When I was in high school, Simon and Garfunkel came out with a song called, At The Zoo.
It begins with the words, “Someone told me it’s all happening at the zoo.” Well, in the NFL this year, it’s all happening at the NFC South Division. I point this out even though no team in this grouping of four NFL teams has a winning record.
If Paul and Art were putting lyrics behind it, it might go something like this:
It’s a short journey from the bottom to the top
From a division title to a near last place spot
From these four squads just no good team to choose
And most expect an NFC South team to lose
Okay, I’m no song writer, and it would be a lot nicer to see how the singing duo would have sung about the division comprised of the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers. And what do I mean it is all happening in this division?
I mean, any of three teams, none of which have a winning record, will win this division and land in the postseason. And, the Panthers currently have the worst record in the league, and if they finish that way they will match what the Jacksonville Jaguars got in consecutive drafts a few years back, seasons in which they had the first pick in the draft two years in a row.
Unfortunately, for the Panthers, they have already lost the opportunity the Jaguars got when they had the worst record in the NFL in back-to-back campaigns because they have already traded next year’s first pick to the Chicago Bears.
The Jaguars got the first pick in the draft by compiling the worst record in 2020 and 2021 before cashing the ensuing high draft picks to vault them into the playoffs last season and have them looking like a playoff team again this season. The Panthers got the first pick last year by trading away their first round picks in both this year’s and next year’s draft to the Chicago Bears. Which means this, it might be Chicago that ends up with the first pick in the upcoming draft and they could bolt to the top of their division after years of disappointing campaigns.
Oh yeah, it’s all happening in the NFC South Division, and it may be paramount to turning the NFC North Division into the strongest in the league. The Detroit Lions already have reversed years of losing seasons into a Super Bowl contender this year and if Chicago reemerges as monsters of the midway and joins the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers for supremacy … well you get the idea.
All the other divisions have better teams than the NFC South, but that doesn’t erase the fact that this division could have the most competitive race to the playoffs with the division winner hosting a Wild Card Weekend game and the other three teams eliminated before the playoffs begin.
The Saints are truly an unholy thing
And the Falcons hope to find their wings
The Buccaneers are still hanging around
And the Bears hope the Panthers stay down
I do believe it’s all happening right here
In the NFC South
In the NFC South
In the NFC South
In the NFC South
In the NFC South
Did I mention that the Falcons are looking to get their wings when they play the Saints this week. Oh yeah, that too.
Qoxhi Picks: Atlanta Falcons (pk) over New Orleans Saints