Good morning.The off season is mostly in the bag so we pretty much know the personnel that each of the teams are going to war with in September, the question is, did we do enough and how did the other's fare?I spent some time this morning looking over the forum boards from the Falcon's, Saint's and Panthers and generally here is what I think they think of themselves and us:Falcon fans: Mostly seem to think last season was an aberration and feel that they have done enough on the offensive line with the return of Jones to be a pretty unstoppable offensive force in the fall. Most seem to think that the Saints are the only real competition in the division and see Carolina above us in terms of strength, but mostly feel that the Panthers and the Bucs will be fighting it out for the basement. Some fans are concerned about their defensive line and the fact that they have a short secondary while the rest of the division has gotten taller at the wide receiver position. General consensus is that McCown is crap, too many rookies on offense but acknowledge that the defense will probably be good. Atlanta fans feel they are probably a 11-13 win team and pretty much count on sweeping Carolina and us while splitting with New Orleans. There is even a thread talking about how Ryan is superior to Brees.Link: http://boards.atlantafalcons.com/forum/45-talk-about-the-falcons/ Predicition thread: http://boards.atlantafalcons.com/topic/4004981-2014-forecast/ Carolina fans: There is some concern among the fans, but generally they are confident that they can once again win the division. The Carolina fans generally think Atlanta is in the biggest trouble in the division and feel that they (and us) will be fighting it out for last place. The fans that seem be worried are those that are pointing out that the offensive line still hasn't been addressed and that they have a weakness in the secondary but others point out that the secondary was a perceived weakness last season and in the end, the guys that they had played great ball. They all feel that they have the best defense in the division but generally concede the best offense to the Saints. Like the Falcon's, they think the division will come down to them and the Saints. Link: http://www.carolinahuddle.com/boards/forum/7-carolina-panthers/ Predition thread: http://www.scribd.com/doc/225521413/2014-Predictions Saints fans: Saint fans are a very confident lot and appear to think their team is pretty much a playoff shoo-in. Interesting to read the thread on Mike Evans. Basically they see the Falcon's apparently like the Panthers do, but seem to have a bit more respect for the Bucs in general. I don't see anything that indicates that they feel any team in the south is an actual challenge to them, but I do see more comments about the Bucs than the other two division teams. Like the other teams in the division, they feel they have the best offense and generally think that they have the best defense as well. Not too much worry about anything that I can notice. Basically they see themselves as #1 and it doesn't make any difference where the other teams end up at.Link: http://saintsreport.com/forums/f2/ Predition thread: http://saintsreport.com/forums/f2/2014-season-predictions-324858/ So what to people here think? Generally, it seems to me, most of us do feel that the Saints are the top team this year and opinions are split on Carolina and Atlanta. I don't think any of the teams in the division are going to basically sweep anyone else, even the Saints. Best in-division record I think will be 4-2 and worse will probably be 2-4. I personally don't think the Falcons or the Panthers are any better than us as both teams seem to have as many holes in them as we potentially do. I also don't feel that the Saints are as far above the other teams in the division as they seem to think, but also feel that if a team is going 12-4 or 13-3 in the division, they are the team I'd choose. I'm also of the opinion that McCown will be basically steady in the way Brad Johnson was steady. I'm encouraged because the team coaching staff is at worse NFL competent and at best is excellent which is 100% better than I felt about last season's staff. What are some other posters thoughts?
