Part 4 of our 11 Part Series and today we focus on the NFC SOUTH.
ODDS TO WIN DIVISION:
Atlanta +2000
Carolina +900
New Orleans +300
Tampa Bay -400
No surprise here folks, you got to lay the wood in this division. One team has the greatest QB of all time and the other 3 don’t. In fact, the other 3 teams in this division don’t even have proven NFL QB’s on their roster as they all have major question marks at the position.
Throw out Atlanta and Carolina as neither team has a prayer of winning this division. New Orleans has a new coach for the first time since 2006 and do any of you want to put your money on Jameis Winston or Andy Dalton. Alvin Kamara isn’t currently suspended but he is dealing with a legal issue and very well could miss time this season. There are too many question marks there.
So that brings us to Tampa Bay. We know they have some questions on the offensive line and the retirement of Rob Gronkowski sure doesn’t help but their talent level is head and shoulders above the other 3 teams in this division.
Now, the schedule isn’t easy, as their first 4 games are tough. @ Dallas week 1, @ New Orleans Week 2, Home against Green Bay Week 3 and home against Kansas City Week 4. But then it slows down for them as the next 3 weeks are against Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Carolina before back-to-back home games vs Baltimore and the defending champion LA Rams.
Seattle, Cleveland, and New Orleans are the next 3 before a tough 3 game stretch against SF, Cincinnati and Arizona but then they end the season with Carolina and Atlanta.
We have them pegged for 11 wins this season and we don’t feel any other team in the division will approach 10 wins. Their defense should be improved this season and whenever you have Tom Brady at the helm, your offense will find a way.
The addition of Julio Jones, if he stays healthy, will be big and Godwin returning will open things up as well. We know Brady will get the ball out quickly and no one reads defenses better than him so he will know exactly where to go with the ball and because he doesn’t hold it forever like some other QB’s, that will greatly help his offensive line.
This price is pretty much where we expected it to be. There just isn’t another viable option in this division.
Tampa Bay at 4 to 1 is our prediction to win the NFC South
