Lifelong Falcons fan (in New York) and looking forward to the season. The team has remade the defense with John Abraham, Lawyer Milloy and Chris Crocker. I'm hoping to get down to Atlanta for at least one game.

Nope! We're all Panthers fans 'round here. There are a few Bucs fans too, but we don't count them.

Welcome to the board! The NFC South should be interesting this year. There has been some good gaind made by the Falcons and the Saints, with the Bucs and the Panthers still being pretty strong. Can't wait to get back to Bank of America stadium in September.

Hey Roger:
There are a few Dirty Bird fans here and the forums heat up as we get closer to the season.

Welcome!

Oh wonderful. Panthers fans!! Well, it sounds like it will be a fun place to talk smack. At least we can agree on the Bucs.

Thanks for the welcome, Jim!

I'm a long time Saints fan, so don't expect much from me. Do Falcon players that are ex-LSU and Louisiana Natives count? If so, then the best you'll get from me is to be a fan of Chad Lavalois, Warrick Dunn, and Todd McClure. I love Vick, but he's outrun our defense so many times, it's hard to watch.

I have predicted an eight-win season for the Saints, and the only way to accomplish that is to beat the Falcons twice. I'm predicting wins against The Falcons (home), the Falcons (away), Green Bay, San Francisco, The Panthers (away; they usually beat the Panthers at their place and lose at home, and, because I think Keyshaun verses Smith will eventually ruin their team chemistry), Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and hopefully, Philadelphia. There's no way the Saints are going to beat Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Washington, the Giants, or the Bengals. Those teams are loaded.

Nice! This could turn out to be fun in the fall. There wasn't a hell of a lot of talk about the NFC South, mostly about the Eagles.

Honestly, I do wonder about the Falcons this year. I think they are in for a rough year. It seems like the Panthers and Saints made improvements (or at least I hope Keyshawn is an improvement). I'm not suppossed to, but I do like Jim Mora too.

Could there be an Outsports outing to an NFC South game in the future?

...just not in Tampa! wink

What does that mean? What's an "Outsports outing"?

By the way, the NFC isn't the only conference that will be interesting to watch next season.

The AFC East: Either the Pats or Jets will win that one. If I had to pick one, I'd pick the Pats, even with all the talent they lost. They still have Brady, who along with Peyton, is the best in the league. Yeah, the Jets offensive line got better with D'brickashaw Ferguson, but they still have some questions at the QB position. Pennington won't be the same after his surgery, Ramsey is not a Superbowl QB, and Clemmens, their QB draftee, is untested, and, even worse, a midget (the highly intelligent Doug Flutie is the last of that dying breed).

The AFC North: An easy one: The Steelers will win this division. Massive Running Backs; massive offensive linemen, a big bruising QB, and the best LB core in the AFC; who's going to stop these HULKS?

The AFC South: Another easy one: The Colts, because of Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. I'm not high on Edgerin James any more; he's definitely slowed down and is not hitting the hole with the aggresion he used to. I don't think he'll have as much impact in Arizona as Cardinal fans seem to think.

The AFC West: Also easy: The Denver Broncos. They already have an excellent QB and they got Vandy's Jay Cutler from the draft. They also broke the back of Green Bay's offense when they stole Javon Walker. They'll be in the play-offs again for sure. The Chargers is their biggest rival, but boy, they had some lucky plays go their way last season. That won't happen two years in a row.

The NFC East: Gotta favor the Giants. My man, Eli, and Tiki will be tough to beat. The Cowboys are good enough, but Terrell Owen is a cancer and will ruin their team Chemistry just like he did the Eagles'. We all like Jeremy but its gonna take more than a punt returner who runs like the wind to fix Philly's problems; McNabb is not a heady quarterback; and their schedule contains four built-in losses: two each to the Giants and Cowboys. The Skins? Forget about it. That's not gonna happen.

The NFC North: There are no good teams in the NFC North. The Bears have no offense; the Lions have no heart; the Packers are too old (Favre is a shadow of his former self, their defense is a sham, and they didn't have a good draft); and the Vikings will win by default because they have no real competition.

The NFC South: Easy: The Carolina Panthers. We are a passionate bunch down here, but we're not stupid. We're very familiar with Jake Delhomme, and we certainly know who LenDale White and DeAngelo Williams are. The Saints, Falcons, and Bucs are playing for second. the Falcons and Bucs will try hard, but Saints fans are used to losing; we just use football as an excuse to get together and party. Who cares if we don't win? We get to watch Reggie do his thang; that's enough.

The NFC West: The Seahawks in a landslide. I know some people are thinking Arizona will contend for the title, but Warner,as much as I love the guy, is too old for his spot, the girl-crazy Leinart is talented but new to the game, and Edgerin James is badly overrated. No, it's the Seahawks all the way, and those who think differently are simply kidding themselves.

[quote]Thomas:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by shep71:
[qb] ...just not in Tampa! wink [/quote]What does that mean? What's an "Outsports outing"?


Generally speaking, any meeting of multiple OutSports members in a certain location....

That's what I meant...a bunch of us getting together for a game somewhere.

I agree with much of what you wrote up there Thomas. I feel pretty confident about the Panthers, but I don't think it's as much of a foredrawn conclusion as you might. There is a lot of parity in the NFC South.

Thanks, Shep71, for the explanation. Can't wait for Football to start. Superdome has already sold out several games.

Wow....that's fantastic. I thinks the whole of America is looking forward to the home opener on MNF in September.

The Falcons have some major upgrading to the defense, and we start the season playing all three NFC South teams (2 on the road) so it will be interesting. Less than 4 months to go!

Shep: I got ahead of myself. Sorry for the misinformation. The article said that the Saints are well on their way to selling out several homes games. So, I need to correct this. Ticket sales were very slow at first, then Brees was signed and sales picked up, but sales went through the roof after Reggie Bush fell to us. Right now the Saints have sold roughly 56,000 of the 65,000 seats for the first home game against the Falcons. That game will definitely sell out, no doubt about that. This is a great time to be a Saints fan. Brees and Bush in the same year; it's like a Birthday, Xmas, New Years, the 4th of July, and Mardi Gras rolled into one big party.

[quote]Thomas:
[QUOTE]This is a great time to be a Saints fan. Brees and Bush in the same year; it's like a Birthday, Xmas, New Years, the 4th of July, and Mardi Gras rolled into one big party. [/quote]Unfortunately for the Saints, they are the worst team in the South by far. But I'm hoping they can split with the Panthers and Bucs.

[quote]Roger N:
[quote]Thomas:
[QUOTE]This is a great time to be a Saints fan. Brees and Bush in the same year; it's like a Birthday, Xmas, New Years, the 4th of July, and Mardi Gras rolled into one big party. [/quote]Unfortunately for the Saints, they are the worst team in the South by far. But I'm hoping they can split with the Panthers and Bucs. [/quote]Roger, tell me and the other Saints fans something we don't know. We are the worst team in the South, but we definitely got better this year. Yeah, they usually split with the Panthers, but not the Bucs. They should be able to split with the Falcons this year, hopefully. C'mon. Brees? Stallworth? Joe Horn? Reggie Bush? Deuce McCalister? An offensive minded coach like Sean Peyton instead of a defense guru (and I use the term loosely) like Jim Hazlett? They got the weapons to scare a lot of teams, not just their division rivals, but it might take more than one training camp to start clicking on all cylinders. No, I don't expect them to win more than 6-8 games this year, but I'll gladly take it.

[ May 21, 2006, 11:39 PM: Message edited by: Thomas ]

Thomas, I just like to talk trash. I would love to go to that Monday Night game in the Super Dome. I've always had fun in New Orleans on my trips to see the Falcons. Hopefully the South teams don't beat each other up too much this year.

That's cool. I knew you were kidding. But if you plan to be here for that game, you'd better get your ticket now or you'll be standing outside paying way more than necessary to get in. And, please, leave Vick at home this time. In my oppinion, out defense is slightly weaker than it was last year. But I guarantee we will be able to stay with you guys on offense.

Vick is overratted! He's great, don't get me wrong, but you'd think he could walk on water the way all the sports prognasticators talk about him.

And you're right, hopefully the south teams don't beat the hell out of one another...unless of course it's the Panthers doing the beating.

All this time I thought you were a Falcons fan. So its the Panthers? You got nothing to worry about then. They are damn good. In my opinion, the class of the South by far. I definitely don't think Vick is overrated. He's a very dangerous runner. Lucky for the rest of us, it looks like most play-off caliber teams are now opting for pocket passers with strong arms and high football intelligence; e.g. players like the Mannings, Brady, Pennington, Simms, Roethlisberger. Not the best athletically, but smart enough to not lose the game with high risk plays, turnovers, and interceptions. This return to old style football means that the defenses will now have a much tougher role to play. So, in the very near future, even team as boring on offense as the Chicago Bears will be able to compete effectively. Well, maybe not the Bears, they have no offense at all, but a team with a decent, if not powerful, offense that is led by a smart, heady quarterback. No offense to Vick; he's a great athlete, just not a very accurate pocket passer.

Yeah...Panthers fan here. Have been since I moved here 7 years ago. And let me tell you...there were a few lean years round here!

And you're right about Vick. I mean, obviously he's brilliant and a real threat running, but if he's so great, why hasn't Atlanta won all the Superbowl, or at least done much better in the playoffs? I just think, until he produces playoff results, he should be mentioned with the mere mortals of quarterbacks, not the greats.

I missed last year, but the previous 2 years I was in Charlotte for the Bucs/Panthers. And looks like I will make this years Monday night game! So get yer grill on and I'll be there! :cool:

Afraid of a little heat are ya? wink

You know there is a lesbian bar that is right in the shadow of the stadium. On game days, Hartigan's is a wild place with everyone stopping by on their way in/out of the game and all the gays and lesbians there hanging out. It's a blast.

I bring this up because after the Panthers/Bucs game this year, there were like a billion Bucs fans in there in their jerseys. Of course had we won, that wouldn't have been a problem, but alas...Actually, a good time was had by all!

Did you drive the caddy to Charlotte?