Toughest competition in the NFC

[Sac]

Honestly, I think the Patriots may be the one team that can take us down in the Owl.

Now with Browner and Revis, and with Darth Hoodie calling the X's and O's they can play solid press man and they already had a pass rush. And then there's Brady.

 

[hawkfan68]

NFC West teams are going to pound one another. Two other teams improved in the NFC this offseason - the Saints and Eagles. Eagles picked up Sproles and if the Saints find a replacement for Sproles they can be nasty. They improved their secondary, that's for sure. With Brees at QB, the nod goes to the Saints.

 

[KitsapGuy]

Outside of our division. I will say the Packers.

 

[Largent80]

Sometimes ourselves since we were at the top in penalties. Good thing we had a great enough of a team to overcome that, plus injuries.

Hard to say who made good so far in the offseason, however the NFC West is no longer the NFC Worst.

 

[chris98251]

We pretty much grew our own here and melded them together, bringing in established vets to fill spots rarely works,egos, scheme that may not fit talent, then you have the problem of keeping them together typically after they already got a big contract.

Why GB is much more a threat over every season then others. they grow their own, Santa Clara is doing much of the same thing now, they went FA and busted a lot.

Pats melding everything they put together as well as the Donkeys this off season could bust big time with all the egos and players coming from different schemes. Pats I think can make it work by just the will power of Belechik, at least for a season.

 

[Kaiser]

I would say the 49ers have the score to settle, and the talent to do it, but Kaepernick is going to start facing schemes from people who figure out how to contain and bait his throws. if he doesnt grow out of his college style before the film on him is fully dissected, theyre going nowhere. so i'll go with the packers or saints.

 

[drdiags]

Not sure why AFC teams are being mentioned when the OP asked about NFC competition for the NFC crown, not the SB title. I guess those who answered with AFC challengers are mentioning them to indicate that if they are on the schedule, they present a challenge toward the Seahawks getting the best record?

Or is it that the posters just don't want to limit their insights to the NFC only? Just me being dense, no foul I hope.

 

[TeamoftheCentury]

The NFC South is also going to be quite a competitive division. The Saints, Panthers, and Bucs are all going to be good teams. What to make of the Falcons? I think the Lions were just lacking good coaching and they've got that now. Remember they were in control of that division last year (before they fell apart.) I'm not sold on Green Bay and Chicago. Who knows with the Vikings. If they get more consistent QB play, maybe they are competitive in their division. The Redskins could be an interesting team with RGIII having a new weapon of DJack to pair with Garcon along with coach Jay Gruden. But, in general, the NFC East is an enigma. It's hard to make a case for any of them.

There's things that can be said about many teams in regards to their potential competitiveness in the NFC picture. Still...

Honestly, I actually think the Seahawks could possibly go undefeated this season. They certainly have the capability - they're that good. They're getting better and better and that's going to continue. I'm not kidding myself. I know the NFC West is tough and all the teams should be better. Yeah, I know the NFC is a tough conference. But, I think the Seahawks provide the toughest test for any team and the rest of the NFC West will be looking up all season. With all due respect to other NFC teams, the Hawks should secure HFA again on their way to a Re-Pete championship with a shot at Three-Pete.

It's still early, but I'm looking forward to seeing how far this 2014 team can take their "What's Next" mantra.

Go Hawks... Team of the 21st Century.

 

[MidwestHawker]

Honestly, I think the Patriots may be the one team that can take us down in the Owl.

Now with Browner and Revis, and with Darth Hoodie calling the X's and O's they can play solid press man and they already had a pass rush. And then there's Brady.

I think it would be the greatest thing in history if we repeated by beating up Manning and Brady in back-to-back years. I'd love for all of the Manning-Brady comparisons to include, "Well, they both got the crap beaten out of them on the biggest stage by Seattle..."

 

[MidwestHawker]

Not sure why AFC teams are being mentioned when the OP asked about NFC competition for the NFC crown, not the SB title.

Ha, yeah I guess I took my eye off the ball here too. My bad.

 

[chris98251]

AFC west plays the NFC west this year, Denver's a selected favorite for the AFC and a direct threat to the win loss of the NFC west and us. How they fair against the NFC west will dictate how the AFC stacks up and how the NFC west is rated this coming season.

 

[Hawks46]

I agree with most that our division will be the biggest threat.

At first, I want to say the Whiners are the biggest challenge, and I think they still are, but they will drop off. No Bowman and questions at WR (Crabs and Boldin aren't enough to get it done, and Kaepernick hasn't proven he can work with 3 options yet) will hurt them a bit, but they're still a damned good team.

The Cards could be scary, Palmer got better in Arians' system the last half of last year, they're getting Honeybadger back, and they're defense is really really good. They've addressed the their biggest question mark which was the OL; if Palmer gets time to go vertical, he still can and that can be a great team. Thing is, if they want to take the division, they have to beat SF, something which they've failed to do the last 10 or so times they've played.This division is going to be so good, that if a team gets swept by a division rival, that's probably going to do it for them. I fully expect 3-3 to win this division.

I'd have to say the next team would be the Saints. They really improved their defense, and we had a tough time running on them already. They've gotten much better in the secondary and that's where we beat them. They already had a better offense than us, and the addition of Cooks will make them tough to scheme against. If they have to play us up here, we still beat them but if we play them there....they could win and it's not a long shot. Thing is, their division just might be the next best division in the NFL. Tbay will be a tough out and Carolina seems to play the Saints well recently. Throw in Atlanta, who also plays the Saints tough....and they won't have the rash of injuries they had last year. That was freakish.

If I had to pick the next one, it would be a toss up between Chicago and the Eagles. The Eagles run the ball well, which is actually our weakness. Both teams will have to improve a ton on defense to compete with us, but they did both go heavy on defense in the draft.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I think the Saints are going to come back this year with a vengeance and retake the NFC South as the Panthers lost a LOT of players and didn't do much to restock.

Byrd is a huge signing, and should solidify their defensive weakness, safety play..........and mark my words Cooks is going to be a perennial pro bowler with Brees throwing to him.

Anyway, if the Saints get home field advantage, watch out.

 

[Hasselbeck]

I think the Saints are going to come back this year with a vengeance and retake the NFC South as the Panthers lost a LOT of players and didn't do much to restock.

Byrd is a huge signing, and should solidify their defensive weakness, safety play..........and mark my words Cooks is going to be a perennial pro bowler with Brees throwing to him.

Anyway, if the Saints get home field advantage, watch out.

The only thing really holding the Saints back IMO is how they play on the road. And 2 of their 8 road games this year are indoors.. so yeah they definitely have potential to make some noise.

If Tampa Bay doesn't improve as expected, that division could be really terrible too outside of New Orleans.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I think the Saints are going to come back this year with a vengeance and retake the NFC South as the Panthers lost a LOT of players and didn't do much to restock.

Byrd is a huge signing, and should solidify their defensive weakness, safety play..........and mark my words Cooks is going to be a perennial pro bowler with Brees throwing to him.

Anyway, if the Saints get home field advantage, watch out.

The only thing really holding the Saints back IMO is how they play on the road. And 2 of their 8 road games this year are indoors.. so yeah they definitely have potential to make some noise.

If Tampa Bay doesn't improve as expected, that division could be really terrible too outside of New Orleans.

I agree. Defense is how you improve your road record, just ask the Hawks. So I think with the Saint's improved D, they should do better on the road.

I can also see the Eagles taking the next step up to becoming one of the elite NFC teams, especially in their crappy division. I could see them winning 13-14 games if the rest of their division stinks like last year.

 

[hawkfan68]

I think the Saints are going to come back this year with a vengeance and retake the NFC South as the Panthers lost a LOT of players and didn't do much to restock.

Byrd is a huge signing, and should solidify their defensive weakness, safety play..........and mark my words Cooks is going to be a perennial pro bowler with Brees throwing to him.

Anyway, if the Saints get home field advantage, watch out.

The only thing really holding the Saints back IMO is how they play on the road. And 2 of their 8 road games this year are indoors.. so yeah they definitely have potential to make some noise.

If Tampa Bay doesn't improve as expected, that division could be really terrible too outside of New Orleans.

Atlanta could be good again. They lost Julio Jones early and that derailed their season. They definitely are having a good offseason in terms of FA and draft. They had a bad year last year but in the NFL , it's easy to bounce back from last to first. Many teams have done that. I think the NFC South will be between NO and Atl.

 

[SouthSoundHawk]

Seattle.

I'm not worried about any team in the entire NFL derailing Seattle from appearing/winning another Superb Owl. The only way they lose is if they beat themselves.

The Saints can't beat Seattle at CLink.

Seattle has SF's number.

The Packers have a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball.

The Rams couldn't beat Seattle and they even resorted to flopping and playing like dirt bags.

Carolina has one offensive player.

To be honest..it's still too early to really tell how teams will look going into week 1, but judging by what I see right now...Seattle controls their own destiny. Man, I hate the off season.

 

[Hasselbeck]

Atlanta could be good again. They lost Julio Jones early and that derailed their season. They definitely are having a good offseason in terms of FA and draft. They had a bad year last year but in the NFL , it's easy to bounce back from last to first. Many teams have done that. I think the NFC South will be between NO and Atl.

Atlanta's woes went far past just Julio Jones. That defense is not good. Steven Jackson doesn't scare anybody anymore. Their line was a disaster (though Jake Matthews should help)

I don't know.. I think if anyone in that division makes the leap from terrible to contender in a year it's more likely to be the Bucs than the Falcons.

I can also see the Eagles taking the next step up to becoming one of the elite NFC teams, especially in their crappy division. I could see them winning 13-14 games if the rest of their division stinks like last year.

I actually think the Redskins are a team to watch in that division. Could see Jay Gruden improving their offense and the defense playing well enough to win a pretty rough division. Again, all hinges on RG3's health though.

Philly - I don't know what to make of them. I like Chip Kelly a lot, but Foles isn't putting up gaudy stats again. I don't care how QB friendly his system is.. 29:2 TD/INT ratios are absurd. I think they will miss DeSean Jackson a lot more than they realize too.

 

[kearly]

The obvious answer is the 49ers.

When it comes to identifying the up and comers, I usually look for two things. The first is a team bursting with talent but is being held back by something, whether it is coaching, a tough division, or just bad luck. Last year I identfied Carolina as a team to shake up the NFC because their defense was so loaded that even Rivera couldn't screw it up much longer. The second thing I look for is when a really bad coach gets replaced by a really good coach, like Singletary to Harbaugh in 2011.

One team I have my eye on is Tampa. They have a lot of talent all over that roster and just had an enormous upgrade at head coach. It's possible that they just acquired a very good QB too. I know QBR is a joke, but McCown was #1 in QBR for much of last season, and as a guy who is really awesome throwing to big targets, it's interesting that he's going to a team with three massive targets to throw to (V-Jack, Evans, ASJ). Doug Martin slumped last year but his talent is real, and his primary backup also looked very good before getting hurt. Their defense doesn't get a ton of sacks but when they do those QBs feel them the next day. Their run defense is elite. They have star players at all three levels of their defense, and Lovie Smith can coach defense.

It's amazing to think Tampa started last season 0-8, because that roster is pretty stacked.