With two pre-seasons games under our belts and an entire off-season
to digest, it’s time to run down how the NFC will shake out this year.
Top Seeded Teams:
The teams in this category are the teams that will be competing for one of the top two spots in the NFC playoff pecking order. These teams appear to be better than all the other teams in the conference. I feel there are three teams that will be competing for the two top spots in the NFC.
Dallas Cowboys are one of the teams that will be in the
running for the top spot. The Cowboys are quietly becoming the class of the
NFC. In 2014, they just missed clinching one of the top spots because they won
one less game in the conference than the Seahawks and Packers. That year the
Cowboys, Seahawks, and Packers all finished with a 12-4 record. Tony Romo got
hurt and the Cowboys had a terrible 2015 campaign. They bounced back in 2016
with the best record in football en route to a #1 seed in the conference.
The Dallas Cowboys will have to fight an uphill battle in
order to get one of the top spots. Star running back Zeke Elliot is scheduled
to miss the first six games of the season (pending appeal). They also have a
number of key defensive players that will start the season serving suspensions.
David Irving and Demontre Moore will both began the year for the Cowboys
serving a suspension. Irving has a four game suspension and Moore has a two
games suspension to serve. The Cowboys also have pending suspensions for
cornerback Nolan Caroll and linebacker Damien Wilson. They’ve already lost
Randy Gregory for the season due to a Drug policy violation. These
players being suspended is one of the reasons that I pick the Cowboys to
contended for the top spots.
The Cowboys have being doing an amazing job with maintaining
depth at every position on the team. Seeing the secondary lose three starters will
test this teams depth, but, in a good way. The Cowboys secondary wasn’t special
last season but it was probably the defenses strongest unit. If the pass rush
is better, this year than last (as expected) and Jaylon Smith can come in and
give them another playmaker at the linebacker position. The secondary should be
as good as last season’s with the improvements to the other two units.
Losing
Zeke for any amount of time is going to slow this team’s momentum. The Cowboys
success depends on the effectiveness of their run game. Zeke is one of the
better running backs in the league, and it will be hard to replace his production.
Dak showed us again in the preseason that the NFL stage isn’t too big for him.
The Cowboys offense will be able to hold down the fort until Zeke returns. If this
defense can step up and a grind through the first four weeks they will get two
solid pass rushers back to add to a solid rotation. The Cowboys have something
special brewing and the rest of the conference is on notice.
The Seattle Seahawks are always a threat to win the NFC.
They sport the best defense in the conference and one of the better
quarterbacks in the NFC. The Seahawks have issues along the offensive line and
losing George Fant, their projected starting left tackle, for the season, doesn’t
help those issues. Russell Wilson has shown the ability to lead this team to victory
despite a terrible offensive line and he will have to do that once again in 2017.
Eddie Lacey was bought in this off season to give the
Seahawks a power-running element. If he is able to stay in shape and healthy he
should give them a big back that can pound on the defense early in games and
free up running space for their other backs. With the
offensive line issues, the running game won’t be as effective as it was when the
Seahawks won the super bowl but with that defense it won’t need to be.
The Seahawks will go as far as Russell Wilson can take
them, but he has help on the defensive side of the ball. The “Legion of Boom” is still
one of the best secondaries in the league. Kam Chancellor is the enforcer and
will lay any receiver out coming across the middle. Richard Sherman is a
shutdown corner back that completely takes away his side of the field. Earl
Thomas is arguably the best safety in football. These three play very well
together and their games complement one another. Pairing this secondary with
the front four is what makes this defense so good.
Bobby Wagner and KJ Wright are a top five linebacking tandem.
They’re both excellent in space and fill rushing lanes like peanut butter in a
reese cup! This Seahawks defense begins in the trenches with Michael Bennett,
Cliff Avril, and Frank Clark. Yes, the pass rush and the backside protection go
hand in hand. It’s easy to say that these guys get the pressure they do because
of that great secondary. It can be view the other way as well. The secondary is
that good because of the pressure the front four is able to generate. Those
three guys are great at getting to the quarterback, tough against the run, and
are discipline with their containment. The dirty work is being done up front
for this defense and they easily have a top 10 unit once again in 2017.
The Green Bay Packers are the other team that should
compete for one of those top two spots. Simply put they have Aaron Rodgers!
Rodgers is the best quarterback in football. No, he doesn’t have five
championships, but he also doesn’t’ play for the greatest coach in NFL history.
Rodgers does more with less. Jordy Nelson is a good wide receiver but he would
be a number 2 on most teams in the league. Rodgers has also been keeping
the Packers in contentions these past few seasons without a running game. His
ability to extend plays and keep drives going is what makes this team so
dangerous. Like the Cowboys, they should be better on the defensive side of the
football.
The Green Bay Packers defense was terrible last season. The
secondary suffered a ton of injuries and they were stuck moving Clay
Mathews around because of injuries and ineffectiveness at the inside linebacker position. Ha’Ha Clinton Dix came out
last season as one of the up and coming safeties in the league. Dix and Morgan
Burnett form a good safety tandem and they should be a little better with the addition
of Josh Jones. This defense lost Julius Peppers to free agency. Kevin King holding down one of the corner back positions should
help improve their secondary. Mike Daniels will be stout up front for them.
Clay Mathews and Nick Perry will give quarterbacks hell off the edge.
The Packers are in a weak division, only the Vikings will
threaten them for the top spot. Winning 10 games is something that is easily
attainable for this team. The improvements made to the secondary should make
them a threat to win the conference and possibly get to the super bowl. Aaron
Rodgers will be his usual MVP self and this team will go as far as he takes
them.
Division Winners:
The teams in this bracket are good enough to win their division
but aren’t good enough to get one of the top two seeds. The NFC is closer than many people believe
and the teams in this bracket could make a run once they get into the playoffs.
The New York Giants can easily win the NFC East division.
While I think the Cowboy are the better team on paper, they could get off to a
bad start while Zeke is out. That leaves the door open for the Giants to take
the division. The reason I can’t put the Giants in the higher bracket is because
their offense struggled last season and they didn’t do anything to address that
offensive line.
The Giants bought in Brandon Marshall via free agency
this offseason. He should help them by giving them size at the wide receiver position.
But he can’t block for Eli. The Giants two biggest issue stem for their offensive
line issues. They can’t seem to run the ball effectively on a consistent basis
and they can’t seem to give Eli Manning enough time to get the ball down the
field. Odell Beckum Jr is a playmaker and anytime you get the ball in his hands
he can take it to the house. Sterling Sheppard will be great for them in the
slot and the addition of Evan Engram will give them another receiving option. Not
being able to keep the pressure off Eli is a huge concern, because we all know
that Eli will force a turnover or two due to pressure. This offense could
really benefit for an effective run game and Paul Perkins looks to be a solid
running back. He will probably be struggling to find rushing lanes but he will
be able to get the job done. The Giants will also take a step back on defense
this season.
Landon Collins had an amazing year last season for the Giants.
He is a very good young safety and will be asked to do more for this defense. Jenoris
Jenkins and Dominique Rogers-Cromartie form the rest of this good secondary
unit. The Giants are still average at linebacker and didn’t do much to get
better there. Jason Pierre Paul should still be an impact player off the edge.
Oliver Vernon was paid a lot of money and just asking him to contain the run
and get penetration isn’t going to be enough. I’m not sure Vernon is as
effective as he was in his role last season. There are holes in the defense but
they still have the best unit in the NFC East division. If the Cowboys struggle
than the division is the Giants for the taking.
It’s hard to leave the Atlanta Falcons off the division winner
bracket. Someone has to win the NFC South and because they just played in the
super bowl I will give them the nod. The Falcons have some defensive issues
that they were able to hide last season. Getting Desmond Trufant back will
certainly help this defense but they still have some concerns on that side of
the ball. The Falcons went hard on the defensive side of the ball. They struck
gold with rookies Keanu Neal and Deion jones last sesaon. They hope that trend
continues with the additions of rookie pass rusher Takkarist McKinley and
linebacker Duke Riley. The Falcons youth movement on defense paid off for them
last season but teams have had an entire off-season to study this team. The
addition of Dontari Poe will certainly help them with stopping the run. With an
offense that has, the ability to score 30 points a game who needs defense.
The Falcons have an elite offense. The only reason I didn’t
put them in the top seed bracket is because I expect a regression from Matt
Ryan. Ryan is a good quarterback and has been his entire career. Last year he
played out of his mind. Much of that can be accredited to offensive coordinator
Kyle Shanahan. Losing Shanahan will affect Ryan. This doesn’t mean he will
somehow become a terrible quarterback, but he won’t play at the same MVP level
we saw he at last season. Without him playing at that high a level, this team
isn’t good enough to straight up beat teams. They still have one of the best
wide receivers in the league in Julio Jones. The rest of their offensive cast is
enough to get them into the playoffs but they will need another MVP season from
Matt Ryan in order to compete for a top two seed and super bowl appearance.
Wildcard Teams:
Look out for the 2017 Tampa Bay Buccaneers! This is a
team on the rise. They had one of the better off seasons in the league. Adding
pieces to a 9 win team should put them in the playoffs. I don’ think they have
enough to beat out Atlanta for the division but they can definitely get in as a
wild card.
Jameis Winston is poised for a huge year in 2017! The
Bucs added deep threat Desean Jackson and rookie tight end OJ Howard. Jackson will
force defenses to stay honest because he can blow the top off a defense. If
teams think they’re going to roll coverage to the side of Mike Evans and leave
a defender one on one with Jackson they will get burnt. Howard will give
Winston another option and make them even harder to stop offensively. If Doug
Martin can stay healthy, the Bucs will be able to win shoot out games against
the Falcons and may take the NFC South division. I also think they have a slightly
better defense than the Atlanta Falcons.
The Carolina Panthers will bounce back in 2017.
Everything that could’ve went wrong for Carolina did in 2016. That’s
funny seeing as though everything went right or them in 2015.
The Panthers go as far as stud quarterback Cam Newton
will take them. He had a terrible season last year. He struggled with his
accuracy and ball placement. He was banged up for most of last season and his
offensive line didn’t help him. The Panthers did something this off season that
I think will really help them moving forward, they got faster on offense.
The Panthers have been a power run based offense since Cam has taken over at quarterback. That offensive system fits Cam
skill set and it allows him to have in impact in the rushing game. Johnathan
Stewart is power back that runs hard and picks up tough yardage. Together he
and Cam are able to wear a defense down with the power rush attack. This season
the Panthers will have two dynamic rookies to get the ball to.
“Run CMC” appears to be legit! I know it’s just preseason
but McCaffrey is doing the same things at the pro level that he did in college.
That is scary for the league and provides the Panthers with a lethal weapon.
McCaffrey has the ability to hit the home-run, in the running game and will
kill linebacker and safeties underneath. The Panthers passing game is a vertical
deep game that stretches the field. With big wide receivers Kelvin Benjamin and
Devin Funchess occupying the safeties McCaffrey and Curtis Samuel will have
plenty of room to work with. Adding speed to this offense makes them more
dangerous than they already were. With Cam bouncing back I can see this team sneaking
into the playoffs as a wild card team.
I have to give this last team some love because that
defense is too good to miss the playoffs for a second straight season. The Minnesota
Vikings have a championship defense. They have amazing talent at every level of
that defense. Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen form a very potent pass rush
tandem. Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks are two amazing linebackers. Harrison
Smith may be the second best safety in the league and Xavier Rhodes is a top
five corner back. This team is too good defensively to miss the playoffs but
they have to overcome that anchor of an offense.
Sam Bradford was a good fill in quarterback for Teddy
Bridgewater but I don’t think this offense his designed for him. He just doesn’t
have the mobility to extend plays and give these wide receivers time to get
open. Steffon Diggs is a good wide receiver and can solidify his case as their
number one receiver with a good 2017 season. All signs point to Dalvin Cook
getting the start at running back despite the team bringing in veteran Latavious
Murray via free agency. Cook should give them some explosiveness out the
backfield and take pressure off Bradford to have to find guys down the field.
Dumping the ball down to Cook should be enough to keep the chains moving for
this offense. They still have issues on
the offensive line and if Cook isn’t able to give them a legit running game
they will struggle on offense again in 2017.
If you keeping up with this blog then you can see that I
have three brackets. I have the Cowboys, Packers, and Seahawks competing for
the top two seed in the NFC. The next bracket are teams that are good enough to
win their division but aren’t competing for a top two spots. I have the Giants
and Falcons in that bracket. The Giants and Cowboys both can’t win the division
but they both can make the playoffs. That is the point I’m trying to get across.
I see both of them making the playoffs. I see the Cowboys winning the division
and getting one of the top two spots and the Giants getting a wildcard spot. The
last bracket is the wildcard bracket and I have the Bucs, Panthers, and Vikings
all in this bracket. No three teams probably won’t come from the NFC South but
it doesn’t change that they have three good teams. The Vikings are a long shot
but that defense if just too damn good to see them missing the playoffs. I will
also keep an eye on teams like the Arizona Cardinals and Washington Redskins. The
2017 season should be a very good one and unlike the AFC the NFC is wide open!
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