Around the NFL Podcast: NFC South Preview

[CarolinaSunday]

The Around the NFL podcast is a podcast of four NFL.com media writers. I find it pretty entertaining even if they aren't always accurate in their analysis.   (Interesting side note: they name a team of the Around the NFL each year and the first year they did it a few seasons ago they chose the Carolina Panthers. Last year was the Arizona Cardinals.)

Recently they've been doing previews of each division and this week they released the NFC South Preview. I thought they had some interesting analysis going on even though I didn't agree with all of it. Thought it might be interesting to discuss. 

The discussion was broken down into four different categories and for those of you who don't want to go and listen to an hour-long podcast here are the main points made (I listened to it twice so you don't have to): 

The 2016 NFC South Breakout Star

Marc Sessler: Devin Funchess 

Kevin Patra: Shaq Thompson. The guys also noted that if Shaq Thompson breaks out then we would have the best linebacker corps in the past 15 years.

Dan Hanzus: Coby Fleener. 

Gregg Rosenthal: Jameis Winston.

Biggest Concern in the NFC South

Marc Sessler: Saints defense and whether Drew Brees can maintain his level of play at his age. Gregg Rosenthal completely disagreed and thinks that the talent around Drew Brees on offense is too great for Drew to fail. 

Kevin Patra: Falcons pass rush. Dan agreed and noted that it seems that Ryan has plateaued. We know who he is as a quarterback now. The guys also noted that the Falcons have a tendency to sign old players who should have retired several seasons ago. Kevin thinks the Falcons are going to have a problem in a division where the quarterbacks are Cam Newton,  Drew Brees, and Jameis Winston. The guys seem to agree that the Falcons have good linebackers. Despite his concerns, Kevin thinks Falcons are a team that can threaten for the division. Dan Hanzus disagreed that the Falcons are a threat in the division. 

Dan Hanzus: whether Kyle Shanahan can be a next level head coach. Dan also thinks Mohamed Sanu is going to disappoint. Marc Sessler disagreed and thought he was thinks he's going to have a good year. Dan thinks the Falcons offense is a problem and isn't going to be able to score enough points to keep Kyle Shanahan's job safe or to compete in the division. Gregg inserted that he thought it was strange that Matt Ryan had such a bad year last year when his offensive line was pretty good. Dan asked what had we seen from Mohamed Sanu in the past 4 years that makes you think that he's going to succeed in the Falcons asking. 

Gregg Rosenthal: whether the Panthers can handle the adversity of not having everything go their way like last season and having a harder schedule. 

Most Underrated Storyline

Gregg: that the NFC South is a really good division and that all of the teams can compete to win. There isn't a dramatic difference between the top team and the bottom team. He thinks the fight for the division title will be a dogfight. Mark Sessler agreed, saying that he is interested to see how the Panthers handle a season where everything doesn't go right. Dan Hanzus disagreed,  saying he thinks the Panthers will be driven by how badly the Super Bowl went and will not go soft. Gregg questioned whether the Panthers are at the level of perennial contenders such as the Seahawks and the Packers. He thinks Panthers are set up to possibly be one of those teams. Kevin thinks that Panthers defense is head and shoulders above everyone else in the division. 

Marc Sessler: Carolina has been the best drafting and developing team over the past few years. He specifically cited Kelvin Benjamin, Devin Funchess, KK Short, Cam Newton, Michael Oher, Star Lotulelei -- and this was only half of the list. Marc thinks the Panthers have a good chance to be better than they were last season. Marc also doesn't think the division is wide open -- he  thinks the Panthers are going to win it. Dan thinks that even if the Panthers stumble a little bit then they may go from 15-1 to 12-4 and still get the number one seed. 

Dan Hanzus: he thinks that the Saints offense is really good. 

Song That Best Describes the NFC South. 

Marc Sessler: "I Wanna Sex You Up" This wasn't actually directed at anyone, he was just saying he thinks that the division needs to get sexier and prove that they're the best division in football (like Gregg says). Outside of the Panthers, he sees the other three teams are just some mish mash of the same old thing.  

Kevin Patra: DMX's "Ain't No Way" because nobody's going to be able to keep up with the Panthers.  

Dan Hanzus: Kanye West's "I Am a God." Says Cam Newton is a god in the NFL right now. He wondered what would happen if Cam played the whole upcoming season the way he played the second half of last season.  He thinks Cam is a special transcendent player that lifts his team up to another level.

Gregg Rosenthal: "Dough is What I Got." That is what Drew Brees is going to have after this year after the Saints win the division.  He thinks the Panthers are going to come back down to earth this season and that winning 10 or 11 games will win the division. 

Division Standings

Gregg sees the Saints and the Panthers as being playoff teams. Marc sees the Bucs and the Panthers as playoff teams Dan and Kevin think the Panthers are the only playoff teams in the division.

Download the episode: http://www.nfl.com/podcasts?id=413ba8b05d9c37a0540b286711d2dffe

[CarolinaSunday]

10 minutes ago, E CaT PanTHer 2 said:

that's where i stopped reading

Yeah,  that was pretty unbelievable. 

[RevJ]

If those guys actually talked football instead of themselves (favorite movie, first conference, vacation plans, etc.) then that would be the most underrated storyline. Used to try to listen to them but only LeBatard competes on the level of talking less about sports. Difference is LeBatard is occasionally funny and even he doesn't talk about himself as much as they do.  

The crazy thing is they don't even recognize that they aren't entertainers, icons, or of any interest.

Sorry, just naive enough to think that sports people should stick to sports.

[Mother Grabber]

Gregg gots him some haterade going on. he's usually a decent source, but his comments seem personal. he must still be butthurt after his gaff on video last season that embarrassed him.

[aussiePanther]

I heard this podcast and a few things irked me:

1) People (in this podcast Mark Sessler) are saying that KB is out of shape and that his conditioning is concerning. As far as I can tell ( @CarolinaHuddle could confirm for me) this has no basis in reality and is only being talked about because David Newton made poo up after asking Ron whether it was a concern. Ron replied that it was, but my impression when I heard his answer was that he was talking bigger picture about needing to consider it when planning how many reps you give KB: not too much to risk re-injuring the knee and enough to ensure he gets enough conditioning. As far as EVERY other report KB is EXACTLY where they wanted him to be at this point fitness wise.

2) Someone in the Pod (Rosenthal? Sessler?) misquoted Ron as saying "I STILL need to tell these players that they're not going to be picking up where they left off and that nothing's going to be given to them". As if the players were acting like that and Ron had to continually get on them about taking things for granted. That quote came from the very start of camp and was Ron explaining what he felt he had to do going in to camp; there was no "still". And it's obvious he didn't need to tell the players often because they've all been super serious/competitive at training camp.

3) Similar to 1) In talking Funchess up they spoke about how he was getting to continually go against the #1CB as if KB wasn't also doing that.

4) They all mentioned that last year was a year where EVERYTHING went right for Carolina right up to the Super Bowl. It's hard to say that things went badly for a 15-1 but there was a few things, maybe an injury in particular, that I could think of.

5)

there was a couple of other things but I've stopped caring so much

 

Having said all that I like the podcast and listen to it regularly. The thing with Rosenthal and the whole "NFCS is one of the better conferences & will be competitive" is a bit of a running gag and the rest of them jump on him whenever he brings it up. I think he's taken up a contradictory opinion to make things interesting.

[CarolinaSunday]

6 hours ago, aussiePanther said:

I heard this podcast and a few things irked me:

1) People (in this podcast Mark Sessler) are saying that KB is out of shape and that his conditioning is concerning. As far as I can tell ( @CarolinaHuddle could confirm for me) this has no basis in reality and is only being talked about because David Newton made poo up after asking Ron whether it was a concern. Ron replied that it was, but my impression when I heard his answer was that he was talking bigger picture about needing to consider it when planning how many reps you give KB: not too much to risk re-injuring the knee and enough to ensure he gets enough conditioning. As far as EVERY other report KB is EXACTLY where they wanted him to be at this point fitness wise.

2) Someone in the Pod (Rosenthal? Sessler?) misquoted Ron as saying "I STILL need to tell these players that they're not going to be picking up where they left off and that nothing's going to be given to them". As if the players were acting like that and Ron had to continually get on them about taking things for granted. That quote came from the very start of camp and was Ron explaining what he felt he had to do going in to camp; there was no "still". And it's obvious he didn't need to tell the players often because they've all been super serious/competitive at training camp.

3) Similar to 1) In talking Funchess up they spoke about how he was getting to continually go against the #1CB as if KB wasn't also doing that.

4) They all mentioned that last year was a year where EVERYTHING went right for Carolina right up to the Super Bowl. It's hard to say that things went badly for a 15-1 but there was a few things, maybe an injury in particular, that I could think of.

5)

there was a couple of other things but I've stopped caring so much

 

Having said all that I like the podcast and listen to it regularly. The thing with Rosenthal and the whole "NFCS is one of the better conferences & will be competitive" is a bit of a running gag and the rest of them jump on him whenever he brings it up. I think he's taken up a contradictory opinion to make things interesting.

I completely agree. All in all, I thought the whole thing was very pro-Carolina but most of what they brought up against the Panthers was made up or exaggerated (which they didn't need to do because there are other accurate things they could have used as concerns for Carolina). I didn't know where the Kelvin being over weight and out of shape thing came from or that the guys just assuming they wouldn't have to work to get back (that was Sessler who misquoted Ron). I've followed training camp fairly closely and I haven't seen anything like that. 

I was irritated that they said several times that EVERYTHING went Carolina's way last year too. We had an amazing season, but I think the guys worked to make it an amazing season. It wasn't just handed to them. 

It's interesting that only the Falcons and Saints were brought up as the teams that could challenge us (although most everyone agreed that Carolina would almost certainly win the division). The Bucs were almost completely forgotten, other than to complement Jameis Winston.

[aussiePanther]

1 minute ago, CarolinaSunday said:

It's interesting that only the Falcons and Saints were brought up as the teams that could challenge us (although most everyone agreed that Carolina would almost certainly win the division). The Bucs were almost completely forgotten, other than to complement Jameis Winston.

From memory Sessler was saying if anyone was to challenge Carolina it would be Tampa Bay, but that it would be a couple of years off yet.

[PntherPryd]

Coby Fleener?

 

[OneBadCat]

I still don't see why Brees is getting a pass and continually crowned every year. He puts up big stats but chokes in the clutch. He's an exploitable player. Not some untouchable elite QB. How many times have our guys intercepted this dude to the seal the game the past 3 years? I feel like we do it all the time.

Pressure him, get in his face and beat him around a little and he's not that exceptional. Especially outside of his princess castle Aints dome. He is clearly regressing to me. Add the fact that the Saints are consistently mentally weak  and have a crap defense they should not expect to rely on him.

[nctarheel0619]

13 hours ago, Mother Grabber said:

Gregg gots him some haterade going on. he's usually a decent source, but his comments seem personal. he must still be butthurt after his gaff on video last season that embarrassed him.

He loves Cam, this is what's a little odd to me.  I get where he was coming from in that video.  Because at the time, they didn't have any receivers around Cam.  Now, it seems like he's playing Devils Advocate.  Whatever is his prerogative though.  

[OneBadCat]

1 hour ago, CarolinaSunday said:

I completely agree. All in all, I thought the whole thing was very pro-Carolina but most of what they brought up against the Panthers was made up or exaggerated (which they didn't need to do because there are other accurate things they could have used as concerns for Carolina). I didn't know where the Kelvin being over weight and out of shape thing came from or that the guys just assuming they wouldn't have to work to get back (that was Sessler who misquoted Ron). I've followed training camp fairly closely and I haven't seen anything like that. 

I was irritated that they said several times that EVERYTHING went Carolina's way last year too. We had an amazing season, but I think the guys worked to make it an amazing season. It wasn't just handed to them. 

It's interesting that only the Falcons and Saints were brought up as the teams that could challenge us (although most everyone agreed that Carolina would almost certainly win the division). The Bucs were almost completely forgotten, other than to complement Jameis Winston.

Right. And what they don't bother to realize his how many things never went our way in the seasons prior to last year. Great teams in 2013-2014 that could have gone far in the post season if a little bit of BS swung the other way.

[UNCrules2187]

Chris Wesseling, who wasn't on the pod, tweeted later:

Listening to @AroundTheNFL pod. @kpatra just shredded @greggrosenthal’s silly theory that Panthers are mediocre, will be lucky to win South

[saints4lifeagain]

The comment that all the teams are fairly equal is laughable, consideringthe Panthers finished 7 games better than the next closest team in the division. Maybe everybody, outside of Carolina, is fairly equal would have been a more factual statement.

I agree that this offense is too good for Drew to fail, even though I don't believe he's regressing anyway. This offense has a chance to be the best the team has had since 2011. 

[saints4lifeagain]

6 hours ago, OneBadCat said:

I still don't see why Brees is getting a pass and continually crowned every year. He puts up big stats but chokes in the clutch. He's an exploitable player. Not some untouchable elite QB. How many times have our guys intercepted this dude to the seal the game the past 3 years? I feel like we do it all the time.

Pressure him, get in his face and beat him around a little and he's not that exceptional. Especially outside of his princess castle Aints dome. He is clearly regressing to me. Add the fact that the Saints are consistently mentally weak  and have a crap defense they should not expect to rely on him.

To answer your question, the Panthers have intercepted Brees 0 times over the last 3 years to seal the game.