Does anyone want to win the NFC South?
Before the 2023 NFL season began, our dear friend James Dator — and our resident Carolina Panthers fan — declared that the NFC South was football’s “most chaotic division.”
That certainly seems like a prescient prediction at the moment.
While James’ Panthers have already been eliminated from winning the division (and fired head coach Frank Reich a few weeks ago) the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers all have a chance to win the division. With the Falcons currently in the lead, but hostin the Buccaneers in Week 14, their matchup could go a long way towards determining a winner in the division.
So you would think everyone would have their heads in the game.
But we are left to wonder if the Buccaneers defense is ready to roll. Because Atlanta cut into a nine-point Tampa Bay lead on this short touchdown run from rookie running back Bijan Robinson:
Bijan closes the gap!
— NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2023
: #TBvsATL on CBS
: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/pWMED8S30C pic.twitter.com/P5oBnqmVi0
Notice anything about Tampa Bay’s defense?
They have just nine on the field.
You can take another look at their defensive “alignment” — if you can call it that — thanks to the “dots” from Next Gen Stats:
https://t.co/hJDGPN5Iyd pic.twitter.com/yFMoOD1wLj
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) December 10, 2023
Chaos.
Just as James predicted.