Matt Ryan or Jake Delhomme: A Shootout

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I'm into the NFC this week in my division by division preview of the NFL leading up to this week's opening week of the season. We land at the NFC South today.

Last year the Carolina Panthers earned the No. 1 seed before getting embarrassed by the Arizona Cardinals in the Divisional playoffs. Yeah, Jake Delhomme played the worst game of his life and the Cards went on to the Super Bowl.
This year the division has a smarter Matt Ryan in Atlanta and Drew Brees looking to destroy more teams with his arm, along with Delhomme to make this a great division to watch.

NFC South
Atlanta Falcons
The rookie of the year was an easy choice last year with the way Matt Ryan stepped in and took the Atlanta Falcons to playoffs. The guy played beyond his years. Give him a year and an offseason to study and the rest of the league should be put on notice. With Michael Turner in the backfield, not to mention the addition of some offensive weapons, namely Tony Gonzalez at tight end, and this could be an even better year for the Falcons offense.
Most important player: In a division where offenses are prolific, the defense is the key. If the offense shoots par, then guys like middle linebacker Curtis Lofton and defensive end John Abraham will be the ones coach Mike Smith turns to slam the door on some wins.

Carolina Panthers
The season ended miserably for the Panthers last season. I read the preview in SI this week and the way Delhomme handled his performance, on his birthday no less, was commendable. I give props to him for that because he could have lashed out.
The guy worked his tail off and has moved on from it and should be back. John Fox is a great coach and always makes a winner. I see this team being back in the mix this year.
Most important player: DeAngelo Williams is primed for a great year and what better way to take the pressure off Delhomme than to have him hand off to Williams. He's in a platoon with Jonathan Stewart, but Williams is the one who scores the TDs - he had 20 last year.

New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees lit the NFL on fire last season and fell just short of the yardage record in a season set by Dan Marino. That would have been great if the team could actually win games. They lost five games by a field goal or less and had a defense that couldn't catch a cold.
Well, not much has been done to address the defense so we'll see what happens there this year.
Most important player: Now is the time for Reggie Bush to come into his own. Heck, the guy has Kim Kardashian and now can take her to Miami for the Pro Bowl this year. Look for him to be a monster in the backfield this year if he stays healthy and take some of the slack from Drew.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Well, a lot has changed for the Bucs this season. Chucky is now in the ESPN Monday Night football booth and there are a ton of new faces on this team. Namely at quarterback where Byron Leftwich is primed to be the starter.
The running game is solid with Derrick Ward set to be the feature back with the Cadilliac in the garage, but I'm not so sure there is much else around him.
Most important player: The defense will have to carry the load and score some points. With some players left behind from the Gruden and even Tony Dungy days, they will have to rely on that and Ronde Barbe is the guy to lead the charge. He needs to have a huge season.

Prediction time:
Carolina Panthers 11-5 -- Another Division title for the Panthers
Atlanta Falcons 10-6 -- A great finish. We'll have to see how things fall in the rest of the league.
New Orleans Saints 8-8 -- Another .500 season where defense is again the culprit
Tampa Bay Buccanneers 2-14 -- Battling the Browns and Lions for the No. 1 pick in the draft

Here's a look back at each division we've done so far.
Sept. 1: AFC South
Sept 2: AFC West
Sept. 3: AFC East
Sept. 4: AFC North
Sept. 7: NFC South (Today)
Tuesday, Sept. 8: NFC West
Wednesday, Sept. 9: NFC East
Thursday, Sept. 10: NFC North
Friday, Sept. 11: Playoffs and Super Bowl XLIV picks



Now to other sports news... I just finished a weekend in Milwauke in which I saw three Brewers games (Shouts to those running Hotel Brandy and Hotel Jenni and Maria, not to mention El Rog for his accomodations and all those I ran into during the three-day event) Only saw one win during those three, but it was a darn good one.
It included that celebration above, which is getting some play in the national media from the Giants and Cardinals. Miller Park was still buzzing today about that and so was the news wire from the team that left town and the one that got into town.
It was the topic of the Journal-Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt's blog post today. Appears Macha didn't know what was up, but all of the players did.
The term acting professional is a bit funny used in there, as the Brewers were just having fun, as led by their true leader, Prince.
Funny thing, too, is that the Cardinals also were saying some things on the issue. But the Saturday night the supposed "God of all things baseball etiquitte" Albert Pujols pretty much walked all the way to first base after hitting a pinch-hit home run against the Pirates. Take a look, here.
My take is this, just as one of the guys I follow I Twitter said, When did baseball stop being about fun? Heck, it's a game-ending (walk-off if you must) home run. Let the guys enjoy it. It's not as bad as some of the other things I see going on (Note Pujols praising the skies above like he did today at Miller Park).

Now on to the Nussie Hunter portion of the program. I advertised the Maxim Hometown Hotties search a while back and now I'm going to get on board with the Girls of Spike search. They are going to name "The Ultimate Spike Girl" on Oct. 1 with voting going all of September. Be sure to check out their site for all 50 girls. Here's CC Fontana, who just happens to be my favorite. I think she was on some Janice Dickinson modeling show a few years back and she was hot then. Take a look now. Damn!