Surging NFC South
October 14th, 2025
So as expected, the Falcons got very physical with the Bills last night.
Somwhat surprising, Atlanta didn’t choke and got in victory formation to secure a 10-point “W.”
That bumps the Falcons to 3-2, as Carolina now sits at 3-3 after taking care of business against the Cowboys on Sunday in Charlotte.
Up next, Carolina, which crushed Atlanta 30-0 last month, heads to face the winless Jets. The Falcons will take on the decimated 49ers in San Francisco on Sunday Night Football.
All of a sudden, the NFC South isn’t a laughingstock. The Bucs have to deal with two young teams finding their footing. And man, look for the NFL hype machine to jump off the Bucs and onto the Falcons in a hurry if, football gods forbid, Atlanta beats the 49ers on Sunday and the Bucs lose in Detroit.
Currently, the Bucs, Colts and Steelers are the NFL’s only one-loss teams. And no team is undefeated.
Ira Kaufman Talks Bucs Supremacy, Next For “The Powers That Be,” Baker Mayfield, Sunday Heroes, And Much More
October 14th, 2025 at 6:34 am
falcons looked good and playing up to their potential on offense and a good pass rush against josh allen. injuries are killing the bills and everyone else, most teams have not been as resilient as the bucs. personally im counting the minutes till our offense gets some play makers back!! we may have to score 30 every game to win
October 14th, 2025 at 6:34 am
It’s time for this team to take the leap and be a Super Bowl contender. We are an elite team.
October 14th, 2025 at 6:46 am
Yea I was a little shocked Atlanta won. Thats one of those games at the start of the year when your looking at the schedule you say oh thats a loss. Ah well as long as we dont have a hiccup vs the Saints we should be coming out of the bye looking healthy and ready to win the division. Something tells me its going to come down to Dec 11th on TNF.
October 14th, 2025 at 6:50 am
Bills look beatable
October 14th, 2025 at 6:52 am
The Steelers have a cake walk to their division. Aaron Rodgers is the only viable QB in that division. The no one else in that division is even watchable. The Browns were horrid on Sunday. I hate the Steelers.
October 14th, 2025 at 7:30 am
I’ll take the NFC South over the entire TRASHY AFC other than “maybe” the AFC West, that is for sure. I’d take em over the NFC East too. But man, the AFC is really really bad with a ton of unwatchable teams
October 14th, 2025 at 7:38 am
All I know is,
I’m going to need to see the top three receivers on the field by the New England game. I’m tired of this ish.
October 14th, 2025 at 7:45 am
Stupid Bills, they had one job!
October 14th, 2025 at 8:07 am
Eh, Falcons only scored a field goal in the second half, and almost half of Robinson’s yards came on one run. Gotta see more consistency from Atlanta before I see them as a threat.
October 14th, 2025 at 8:26 am
They don’t look all that….annoying team.
October 14th, 2025 at 8:27 am
Daily rich – you mean like every running back in the history of football? We can do this thing where you try to spin/justify by saying “well half the yards were on one run!” That’s goal of every running back, is to break one run. Barry sanders, Terrell Davis, etc etc didn’t get 10 yards every carry. It was 3, 7, 4,4,4,4,8,65, 4. When you still avg 5 yards per carry in between a long run, I’d say that’s a good day. Hate logical fallacies
October 14th, 2025 at 8:33 am
3 of our 5 wins are against teams with winning records. We’re really good!!
October 14th, 2025 at 8:39 am
AFC Teams look horrible this year. Ravens 1-5, Chiefs have only won like 2 or 3 games. The only teams that seem to be decent in the AFC is Patriots and Colts. If there was any year we should go all in this is it right now. If we can get some of the injured players back and Jason can make a trade at the deadline to get a defensive pass rusher then we could win it all.
October 14th, 2025 at 8:48 am
A year or 2 ago the talking heads were talking about how great the AFC was looking forward due to their supposed plethora of franchise/elite young quarterbacks with Mahomes, Herbert, Allen, Jackson, Tua, Stroud and now Nix and Maye. The NFC has two teams under .500, the Saints and Cards. The AFC has 8 teams under .500. This just proves that it is the TEAM that makes the QB great not the other way around. The quarterback is the most important player on the team but they can’t do it all alone no matter how talented they are. What Baker is doing right now is truly astonishing but if the injury situation doesn’t turn for the better don’t expect the team to continue to have this much success.
October 14th, 2025 at 8:57 am
Atlanta has improved significantly since we beat them 23-20 in the 1st game of the season … thanks to our last minute TD. Let’s not pretend that we obliterated them; they controlled the TOP by over 10 minutes (35:12 to 24:48), owned the total yardage 358 to 260, and the number of plays (71 to 56). Bucs won because of (1) Baker’s superb play at the end; (2) we held the Falcons rushing attack in check (28 rushes for 69 yds … 2.5 YPC); and (3) held them to FGs twice deep in our territory. The Falcons have improved substantially since then IMO, and they are our biggest threat right now.
And oh ya, the fact that the Panthers beat them 30-0 SHOULD tell us something: don’t sleep on the Panthers either. Their defense played lights out that game, and their offense played some excellent complementary football. They could just as easily beat us if we show up asleep like the Falcons apparently did.
Bucs have an excellent (albeit injured) team IMO, but … we can’t afford to take ANY team lighty. Four of our 5 wins have come in the last minute on comebacks. Sorta kinda doesn’t indicate that we’re overpowering our opponents. We’ve squeaked by & that shows tremendous resilience IMO. But it’s also a lousy game-to-game strategy. Falls in the same category as playing the lottery every week … as your sole retirement plan.
October 14th, 2025 at 9:02 am
Atlanta and most of the other teams we beat are good teams. We really are that much better. It’s a great time to be a Bucs fan. Go Bucs and cut the refs zero slack.
October 14th, 2025 at 9:09 am
DailyRich … ‘Falcons only scored a field goal in the second half, and almost half of Robinson’s yards came on one run.’
Need to expand that a little bit. Falcons took advantage of the Bills greatest weakness: Bills suck against the run (rank #30 right now). Falcons used a very balanced attack (32 runs & 32 passes), and put up 443 total yds on the Bills. Falcons won the Turnover Battle 2-0, and the TOP Battle 31:39 – 28:21.
In their 32 rushes, Falcons accumulated 210 rushing yds & 2 TDs (an average of 6.6 YPC). Of that, Robinson got 19 carries for 170 yds (8.9 YPC) & 1 TD, with his longest run (for the TD) being 81 yds. Even if you subtract that longest run, he still averaged 4.9 YPC on the other 18 runs. And oh ya, added another 68 yds receiving (6-of-8) for a total day of 278 yds of offense. I’d take that from any of our RBs any day.
October 14th, 2025 at 9:14 am
wow…
NFC SOUTH!!!..the best division in football lol!!!!
ATL & CAR will be tough games…they’re both getting better but im not losing any sleep over them…i think both teams win 8games or more but the division is ours…
6-1!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 14th, 2025 at 9:15 am
Defense Rules,
Tell it brother, DR, you are very right on what lies ahead. Hopefully, Bucs get healthy and won’t play patty cake with Falcons and Panthers. Any given Sunday and all that.
October 14th, 2025 at 9:18 am
I’m not surprised. Football divisions go through up and down cycles like most of nature. The NFC South is trending back up again. The only stinkeroo is the Saints. I got that straight from a cajun friend who is a big LSU/Saints fan. But on any Sunday….I have to say though that the AFC is really getting slammed in the national media. It’s unreal. You all should see just the howling alone about the refs. We have a franchise made up of folks with good character. Go get them, Bucs!! 6-1!!!!
October 14th, 2025 at 9:18 am
Falcons look really good. that defense is young and energetic. I still think were gonna win the south but we cant fall asleep
October 14th, 2025 at 9:29 am
I hate to say it but N.O. Isn’t a bumbling wreck either. They’ve been playing better than their record would indicate.
Like I said yesterday, more often than not, we split with our division.
All hail the NFC south!
October 14th, 2025 at 9:31 am
The Falcons have one of the best defenses in the league. They were healthy, fast aggressive last night. We’ve played 5 very tough defenses so far this year and we’re 5-1! But the Falcons aren’t to be taken lightly. The fact that the Panthers beat them 30-0 shows they can be inconsistent as a team and also at quarterback. Penix had multiple turnover worthy plays last night. He flashes talent but is not consistently accurate.
October 14th, 2025 at 10:02 am
The last three years have been a major rebuild that usually see teams in the cellar. The Bucs did have a losing season the first year, and they were lucky to win the division the first two years of the rebuild.
Generally, when you are rebuilding, in the first phase, you use the bulk of your resources trying to get players you think can win games for you who you want to start at every position. When your resources are largely spent, you take best that you can get for the rest. If you get lucky, choose well, and stay healthy, you win some ball games.
In the next phase, you try to correct any misses with the players you thought that you wanted to start, and you look for reserves you think have the potential to become winning starters and who at least will not get you beat if you have to play them. When your resources get thin, you still have to take the best of the rest and hope that you stay healthy. This seems to be where the Bucs were last year except at ILB, OLB and DB. (Thankfully, we had no meaningful gameday data on the backup QB situation.) The Bucs were exposed when the top two wide receivers were injured, when DBs were injured in droves, and when a single ILB injury took down an ILB group that did not look good even before a key injury.
In the final and ongoing phase, you try to have every player on the roster in the two categories of players you think can win for you and players you think will not cost you games with as many as possible in the first category. This year, the Bucs seem to be in largely in that third phase except at ILB and maybe at OLB.
At 5-1, this team is looking good so far with championship potential.
The temptation is there to spend resources before the tradeline to try to put the team over the top. If the Bucs find JPP value for a third round pick, it could be tempting. Bit, spending more than a third round pick would be nuts unless the value is truly extraordinary – and affordable cap wise going forward.
It is the second part that is tough. That would be a player on a multiyear affordable contract, probably a rookie. The only likely way to find such a player is to find a player who fits Tampa’s culture and scheme, but who is a poor fit for the scheme of the team the player is on.
That is not impossible; there are new Head Coaches and Coordinators who have come in determined to shake things up and do thinks their way. The Bucs are likely going over rosters of teams with new Head Coaches and new Coordinators with a fine tooth comb. But, there is a good chance that there is no such player out there available who offers enough value for the compensation asked.
October 14th, 2025 at 10:11 am
Raheem had his defense in Josh Allen’s head so deep Allen looked lost, dazed and confused by the end. He had no answers for Rah’s clever blitzers and spies, and the interior DL owned Buffalo on pass plays.
Hope the Bills play like that against us. Of course, we go to Buffalo while Atlanta had them for a home game.
October 14th, 2025 at 10:21 am
Glad tampa got to play atl IN ATL week 1. I almost always pick the home team to win in a division matchup. This year was no different for the Panthers and Falcons IMO. Winning in ATL was a bonus to my predictions.
Looking ahead, I think Tampa finishes 12-5 at the lowest. Any lower than that and there will be letdown/unexpected losses. (The 4 are in Detroit, in Buffalo, in LA, in Carolina).
October 14th, 2025 at 10:26 am
Missed opportunities by the Bills caused their downfall. Penix threw to ball right to Bills players that should have been pick 6’s going the other way. Still congrats to the Falcons.
Time for the Bucs to go Lions hunting. Let’s Go!!!!!’
October 14th, 2025 at 10:34 am
I knew ATL was winning that game last night! They are really loaded with 5-star players/athletes at all the top positions. All those years from picking ‘high’ in the draft. They should really, be better than they are with some better coaching. But, who knows, maybe he’s starting to figure-it out like Bowles, and the team is starting to come into their own. They could really be a tough out when the Playoffs come around. Hopefully, they don’t have home field advantage. The NFC is looking like a crapshoot loaded with all the good teams. There are several teams in the AFC that have been forced to pay QB’s way too much money through the years, for just barely above ‘average’ QB’s too, and their depth and overall roster talent has really suffered for it. I hope Baker is going to be nice. And, the FO can pay him enough upfront as a bonus, and manipulate it in a way, where they’re not showing a gazillion dollars against the cap every season.
October 14th, 2025 at 10:40 am
Wow. Well, looks like I’m not the only one trashing on the AFC. That actually bodes very well for of course Kansas City and Mahomes.
October 14th, 2025 at 10:50 am
@ DailyRich – oh, they are definitely “a threat.” Did you not watch our first game of the season, or either of our two games we played them last year!? They are always, going to be a THREAT. Don’t know about you, but I sure as hell don’t wanna see THEM in the Playoffs. Jalon Walker and James Pearce are getting better and playing with a lot more confidence now, every week. So, is Bijan and London. And, the big Penix show! Pitts, still just… I don’t know, Man!? He doesn’t appear to be very smart. I mean, what a fricken specimen, Man! It’s ridiculous. Nothing else really makes any sense, other than that… He’s Dumb.
October 14th, 2025 at 11:01 am
@ Gofortheface30 – that’s exactly what I was thinking about the ‘running back’ position, and he still AVERAGED 5-yards per carry, even if you subtract the 80-yarder. I mean, he just tore them TF UP and gashed ‘em all night long. It made me question if that person really even WATCHED the game. Bijan was a BEAST in the passing game last night, too! Hell, he had about 240-YARDS on 25-touches. He’s a Top-5 ‘running back’ in THE LEAGUE, without question. There is NO DEBATE. And, it’s not even close. Hell, I’d put him right there with Jonathan Taylor, as THE BEST ‘running back’ in the league this year, no doubt. I don’t know who else you’d rather have!?
October 14th, 2025 at 11:05 am
1. Revenge of raheem
2. Who dat is underrated
3. Canales isn’t half bad after all
Bucs are a damned good team too
Back to tge old days when the nfc south sent 4 super bowl teams in 10 years or so
October 14th, 2025 at 11:06 am
Falcons looked good but they look like they can be exposed in the run game. And I honestly don’t think they can play much better. The Buccaneers, on the other hand, are barely scratching the surface of their potential.
As for Carolina, I haven’t seen them yet
October 14th, 2025 at 11:24 am
Remember now, the Big-Penix has only started 7-8 games in his young NFL career. They are very very young, especially on Defense. Could this be their achilles heel!?
October 14th, 2025 at 12:01 pm
ATL looks like a 9 or 10 win team
Carolina looks like a 6-8 win team
Aints are a 4-5 win team
Can Todd fix the pass defense to get the Bucs to 11 or more wins? If not it’s gonna come down the final 2-3 weeks to see who wins the division. ATL fixed their defense in one off season, Todd is in year 7 and still has NO clue on how to fix the pass defense