Well, that was an exciting weekend of football! Between East Carolina and Tom Brady, I’m not quite sure what to talk about. Perhaps I’ll go on a rant about Notre Dame…

Actually, although all the speculation this week will (rightly) be about the Patriots, I think I want to look at yesterday’s most suprising and impressive division: the NFC South.

Atlanta, Carolina, and New Orleans were all impressive in their debuts, and though I don’t think Micheal Turner’s fast start qualifies the Falcons as instant contenders, Sunday made one of the NFL’s weakest divisions suddenly look like one of the strongest.  

In fact, other than Seattle’s complete flop in Buffalo, I thought Week one had the entire NFC looking fairly strong. Dallas and Romo, the team I was most anxious to see perform, looked great; McNabb and the Eagles had the most impressive win by far blowing a terrible St. Louis team out of the water, and the Kyle Orton-led Bears took down the mighty Colts on their home turf. Combine that with Brady’s injury and the Jags suprising lack of offence at Tennessee, and all of a sudden the NFC (minus the putrid NFC West, the NL West of football) isn’t such a land of mediocrity. Hell, the Giants might have to battle for that last Wild Card spot.

The Saints and Panthers really stand out to me. These are two teams that, I believe, played better than their record indicated last year, losing some close games and taking some tough injuries. Reggie Bush looked like he was ready to take a step forward after a sophmore slump and Drew Brees threw the ball extremely well. Jeremey Shockey and Johnathan Vilma, I think, make these guys legitimate NFC South, if not Super Bowl, contenders. After playing a tough schedule last year, I would expect NO to revert to 2006 form– lots of offence, just enough defence. 

Carolina’s win over SD was easily the stunner of the afternoon, with the Cats hanging tough and actually out rushing a team known for its ground game on both sides of the ball. That bodes well for an offensive line that stuggled to give the many Panther QB’s protection last year. With Jake Delhomme healthy and well protected, this team, though perhaps not as strong as NO or TB, can definetly contend for the wild card. Even with the lucky Gates fumble and improbable final grab by Dante Rosario, you’ve gotta be impressed by a stunning come from behind win against one of the top 4 teams in the NFL on the road and without your best player (Steve Smith). If I’m Tampa, I’m worried.

So what does this all mean? Well, for one, it means there is probably going to be some competiton for that NFC Wild Card. The Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Bucs, Saints, Panthers, and possibly the Redskins and Packers could all be solid teams. I don’t think, other than possibly the Cowboys, any of these teams are truly cream of the league, but if Carolina and New Orleans truly are back, the defending champs could have some issues.

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Oh, and I guess the Pats go 10-5 without Brady and win the division by two games over the Jets and Bills. Losing one player, no matter how good, does not take a team from best of all time to out of playoff contention. At least in football. In basketball, maybe…

(Hmm.. interesting discussion for next time: what is the most important position in sports? In other words, at what position does having a dominant player make the biggest impact? Is it quarterback? Center? Fly-half? I’m not sure..)