National Football League

Is NFC South the conference's best?

Published Dec. 30, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

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Every week, the experts of "FOX NFL Sunday" reveal their observations and opinions as they prepare for football's top-rated pregame telecast — seen each Sunday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT. We'll share some of the highlights from Curt, Terry, Howie, Jimmy and Michael grabbed from their weekly conference call with insider John Czarnecki.

This week, Czar probes the "FOX NFL Sunday" crew on the NFC South, the Eagles' loss to the Vikings and the Bears.

Czar: In the six of the last eight years, a team from the NFC South has either played in or won the NFC Championship Game. How good is this division?

Terry Bradshaw: Well, based on that record, you have to say it’s very good.

Howie Long: The unusual thing about it, too, is how the teams have rotated being good, often the worst team from the year before comes back to be the top team the next season.

TB: Howie is right. But let’s remember that Tony Dungy built a defensive team in Tampa Bay, that Jon Gruden won a Super Bowl with and then John Fox came into Carolina with defensive ideas and twice went to the title game with Jake Delhomme. Atlanta did it with Michael Vick early in the decade and then they got Matt Ryan and they have been solid. The Saints got Sean Payton and Drew Brees and they have been very good almost every year together.

Jimmy Johnson: Gregg Williams has built a very good defense for the Saints, too.

TB: The end of that Monday night game in Atlanta was one of the best jobs of quarterbacking that I ever saw from Brees. He was solid in his pickups and displayed so much confidence and patience. Payton did an awesome job, too, of calling the plays. And I was surprised at how much Atlanta’s defense came after him, too.

HL: Brees was under siege a lot. And New Orleans’ defense also played great up front.

Czar: OK, what did that game tell you about these teams heading into the playoffs?

HL: One thing it told me is that Atlanta is a different offensive team when they aren’t dealing with second-and-3, third-and-4. They are also a different football team if you take away their time of possession edge. They made some uncharacteristic turnovers. They need to expand who they are going to on offense because if teams can take away Michael Turner, golly, they struggle.

TB: I think the Saints showed that if you shoot the gaps and get into Ryan’s face, he’s like any other quarterback. He became kind of average in that game.

JJ: What surprised me in that game was how Gregg Williams lined up his cornerbacks one-on-one on their receivers for virtually the entire game.

HL: The only time he switched back to coverage in the secondary was on Atlanta’s final drive.

JJ: I thought that was a gutsy call by Williams, but I also believe he knew that was the only way his defense had a shot at stopping Turner.

TB: It was also saying that even if Atlanta beat his corners that his pressure was going to get to Ryan.

JJ: That was the gamble he took, and it worked.

Curt Menefee: Jimmy, I know you aren’t a fan of losing, but do you think Falcons coach Mike Smith is pretty happy the way it turned out.? They had won eight straight and they are going to have home-field advantage, but this loss gives him something to yell about when the playoffs start.

JJ: Well, this probably got their attention because I think they were starting to believe they couldn’t lose at home. You are right. I don’t think losing helps you. But the next time they have a big game at home Smith will have something to build on.

TB: I will also say this. On that last drive, we didn’t see Matty Ice at all. We saw a quarterback rushing the ball and panicking. I mean, he looked like a lot of quarterbacks do under pressure.

JJ: If the Falcons aren’t running the ball with Turner, Ryan isn’t as efficient and effective as he normally is.

HL: He had nowhere to go with the ball.

TB: And where he went was wrong.

***

Czar: The other surprise was how Minnesota beat up the Eagles. Philadelphia had a lot to play for in that game. How did that happen?

TB: That was a shocker. I can’t ever recall when the games are this big, of laying an egg like that. I will say that when it comes to the end of the season, this is when football gets really good.

HL: The Vikings walked their 'backers up into the A gap and I think they brought Antoine Winfield seven times off the corner. The receiver in the flat on that side . . .

TB: Never made an adjustment.

HL: And Vick acted like he never saw it.

TB: Acted like he had no clue.

HL: They looked to be running a 15-yard comeback pass vs. a slot blitz.

TB: That play had no chance of working.

JJ: They could have run a little drag (pass) route on that side.

TB: The hardest thing for a quarterback and his linemen is to see all those defenders walking up toward the line of scrimmage and then all of sudden have to figure out who to block after dropping your head for the snap. I agree that all those looks do become confusing to a quarterback after a while, and Vick looked it. The slot receiver on the blitz side should have run an easy turnout pass in the flat.

JJ: We always had our blitz control receiver call out an alert to just remind the quarterback that it was coming. For some reason, Vick did not see it. I mean, the receiver and the quarterback should have a little signal to just pop a pass out to me after the cornerback blitzes. The coaches should have made a little adjustment, too.

TB: Jimmy is exactly right. They saw it enough times during the game, they should have fixed it. Shows me that maybe they aren’t as smart as we thought they were.

HL: It was just bizarre that they never fully adjusted to what Minnesota was doing.

TB: I will say this again. You blitz a bunch, you drive the quarterback crazy. He may hit some against you, but if you keep coming with multiple packages like what Gregg Williams is doing in New Orleans, you screw up the quarterbacks and they look like they are on egg shells and get to thinking way too much.

HL: Getting back to what you said earlier, Brees really handled the pressure well at the end. He was also able to make some really athletic plays against the blitz.

TB: I hated blitzes. It gave me headaches, especially if I was unable to burn them with some big throws. But there were a couple things I got out of the Minnesota game. That young quarterback, Joe Webb, was impressive at times and the Vikings have to be encouraged by his play. Plus, that win should guarantee Leslie Frazier the coaching job for next season.

***

Czar: What do you think about the Bears heading into the playoffs?

TB: I’m still confused by the Bears because Jay Cutler still hasn’t won me over.

JJ: But they have won seven of their last eight games. They have actually been playing pretty good. I think a lot of us have memories of the way they played early in the year. They have been very consistent of late.

HL: And they could have gone a number of different directions after that home loss to the Patriots.

JJ: They have improved significantly and Cutler, in particular.

TB: Yeah, Jimmy is right.

JJ: Plus, they are running the ball well. Mike Martz has adjusted.

TB: The hero of this thing may be Martz in that he’s been running the ball and operating a balanced offense.

JJ: That’s the right thing to do when you have a solid defense.

TB: I still think that Green Bay is going to beat them on Sunday and the Packers will be a dangerous team in the playoffs.

HL: Now that Bears have the second seed and a first-round bye, how do they play this game?

JJ: The way I always did it was if a starter was banged up he sat, but I usually always played the starters through the first half. If they were nicked at all, they would sit.

TB: I telling you if I’m in the NFC and I find out the Packers are in the playoffs, I’m not real comfortable.