Atlanta Falcons
Love - Anyone But Mike SmithWatching the Falcons crash and burn these past two seasons, you can't help but wonder if Atlanta's recent winning ways have been in spite of Mike Smith rather than because of him. Despite winning the NFC South twice and making four playoff appearances, Smith was always under the microscope for making conservative and sometimes indefensible in-game coaching decisions. Look no further than the Falcons' total last-minute collapses last season against the Lions and Browns - those two whiffs alone are the reason his team didn't make the playoffs in the lowly NFC South. Fortunately for Falcons fans, that was finally enough for the franchise to move on from Smith and hire Seattle defensive mastermind Dan Quinn. Quinn is just what the doctor ordered for a defense that finished dead last in 2014, and he brings with him OC Kyle Shanahan who did spectacular work with the Redskins and Browns without nearly the offensive talent this team has. Had Atlanta decided to replace Mike Smith with a plastic lawn chair, it still would have been an upgrade by some measure, but Quinn looks to be even better.
There’s a saying in Atlanta that you only root for two teams at a given time: UGA football and whoever else is winning at the moment. In that case, the Falcons are fresh out of luck after a very successful year for the Hawks and the embarrassing revelation that this franchise has been pumping crowd noise into the Georgia Dome for years to drown out fans’ growing apathy. Sure, everyone was eager to #RiseUp when the dirty birds were winning consistently, but now they've scampered off to other stadiums where the weather is fairer. Even owner Arthur Blank was quick to admit how pathetic his organization was to pipe in canned noise; it's just one of the ways Atlanta became more of a sitcom as Mike Smith descended into coaching madness. But unlike Robert Kraft, who had no problem arguing with the league about whether or not his team tampered with footballs, Blank probably knew he'd have a hard time asserting that the crowd noise was real in a stadium that looked like this most of the time last year.
Carolina Panthers
Love - Cam Newton's Hero BallI've been known to give Cam Newton a hard time on this blog from time to time. His sullen early years, odd sweater selections and division rival status have made the bullseye a bit bigger than maybe it should be these days. But I also have to give credit where credit is due. Despite battling injuries most of last season with zero help from his blind side or JV receiving squad, Newton did what he had to in order for the Panthers to seize victory from the
Hate - Whatever Karma's Coming for Ousting DeAngelo Williams
Karma is a dangerous thing in the NFL... unless you're the Patriots anyway. So I fear for whatever's coming to the Panthers for releasing all-time leading rusher DeAngelo Williams so unceremoniously after the 2014 season. From a purely business side of things, you can't blame Carolina for wanting to move on from an aging running back after they've been saddled by horrendous contracts and salary cap restrictions for so many years. But as best I can tell, this front office did so without any communication or respect toward the longstanding face of the franchise. It was enough for Williams to air serious dirty laundry, most notably that no one from the Panthers front office attended his mother's funeral even after she and Williams made significant contributions to the NFL's annual breast cancer awareness campaign. So whether it's a catastrophic injury, the fact that the Panthers drafted yet another linebacker in the first round or that they just cannot for the love of all that's good and holy acquire a serviceable left tackle, something wicked is coming to Carolina after tossing DeAngelo Williams to the curb.
New Orleans Saints
Love - This Year Can't Be Worse, Right?By saying this, I’ve already cursed Drew Brees into tearing his ACL eight minutes into Week 1, and I am truly sorry for that, Who Dat Nation. After the Saints dumped just about anyone resembling a receiver including previously-signed-to-a-five-year-deal-Pro-Bowler Jimmy Graham, no one really knows what to expect this season. But let's be real, last season looked like it had it all on paper with nothing to show for it: an aforementioned locked-in Graham, first round wunderkind Brandin Cooks, Mark Ingram having the best season of his underwhelming pro career... and a defense that couldn't stop rain in the Sahara. So the Saints are really shaking up the etch-a-sketch with what looks like it'll be a power running game, C.J. Spiller taking over for Pierre Thomas and an actual, serviceable secondary. I can't say for sure the win-loss record will be much better than last year's 7-9 whiff, but this looks like a team that can meet or exceed our expectations now. It really can't be much worse than going 3-3 in the worst division in football and blowing five fourth quarter leads with a withering "finesse" offense.
Hate - Drew Brees Running the Wildcat, Probably
As much as the optimist in me hopes all of New Orleans' dramatic moves will make them Seahawks 2.0, I can't help but think dumping Jimmy Graham and Kenny Stills whilst failing to acquire a single wide receiver or tight end this offseason will probably backfire on this team. Even I don't know anyone on this depth chart after Brandin Cooks and increasingly-decrepit Marques Colston, so be sure to buy low on the likes of Kyle Prater, Seantavius Jones and Joseph and/or Josh Morgan this year. I'm sure one of them won't get cut in training camp, statistically speaking. Maybe I'm overreacting and Sean Payton has found more undrafted gold than Drew Brees will know what to do with in two months. But from the outside looking in, it appears Payton and GM Mickey Loomis had a temper tantrum after a down season and forgot to replace all the toys they broke in the process. With zero depth after Cooks and Colston, this feels like another wasted year in the few Brees has left on that arm. Only this time, he might be running the wildcat with no one left to throw to.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Love - Jeering on Jameis WinstonIt's rare that a public figure comes along so universally reviled he can unite a nation in turmoil. Luckily the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have given us that pleasure for at least two seasons by taking Jameis Winston first overall in the 2015 draft despite mountains of evidence that he's a terrible person and also an interception machine. I'm not saying our collective hatred for Jameis Winston can solve all of the world's problems, but pretty much everyone outside of the greater Tallahassee police department can agree that it is a pure delight to watch this guy fail and fail hard. Case and point - I think we all remember where we were when, after a season of terrible decisions on and off the field, Winston finally got his comeuppance by buttfumbling himself against Oregon in the inaugural BCS playoffs. I really could watch this on a loop to lighten every rainy day. And I do believe we will get much, much more with a miserable mistake-laden rookie season with the Buccaneers we've all been hoping for. Bring on the GIFs, for the NFL has found a new Snidely Whiplash and we're hungry for more schadenfreude!
Hate - Cheering on Jameis Winston
The flipside of the coin is of course that there will always be those who cheer for Jameis Winston and defend him vehemently either because he ends up being really good at football or because they are dedicated Men's Rights Activists. Heck, the Buccaneers organization was doing all of this way before draft day by selectively investigating the parts they wanted to about Winston's checkered past at FSU in partnership with... Jameis Winston's lawyer! No conflicts of interest to see here, folks. FSU Twitter also quickly became a truther central in which Winston just happened to be the victim of some grand conspiracy for transgression after transgression that he can't possibly be held responsible for. I mean, how scientific could DNA evidence really be anyway? This guy wins football games - what else do you want?! So, should you find yourself cheering for Winston this season, you will probably find yourself rationalizing away many ugly truths as the people of Tallahassee have been doing for years. It's not what I'd call good company.
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