter throughout the Spring. I can't blame the guy for entertaining a change after Freeman continues to slide from his stellar 2010 debut, but this "controversy" is just about as mindblowing as the time Paula Deen admitted she was a diabetic, just sayin'.
Atlanta Falcons
Love - Tony Gonzalez's Second Swan Song
To be fair, this guy's been healthy enough and automatic enough up to this point that he may well end up Brett Favre-ing it for another couple of seasons, but assuming T-Gon is for real about retirement in the next year or two, this is a huge season for the Falcons. Atlanta may well take a page from the Ravens' 2012 postseason surge under Ray Lewis' leadership to try to give this first ballot Hall of Famer the final chapter he deserves.
GM Thomas Dimitroff has been lauded for his aggressive offseason moves over the past few years. There are certainly a few other teams that now wish they hadn't slept on WR Julio Jones, who has played absolutely lights out so far in the NFL. The front office has stockpiled Atlanta's offense with one of the best receiving sets in the league under the care of an ever-improving Matt Ryan. While Dimitroff's shop has looked very smart to date, however, there's a lot more risk and uncertainty at play this season after the Falcons dumped Michael Turner, Dunta Robinson and Pro Bowlers John Abraham and Brent Grimes in a couple fell swoops. On defense in particular, the Falcons have experienced a lot of turnover, trending toward young and inexperienced players. Atlanta is innocent until proven guilty but this kind of shake up will be hard to overcome if it doesn't work.
Carolina Panthers
Love - Luke Kuechly's Breakout
In a 2012 season full of high-profile offensive rookie success stories, Luke Kuechly's spectacular debut with the Panthers was largely lost in the media mix. Boy, did this first rounder live up to his DROY expectations though, leading the league in tackles by a margin of 20 and stealing the middle linebacker starting job from another defensive great, Jon Beason. Panthers fans will be eager to see this young player continue his rapid development in 2013, especially against the rest of the offensively stacked NFC South.
Sure, the Panthers ended this past season to forget on an impressive 5 - 1 run, but I'm still having a hard time buying that the Panthers are much better than their record with the leadership currently in place. Coach Ron Rivera is as mercurial but lame as his transition lenses, and QB Cam Newton can't take charge of his own emotions, much less an entire team that is still in rebuilding mode. 2013 will definitely be a wheat-from-the-chaff season for Rivera and Newton now that previously successful OC Rob Chudzinski has moved on to coach the Cleveland Browns.
New Orleans Saints
Love - Sean Payton's Revenge
Remember how the 2007 Patriots set the NFL on fire with the first-ever 16 - 0 regular season record? That historic run fell on the heels of the Spygate scandal and gave Bill Belichick's squad quite a productive chip on its shoulder. Enter the 2013 Saints who, accurately or not, still feel completely wronged by Roger Goodell's unprecedented Bountygate sanctions. While it's easy to argue that these Saints aren't nearly as loaded as the '07 Patriots were, Sean Payton's year-long suspension may actually serve this team well in 2013. Payton has had a 30K view of the league for a whole season, an opportunity to rethink New Orleans' strengths and weaknesses as well as the latest play-calling developments of their opponents. It's one of those intangibles that might actually amount to something this season.
True, this squad [ostensibly] has nowhere to go but up after the worst defensive performance in league history in 2012, but it's hard to see the Saints making more than baby steps this season. New DC Rob Ryan will do his best to shift a roster that was recently rebuilt for Steve Spagnuolo's 4 - 3 alignment back to 3 - 4. But limited cap space, the loss of Victor Butler for the season and consecutive offseasons of overhauls leave this struggling roster little time to brace for quite the uphill battle in 2013. The Saints defense will face the rest of the offensively loaded NFC South twice as well as Tom Brady, Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson. Ouch.
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