The NFC South, which is not quite two decades old, has a long history of volatility.
From 2002 to 2013, no team repeated as the division camp. The Panthers broke through and won three in a row from 2013 to 2015. The Saints have matched by winning the last three titles and will go for an unprecedented fourth consecutive division title in a row in 2020.
But they'll have to contend with Bucs, who are set to add quarterback Tom Brady, when he passes his physical. The Bucs agreed to a two-year, $60 million deal with Brady, who guided New England to nine Super Bowl trips and six Super Bowl titles from 2000 to 2019.
“To me, they are going to be a team that immediately you put in the mix as challenging for a playoff spot,” NFL Network analyst Charles Davis told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “In this division, it’s like that all the time. The NFC South used to be the most volatile division in football and it could be again.”
The Falcons, who finished in second place at 7-9 last season, have never repeated after winning division titles in 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2016.
Over Brady’s 20 years in New England, the Patriots owned the AFC East. They won 17 division titles.
The Patriots finished fifth his rookie season in 2000 with Drew Bledsoe at quarterback and second in 2008 with Matt Cassel at quarterback and second in 2002.
That’s why there were celebrations from Buffalo to Miami when Brady announced he was leaving the Patriots.
“You’re pretty loaded at quarterback in that division,” Davis said. “You’ve got two MVPs. Two Super Bowl champions and every one of those quarterbacks has been to at least one Pro Bowl. Teddy (Bridgewater) was a Pro Bowl guy with Minnesota.”
Brady and Saints quarterback Drew Brees have won Super Bowl titles.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan has reached a Super Bowl and has won a most valuable player award.
Bridgewater, who’s set to replace Cam Newton in Carolina, went to the Pro Bowl in 2015 after guiding Minnesota to an 11-5 regular season before a horrific knee injury sidetracked his promising career.
When the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, the NFC South was created to include the Falcons, Saints, Buccaneers and Panthers.
Before the realignment the Bucs were in the AFC West (1976) and NFC Central (1977-2001), while the Falcons, Saints and Panthers were in the NFC West.
The NFC South is one of two divisions to have each of its teams make a Super Bowl appearance since the 2002 realignment.
Of course, it was Brady who led the Patriots to the 34-28 victory over the Falcons in Super Bowl LI in Atlanta’s historic collapse.
While that was the most-devastating defeat, Brady has dominated the Falcons. He has a 6-0 lifetime record against them.
In the six games against the Falcons, Brady has passed for 1,908 yards (466 in Super Bowl LI), 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
He’s projected to make the Bucs instant contenders.
“They had six games last year of one-possession games that they lost,” Davis said. “Cut that in half and if Brady cuts Jameis (Winston’s) 30 interceptions in half, which he should (cut) in half plus some. Those are all empty possessions you don’t have on offense. If everything stays the same with that crew, yeah (they’re contenders).”
The Falcons had issues with the Bucs with Winston at the controls in 2019.
The Bucs beat the Falcons 35-22 in Atlanta on Nov. 24, 2019 when the offensive line couldn’t block the Bucs’ defensive front.
The Falcons needed a Winston interception on the first play of overtime to prevail 28-22 in the regular-season finale.
Brady could make the Bucs’ defense better, too.
“I think (Bucs defensive coordinator) Todd Bowles’s defense will keep getting better,’ Davis said. “He’s got a very proven track record. They tagged (Shaquil) Barrett (19.5 sacks) and he’s back. ... They have to get the back end (secondary) fixed.”
After two losing seasons, the Falcons’ climb back to respectability and to the playoffs is projected to be much tougher.
Brady, who’ll turn 43 on August 3, hasn’t shown any major signs of slippage.
“It’s been a long time since Tampa has been relevant nationally,” said former Buc cornerback Ronde Barber while appearing on NFL Network. “Not that we haven’t had good teams here in the past 15 years, but this is definitely a seismic type move for this franchise. They’ve been down. They’ve been out. We won a Super Bowl, (but) that was 17 years ago.”
Some saw the writing on the wall that Brady would be leaving New England.
“We all knew this was coming from way back in September when the Boston media reported the sale of his home,” said Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian on NFL Radio on Sirius XM. “Do you know anybody who sells their home and doesn’t immediately downsize in the same area that isn’t planning on moving? I don’t know too many. It was clearly an indication that something was afoot.”
The market for Brady came down to two teams.
“The market, interesting enough, closed pretty quickly,” Polian said. “The Colts were going to go for (Philip) Rivers and the various landing places that had been sort of bandied about for so long never materialized. When Dak (Prescott) was tagged that took the Cowboys out of the equation.
“All that was left was the Chargers and the Buccaneers. For whatever reason, I would imagine that Tom would address it at some point, he chose the Buccaneers.”
With the news that Brady is set to join the Buccaneers, their Super Bowl odds improved drastically, according to betonline.ag. The Bucs odds went from 66 to 1 after the Super Bowl, to 40 to 1 after the rumors, to 12 to 1 with Brady on board.
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