Football Outsiders Prediction: Panthers To Take NFC South Division Crown In Tight Race

[Saca312]

Well if there's anything sure about next year, the NFC South will be a hotbed of deadly teams. With potent offenses everywhere, it's hard to predict who will rise above the rest.

Football Outsiders has the Panthers winning in a close race. Although I expect us to have more wins, this really just brings out the fact the Panthers and the rest of the NFC South will be in a very tight race.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/19364923/football-outsiders-post-draft-2017-nfl-projections

Quote

NFC South

Carolina Panthers: 9-7 (9.1 mean wins, SOS: 28)
Atlanta Falcons: 9-7 (8.5 mean wins, SOS: 15)
New Orleans Saints: 7-9 (7.0 mean wins, SOS: 19)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 7-9 (6.8 mean wins, SOS: 17)

Carolina's projection is pretty simple: a bit of rebound on both sides of the ball combined with an easy schedule. (It helps, for example, to play San Francisco instead of one of the other three NFC West teams.) The Panthers will have a close race with the Falcons, whose late-season defensive improvement is likely to continue in 2017. However, we're also expecting some regression from the Atlanta offense, particularly because of the loss of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

Tampa Bay has a lot of young, developing offensive talent, plus the addition of DeSean Jackson, so I think there's a better chance of the Buccaneers taking a step forward than an average projection of 7-9 indicates. However, there's a strong sign for regression on defense: the Bucs were second in the league in defensive turnovers per drive last year, ending 15.6 percent of possessions with a takeaway. That number is likely to be lower in 2017.

New Orleans got rid of its best wide receiver and once again projects to have the worst defense in the league.

Full NFC standings

1. Seattle
2. Green Bay
3. Dallas
4. Carolina
5. Arizona*
6. Atlanta*
7. Los Angeles Rams
8. Detroit
9. New York Giants
10. Washington
11. Philadelphia
12. New Orleans
13. Tampa Bay
14. Chicago
15. Minnesota
16. San Francisco

*Projected wild-card team

 

[shaqattaq]

4 minutes ago, Saca312 said:

New Orleans got rid of its best wide receiver and once again projects to have the worst defense in the league.

HAHA!! the Saints Suck!

They did load up on D in the draft, and picked up Klein, so they might suck a little less.

[UpstatePanther]

I think this is fairly accurate. I could conceivably see three 10-win teams in the NFC South and the fourth at 7-9. Would be a tiebreaker crapshoot at who actually wins and who is left behind. 

But then again here's to the Panthers offense running roughshod over the entire league on our way to a 13-3 record and far-and-away NFC South championship

[pantherphan96]

Rams at 7 lol. 

[Mother Grabber]

yay! we get to whoop up on the Cardinals again!

[nctarheel0619]

28 minutes ago, Saca312 said:

Well if there's anything sure about next year, the NFC South will be a hotbed of deadly teams. With potent offenses everywhere, it's hard to predict who will rise above the rest.

Football Outsiders has the Panthers winning in a close race. Although I expect us to have more wins, this really just brings out the fact the Panthers and the rest of the NFC South will be in a very tight race.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/19364923/football-outsiders-post-draft-2017-nfl-projections

 

Hey bruh, you got the rest of that article, bruh?

[ladypanther]

I see the Panthers winning at least 11 games.

[Ace_Aladdin]

You heard it from me first.

[Hoenheim]

If the oline and Cam stay healthy then I could see a 12-4 ish season. That decimated oline absolutely fuged us last year.

Another key is if our dline doesn't take the first half of the year off again in terms of rushing the passer. the lack of pass rush murdered our young secondary early in last season.

[Mother Grabber]

4 minutes ago, sanjay_rajput said:

You heard it from me first.

you didn't say anything

[Ace_Aladdin]

29 minutes ago, Mother Grabber said:

you didn't say anything

 Yea about 3 weeks ago 

 

[Mother Grabber]

3 weeks ago?  I can't remember what happened 3 hours ago.  :)

[Ace_Aladdin]

Just now, Mother Grabber said:

3 weeks ago?  I can't remember what happened 3 hours ago.  :)

Same, I just have good long term memory : )

[pantherclaw]

If the oline and Cam remain healthy...

We lose no more than 4.