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Tuesday’s news that Baltimore Ravens running back Ricky Williams is retiring comes with a bit of an NFC South angle.

Williams once was the biggest thing to ever hit the New Orleans Saints. Remember the 1999 draft, when the Saints traded away all their picks from that year, plus a couple more for the following year, for the right to draft Williams?

Yeah, it made headlines all over the place because it was one of the most daring trades ever -- we’re talking way more daring and dangerous than what the Falcons gave up to get Julio Jones or what the Saints gave up to get Mark Ingram in the 2011 draft.

It was the biggest deal coach Mike Ditka made and (along with a 3-13 record that season) it led to the end of his coaching career.

When coach Jim Haslett arrived the next season, Williams had some success. He had two 1,000-yard seasons, but there were issues. Williams was a unique personality. He didn’t interact a lot with teammates and often conducted interviews behind the shield of his helmet.

"Ricky's just a different guy," former New Orleans receiver Joe Horn once said. "People he wanted to deal with, he did. And people he wanted to have nothing to do with, he didn't. No one could understand that. I don't think guys in the locker room could grasp that he wanted to be to himself -- you know, quiet. If you didn't understand him and didn't know what he was about, it always kept people in suspense."

Haslett was in suspense or, at the very least, never quite could figure out Williams. That’s part of the reason Deuce McAllister was drafted. By the end of the 2001 season, in which Williams rushed for 1,245 yards and caught 60 passes, Haslett was pretty clear that Williams didn’t fit his long-term plans.

In the spring of 2002, the Saints traded Williams to the Miami Dolphins. They were able to get back some of what they initially gave up for Williams by getting four draft picks, including two first-round choices, in return.

Williams’ career would go on to have all sorts of twists and turns. He had success at times in Miami. He also retired from football in 2004, only to return in 2005. Williams was suspended by the NFL in 2006 and wound up playing for Toronto in the Canadian Football League.

Williams returned to the Dolphins in 2007. He finished his career with Baltimore and ended up with 10,009 rushing yards and 74 total touchdowns (66 of them on the ground).

Not a bad career, especially when you consider all the interruptions.

Would it have somehow worked out better if things had been handled differently and Williams spent his entire career in New Orleans? It’s impossible to say for sure.

Williams’ track record suggests he might have encountered some of the same, or different, problems if he had been with the Saints the entire time. Things worked out all right for him. They also worked out for the Saints, aside from the initial price tag to get Williams. McAllister ended up having a very nice career.

Reggie Bush came in and did some nice things at certain times. Along the way, the Saints also added Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles, who have done some pretty nice things at running back.

NEWARK, N.J. -- I’m not quite in New York, but I can see it across the river.

Anyway, lots to deal with before we get ready for Sunday’s playoff game between the Falcons and Giants. Most importantly, we’ll have Saturday night’s game between the Saints and Lions.

I’ll be taking part in the Countdown Live chat throughout the game. I’ll be joining colleagues Kevin Seifert and Jeff Chadiha, who will be at the game, along with Scouts Inc.’s Matt Williamson and ESPN Stats & Information. I’ll also provide a wrap-up soon after the game ends.

Also, a couple of other NFC South notes to catch up on. The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its list of 15 finalists from the modern era for the Class of 2012 and we have four guys with NFC South ties. The main one is former New Orleans offensive tackle Willie Roaf. The others are Chris Doleman, Kevin Greene and Tim Brown, who each had brief stops in the NFC South. The final voting will be held the day before the Super Bowl in February.

Also, the Falcons have granted permission for offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey to interview with the Miami Dolphins for their opening for a head coach. The Falcons previously gave Jacksonville permission to interview Mularkey. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also have a vacancy and it wouldn’t be a shock if Mularkey becomes a candidate for that job.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The panic that was so widespread among Tampa Bay Buccaneers' fans last week can rest for a bit.

The Bucs did some good things in just about every area in Saturday night’s 17-13 preseason victory against the Miami Dolphins at Raymond James Stadium. The Bucs also did some bad things, but none of them were the kind of mistakes that are unusual for preseason games.

That wasn’t the case in the past week’s loss to the New England Patriots, in which the Bucs did almost nothing positive. Yeah, the Patriots are an annual Super Bowl contender and coach Bill Belichick is known to demand intensity in exhibition games. The Dolphins probably aren’t going to be confused with the Patriots anytime soon, but they’re still a decent team.

Everything’s relative, but the measuring stick on the Bucs looks a lot better than it did a week ago. The defense generated some pressure and LeGarrette Blount flashed some big-play ability as a receiver out of the backfield.

Those are all things the Bucs knew they had to improve on and have been working on throughout the preseason.

Some other observations on the Bucs:

• The NFL’s decision not to suspend cornerback Aqib Talib during the 2011 season is looking like a blessing. E.J. Biggers and Myron Lewis, who would have taken on larger roles if Talib was suspended, both struggled. Biggers got beat by Brandon Marshall on a long touchdown pass and also got flagged for pass interference. Lewis also drew a pass-interference call.
• There was a brief scary moment when second-year defensive tackle Brian Price went down in the second quarter. Price was playing for the first time since having surgery on his pelvis last year. He stayed down for a minute, walked off the field with the trainers, but returned to the game a few plays later. It didn’t appear the problem had anything to do with the pelvis. It looked like Price just had the wind knocked out of him.
• Rookie tight end Luke Stocker, who missed most of camp and the first two preseason games with a hip injury, made his debut. He made one nice catch and probably has put himself in line to get some playing time behind Kellen Winslow and in two tight-end sets.
• The Bucs have said all offseason they want Blount to be a more complete running back in his second season. He ran for 1,000 yards as a rookie, but only caught five passes. Looks like the Bucs have every intention of getting Blount involved in the passing game. He was targeted five times Saturday night and caught three passes for 62 yards, 52 of those came when Blount caught a short pass and made several nice cuts in the open field.

Three things to watch for in Tampa Bay’s preseason game against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET:

1. The return of Brian Price. After missing almost all of last season with an injury to his pelvis and undergoing rare surgery to have it fixed, Price will make his preseason debut against the Dolphins. That’s somewhat amazing because some thought the injury might end Price’s career and, less than two months ago, he wasn’t optimistic he’d be ready for the start of the season. The Bucs are anxious to see what they’ve got in the second-year pro. He as a second-round pick last year when the Bucs used their top choice on defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. The Bucs would love for them to become a strong pair in the middle and fix an area that’s been a weakness for a long time. We’ll get our first indication of if Price is fully healthy when he appears in this game.

2. The rest of the defense. Quite simply, the whole unit was terrible in last week’s preseason loss to the Patriots. This is an area of concern that could carry over into the regular season if things don’t start to change dramatically in the final two preseason games. The front seven is incredibly young and there will be mistakes that come with that. The Bucs have to start minimizing those mistakes.

3. Josh Freeman. It hasn’t been a stellar preseason for the quarterback and face of the franchise. Most of it’s not really his fault. In the New England game, he was pressured heavily and his receivers did not do a good job of getting open. Freeman’s going to be fine, but it would be nice to see him and his receivers showing some positive chemistry before the regular season starts.

Since the big story was the competition for the starting quarterback job between Cam Newton and Jimmy Clausen, and we’ve already covered that, we’re going to do just a few other observations on the Carolina Panthers.

The Miami Dolphins won Friday's game 20-10, and there weren’t many bright spots for the Panthers. Here are the observations:

• I thought Carolina’s defense was going to be a lot better. Now, I’m not so sure. Reggie Bush, who never was able to run between the tackles when he was with New Orleans, ran right through Carolina’s defensive line. With some of that cap space the Panthers freed up by signing franchise player Ryan Kalil to a long-term contract Friday night, I think the Panthers need to go out and sign the best defensive tackle they can find. I thought they solved that problem when they signed Ron Edwards at the start of free agency. But Edwards got hurt. The Panthers need to go out and find somebody to replace him. Oh, and the rest of the defense helped Chad Henne look like Dan Marino.
• Nice to see linebacker Thomas Davis playing for the first time in 21 months. He had two major knee injuries and missed some camp time with a foot injury. I didn’t notice him a lot, but I did see him doing a nice job in coverage on two different plays.
• I was watching the broadcast from a Miami station. One of the announcers was former Miami quarterback Bob Griese. He obviously has strong ties to the Shula family because he played for legendary coach Don Shula. Shula's son Mike is now Carolina’s quarterbacks coach. Griese said he met with Mike Shula before the game and said he’s been impressed by Newton’s progress. Griese also pointed out that Newton never had to call a play or go into a huddle at Auburn. In college, the plays were signaled in from the sidelines, and Newton just lined up in the shotgun and the center snapped the ball on a silent count. Shula told Griese that Newton has done a good job adjusting to all his new duties.

There was no single moment that makes the decision obvious. There wasn’t a spectacular play or a horrible play.

As Cam Newton and Jimmy Clausen held what was supposed to be the final audition in their battle for the right to be the starting quarterback of the Carolina Panthers, there were just a lot of ordinary plays.

The Miami Dolphins dominated Friday's game and won 20-10. With Carolina’s defense helping Reggie Bush and Chad Henne look like stars, Newton and Clausen didn’t get any breaks when it came to field position.

Newton started and completed seven of 14 passes for 66 yards. He also ran four times for 16 yards. Perhaps the best thing you can say about Newton is that he went on the road for the first time in the NFL and didn’t make any drastic mistakes.

Neither did Clausen, who took over at the start of the second half. But Clausen was as ordinary as Newton. He completed nine of 15 passes for 69 yards.

So what does coach Ron Rivera do now? He already has said he plans to make a decision sometime in the next few days on which quarterback will start the regular-season opener at Arizona in September. He wants that quarterback to go into next week’s game preparing like it’s a regular-season game.

Nothing happened Friday night to make the decision crystal clear, and we’ll have to wait to see what Rivera decides.

But you want an answer now because that’s human nature. I’ll do my best, but this is somewhat of a guess. Based on everything I’ve been told by the Panthers since the day they drafted Newton, the hope has been that they’d be able to start him on opening day. The qualifier was that Newton needed to have a decent training camp and not make a ton of mistakes in the preseason games.

He’s qualified on both accounts, and Clausen hasn’t wowed anybody. We haven’t seen a real downside to Newton and we know there’s the possibility of a huge upside. I say the Panthers will decide to go with Newton.

It might take Ron Rivera a few days to make an official announcement, but by the end of Friday night’s preseason game between the Carolina Panthers and Miami Dolphins, we should have a pretty good idea who Rivera will decide on as his opening-day starter.

The new coach has had all of training camp to watch Cam Newton, the first overall pick in this year’s draft, and Jimmy Clausen, a second-year pro. Rivera also already has had one preseason game to judge Newton and Clausen and each did some good things in that outing.

Rivera has said he wants to make a decision before the third preseason game so the Panthers can go through that week preparing like it’s the regular season. That means Friday should be the final chapter in this battle.

I think Newton will win as long as he doesn’t have a disastrous game in Miami. But it’s possible he could struggle and it’s also possible Clausen could shine and win the job.

Let’s hear your thoughts. Cast your vote in our Call It poll to the right for who you think will win the job as Carolina’s starting quarterback.

Three things to watch for in Carolina’s preseason game against the Miami Dolphins on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET:

1. Cam Newton and Jimmy Clausen. The Panthers will use this game as the final stage of the competition between Newton, the rookie, and Clausen, the second-year pro. Clausen got the start in the preseason opener and the Panthers want to give Newton his chance to show what he can with the starters. Bottom line here is, if Newton doesn’t make any major mistakes, the Panthers probably will go ahead and name him the starter for the regular season.

2. The return of Thomas Davis. The outside linebacker hasn’t played in 21 months. He’s gone through two major knee injuries and missed some of camp with a foot injury. He appears healthy, but this will be his first real test. If Davis can get back to be anything close to the player he was before the injuries, he can join with Jon Beason, James Anderson and Dan Connor to give Carolina what potentially could be one of the league’s top linebacker corps.

3. Steve Smith’s preseason debut. He sat out last week with a finger injury and it should be interesting to see what kind of chemistry surfaces between him and Newton. Smith and Clausen had some problems last year, although Smith has said that’s been patched over. Smith’s a competitor who wants the ball and he’s been aching for a quarterback who can consistently deliver it to him for a long time.

Posted by Scouts Inc.'s Matt Williamson

The NFC South takes on the AFC East for its interconference games in 2009. With Tom Brady back in the fold and Terrell Owens now in Buffalo, these contests should be extremely entertaining -- not to mention excellent matchups from a strategy and personnel perspective.

Here is a taste of what is to come in these matchups.

Interconference Matchups A rundown of seven observations on each division's interconference games: • Tuesday: AFC North vs. NFC North • Wednesday: AFC East vs. NFC South • Thursday: AFC West vs. NFC East • Friday: AFC South vs. NFC West

1. The Saints' passing game vs. the Jets' revamped defense under Rex Ryan: A great way to combat a confusing 3-4 blitz scheme is to spread the field horizontally and force the upfield outside linebackers further away from the ball. This also generally allows the quarterback and pass protectors a little longer to diagnose which blitzers are coming and which defenders are dropping into coverage. Expect the Saints to employ a ton of three- and four-wide receiver sets while also challenging the depth of New York's secondary in sub package defenses. Saints coach Sean Payton surely will also try to get Reggie Bush isolated on one of the Jets' heavier linebackers in coverage. The chess match here should be superb.

2. The Saints' revamped secondary vs. Brady and the Patriots' passing game: New Orleans did an excellent job of bringing in a slew of talented defensive backs -- both young and old -- in an attempt to resolve what has been a problem area for far too long. But they will be tested in a huge way against Randy Moss, Wes Welker and of course Brady.

	G. Newman Lowrance/Getty Images
	Carolina Panthers center Ryan Kalil will have his hands full with the AFC East's 3-4 defenses.

3. Carolina's running game vs. a trio of stout 3-4 defenses in Miami, New England and New York: Panthers center Ryan Kalil is going to have his hands full in these contests. No one in the NFC South plays a predominantly odd front, but Kalil will have to do battle against three massive nose tackles, which isn't the young center's forte at this point of his promising career. The Panthers play all three of these teams in a four-week period. That could be a good or bad thing depending on how well they adapt.

4. Tampa's running game vs. a trio of stout 3-4 defenses: Obviously, this is similar to the post above, but Tampa Bay will be breaking in either a rookie quarterback or a suspect starter at the position. The Bucs are going to rely on their running game this year, and though Carolina's offensive line rightfully gets accolades for its ability to pave the way for the team's running backs, Tampa's line is on the rise. However, pivot man Jeff Faine is undersized and struggled with nose tackles while in the AFC North. Like Kalil, another undersized center, Faine is going to have his hands full.

5. Falcons QB Matt Ryan vs. Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan: Matt Ryan is a great quarterback in the making and is wise beyond his years in terms of reading defenses, his pocket presence, overall poise and abilities as an anticipatory thrower. But, dealing with these two defensive masterminds is a different story, and the second-year phenom has to be at his very best in these two difficult road matchups. These games will be an excellent barometer of where Ryan stands from a mental perspective.

6. NFC South defensive ends vs. the Bills' offensive tackles: The Bills' offensive tackles are weak in pass protection, and that will be painfully obvious against Carolina's Julius Peppers and Atlanta's John Abraham. Bucs DE Gaines Adams could be primed for a breakout season and could set the tone in Week 2. Fortunately for the Bills' edge protectors, the Saints might be without Will Smith and Charles Grant (suspension) for their Week 3 matchup.

2009 team schedules: NFC South • Atlanta Falcons • Carolina Panthers • New Orleans Saints • Tampa Bay Buccaneers

7. NFC South star wide receivers vs. Darrelle Revis: If he isn't already, the Jets' Revis will be among the top few cornerbacks in the league, and having Rex Ryan as his head coach will only enhance his progress. Revis is smart and studies his opponent, but his skills will be put to the test at times in 2009. The likes of Steve Smith (Carolina), Antonio Bryant (Tampa Bay), Marques Colston (New Orleans) and Roddy White (Atlanta) could all be Revis' responsibility. Expect Revis to be up for the challenge, but it should make for four tremendous individual matchups.

Even though the NFC South is strong, matching up against the physical AFC East is not an easy chore. In particular, running the ball against three defenses that employ a 3-4 should be troublesome, particularly for Carolina and Tampa Bay. Also, going against these complex defenses could be very challenging for Matt Ryan and even more so for the Bucs' Josh Freeman. New Orleans could have some success challenging the secondary depth of Miami and New York and clearly the South's pass-rushers will be excited to take on Buffalo's very suspect offensive line. With two of the better divisions facing off against each other, it will prove to be very interesting.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

Our folks over at Page 2 secured a copy of the Wonderlic test, which always gets a lot of talk this time of year. You can go ahead and take the sample test here. Keep in mind, you've got only four minutes to answer the 15 questions.

Every time I hear mention of the Wonderlic test, I think back to a classic story I heard years ago about a player who was drafted in the first few rounds by the Miami Dolphins. His name, position and his exact draft spot aren't important.

What is important is this happened before the Wonderlic test was widely used by NFL teams. The legend goes something like this.

The Dolphins used to train at St. Thomas University, which was Biscayne College through part of their time there. The players used to stay in the dorm rooms and legend has it that there was a Miami Herald vending machine outside that would open if you inserted three pennies, even though the advertised price was 25 cents.

The veteran players were good about telling the rookies about the mysterious discount and someone got the word to this particular draft pick. One day, with a group of reporters and team employees standing near the machine, the player walked out and asked if anyone had three pennies so he could get a newspaper.

One guy reached into his pocket and pulled out a cluster of change. It contained quarters, dimes, nickels and way more than three pennies.

The player took the change, looked at it carefully and politely handed it all back.

"No, man, it only works with three pennies,'' he said and walked away without a paper.

The player only lasted a year or two. Some time soon after that, the Dolphins and the rest of the league, wisely, got a lot more serious about the Wonderlic test.

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Graham, James Walker and Pat Yasinskas

The debate over who should be the NFL's coach of the year begins with three rookies who assumed control of woebegone teams and brought them back to relevancy.

Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith, Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano and Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh have been sideline miracle workers. The Falcons already have clinched a playoff berth. On Sunday, the Dolphins can claim the AFC East, and the Ravens can clinch the final wild-card berth.

ESPN.com bloggers Pat Yasinskas, Tim Graham and James Walker discuss whom is more deserving of the award, breaking down the debate into the three significant issues: team infrastructure, personnel at their disposal and obliterating expectations.

Which coach had to deal with the most daunting organizational strife?

Tim Graham: The Dolphins blew themselves up at the start of the year. Bill Parcells arrived late in 2007 and didn't see much he liked from a team about to miss the playoffs a seventh straight season. The team was going through the motions of a 1-15 campaign that was even more ridiculously bad than the record indicated. So the Dolphins started from scratch. Parcells fired the general manager, the head coach and got rid of all the captains.

Tony Sparano became the fifth head coach in the past five years, taking over a team that hadn't recorded double-digit wins since the glorious Jay Fiedler era. Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, meanwhile, was unloading a good portion of the team, creating a widespread uneasiness at the Davie, Fla., headquarters even in the offices outside of the football operations department.

A good time was not being had by all.

Pat Yasinskas: Sorry fellas, but this one's not even a contest. Yeah, the Ravens and Dolphins had their problems. But let's face it, at the end of last year, the Falcons were the most dysfunctional franchise in the history of football. Their franchise quarterback, Michael Vick, had just gone off to jail.

Their coach, Bobby Petrino, had walked out on them for a more talented roster at the University of Arkansas. The city, which never truly embraced the Falcons, now turned its back on them completely. Even Rich McKay, the team's general manager, president and perhaps only lingering thread of sanity, got pushed out of the football side and into the business side of things. Then owner Arthur Blank did the most daring thing of all and hired Mike Smith, who had never been a head coach before, and Thomas Dimitroff, who had never been a general manager before. It looked as if it was going to be a classic case of the blind leading the blind.

James Walker: Let me add this, Pat and Tim. Much is being made of Miami's 1-15 record last year, but keep in mind which team that victory came against. Yes, it was the Baltimore Ravens. That was a rock-bottom moment, not only for the season but I think for the 12-year history of the franchise.

Baltimore's biggest issue moving forward was where it would go from there. The Ravens' situation was unique in that they had to consider what type of transition to make.

Was Baltimore in need of a complete overhaul or just retooling? Sometimes, that's harder to accomplish in the NFL than what the Dolphins and Falcons did by completely starting over. Those two teams at least knew their direction early on.

The Ravens had to tread a more delicate path in bringing in some new coaches such as Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, while keeping others such as defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. They brought in some new players to help certain spots and trusted others to bounce back, either from injury or poor performance.

Baltimore also traded down in the draft to land more picks and first-round quarterback Joe Flacco, who was a bigger unknown than Matt Ryan or Jake Long. So there were certainly some issues with the Ravens. It just happened that Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome pushed most of the right buttons.

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TG: Excellent points, James. You make an intriguing case for the Ravens in this area that I didn't think could be made compared to the Falcons or Dolphins. Mediocrity sometimes is harder to overcome than wretchedness, and the Ravens seemed stuck in neutral.

But let me remind everybody that Cameron was the Dolphins' head coach last year and ran their offense. He also had a huge say in personnel, which included the ill-fated addition of quarterback Trent Green and drafting return specialist Ted Ginn with the ninth overall pick. Cameron has returned to genius status with the Ravens. I think that speaks not to some sort of professional rebirth as much as it does that the infrastructure that was in place. There already was decent talent on the roster and good football people in the front office to lean on. The Dolphins didn't have an Ozzie Newsome.

As for the Falcons, do you mean to tell me, Pat, that overcoming all those travails you outlined are a big deal? Puh-lease. Teams handle that sort of turmoil every year, don't they? OK, maybe not.

PY: All right, I'm going to move on with how the Falcons began to rebuild their infrastructure and this brings up what seems like a very subtle point, but, as much as anything aside from drafting Matt Ryan and signing Michael Turner, it has been a key for the dramatic turnaround. Quite simply, Mike Smith put together an all-star team as a coaching staff.

He got former head coach Mike Mularkey to be the offensive coordinator, quarterback teacher Bill Musgrave to work with Matt Ryan (before the Falcons even knew they had Ryan) and kept defensive backs coach Emmitt Thomas on staff. That was hugely important because Thomas was the guy who coached the team when Petrino left and the players trusted him. Smith completed the roster by getting veteran position coaches such as Paul Boudreau, who has taken very ordinary talent on the offensive line and kept Ryan standing upright and opened all sorts of holes for Turner.

It was kind of the same with Dimitroff, who knew a lot about evaluating players, but had never negotiated a contract. People like to say McKay is completely out of the football end of things and assume there's a rift between him and the guy who filled his general manager duties. But that's just not the case. McKay's one of the smartest people in the NFL and it makes some sense to at least let him keep a hand in the football side. McKay's the one who did Ryan's contract and he has been guiding Dimitroff and his staff on other contracts. From what was a totally dysfunctional organization, the Falcons have patched together one that now works very smoothly with good people in every spot.

JW: The Ravens, more than anything, needed a culture change. I think that should d
efinitely be considered when it comes time to vote.

Harbaugh had to come in and quickly tear down the relaxed, country-club atmosphere that Brian Billick left behind. The training camps were harder. The practices were more up tempo, and when you have a lot of strong-minded veterans that were there before the head coach, that can become dicey.

But the leaders in Baltimore's locker room bought into Harbaugh's message early and everyone else fell in line. Once that happened, it was no longer Billick's team. Winning early also helped, but this situation had the potential to be a major challenge that Harbaugh defused early on.

I don't think either Smith or Sparano faced the same issues, because those rosters were gutted and infused with youthful players who were easier to mold.

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Which coach coped with the worst personnel entering the season?

PY: I remember standing at Falcons training camp and thinking, "This is not an NFL team." I looked out and saw Keith Brooking, John Abraham and Lawyer Milloy as the only big names, and they're all closing in on the end of their careers. The cupboard appeared to be absolutely bare.

I know everyone likes to think the Michael Vick thing is what left the Falcons so short-handed. It really wasn't. When Smith and Dimitroff came in, one of the first things they did was to gut the roster. They unloaded big names such as DeAngelo Hall, Alge Crumpler and Warrick Dunn, so a bad roster suddenly looked even worse. Back on that day in training camp, I played a little game and asked myself how many Falcons could start for another team? My answer was brief -- Abraham and fullback Ovie Mughelli. That's it.

JW: The Ravens had good personnel, but much of it was aging. Baltimore entered the season with seven starters with at least 10 years of experience, and many of those key players were coming off injuries the year before.

So although Harbaugh had veterans such as Ray Lewis, Samari Rolle and Trevor Pryce, the big unknown was how would they hold up for a 16-game season. The Ravens have had injuries this year but they've been fortunate for the most part with their older players, and it's one of the reasons they are having a winning season.

Even though Miami beat Baltimore last year, I would still say the Dolphins' personnel was considered the thinnest coming in. Would you agree, Tim?

TG: Oh, the Dolphins looked thinner than Manute Bol in pinstripes. What strikes me most when reflecting on Miami's training camp was the dearth of significant names on either side of scrimmage. A casual NFL fan couldn't name five guys on their roster, and the most well-known players came with serious question marks.

Ronnie Brown was returning from season-ending knee surgery. His backfield mate, Ricky Williams, is 31 years old and a known head case. Joey Porter was viewed as the NFL's most egregious free-agency error of 2007. Even Chad Pennington, once he arrived, was considered a washout just clinging to a career. Before leading target Greg Camarillo suffered a knee injury in Week 12, Miami's game-day receiving corps consisted of only one player who had been drafted, Ted Ginn. And he's considered a bust by most Dolfans.

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PY: With such poor personnel, Smith and Dimitroff knew they had to work their tails off to rebuild the roster. It looked as if it might take a couple of years for them to assemble a roster capable of even challenging for the playoffs. Obviously, they've moved far ahead of schedule and that's because they were lucky and good as they went about the process. The first piece of the puzzle was signing Turner. He was viewed as the biggest prize in free agency, so why would he want to go to a team like the Falcons?

After four seasons of playing in the shadows of LaDainian Tomlinson in San Diego, Turner was looking for a place where he could be "the guy." The Falcons told him they'd give him 20 or 30 carries a game. They had him show up at an Arena Football League game and the crowd went nuts. If that didn't make Turner feel welcome enough, the Falcons wouldn't let him leave the building without signing a contract.

As good as Ryan has turned out, it was still a gamble to take any quarterback with the third overall pick and start him right away. But Dimitroff did an enormous amount of homework on Ryan and firmly believed he was exactly whom the Falcons needed to be their new quarterback and face of the franchise. Dimitroff's draft preparation didn't stop there. He traded back into the first round to get left tackle Sam Baker to protect Ryan's blindside, got a defensive quarterback in middle linebacker Curtis Lofton in the second and a third receiver and return man in Harry Douglas in the third. Those four rookies plus defensive back Chevis Jackson each have played huge roles in the turnaround.

JW: Pat and Tim, let me end this with a quick story that relates to both of your teams.

I live in Cleveland and attended the rookie orientation at the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio for both of these teams. I was working on a story this summer and picked the brains of about a half-dozen rookies that day such as Long, Chad Henne, Ryan and Baker, and I got the sense early that these were respectful, mature players that appreciated the opportunity to play in the NFL. So I'm not surprised Atlanta and Miami have young talent playing beyond their years.

But what was funny was the number of players that were brought in. The orientation was for rookies only, but I remember thinking the Dolphins and Falcons brought their entire 53-man rosters to Canton. There were at least 15 rookies and undrafted free agents coming off the bus from each team, and it could have been closer to 20 players.

Obviously some rookies and rookie free agents never made it past training camp, but it illustrates the point you two were making about gutting the rosters. In that respect, Miami and Atlanta definitely had a farther starting point than the Ravens.

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Which coach prompted the lowest expectations?

JW: Without a doubt, all three teams and coaches came in with question marks. Most experts picked the Dolphins, Falcons and Ravens to finish either third or last in their respective divisions at the beginning of the season. But in terms of coaches, Harbaugh was the biggest unknown.

Two years ago Harbaugh was a longtime special teams coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. He was promoted to secondary coach under Philadelphia's Andy Reid for one year before impressing the Ravens enough to lead their team.

There were certainly doubters locally and nationally. The biggest question was can a coach that spent most of his career running special teams handle all the strong personalities as the leader of the Ravens? But Harbaugh had the charisma and intensity to pull it off and was very smart to put together an A-list staff of assistants to back him.

As far as the team, no one knew what to expect from Baltimore. Were the Ravens a five-win team of 2007 or the 13-win team of '06? Maybe they were somewhere in between?

With decent quarterback play, I felt this team could win seven or eight games this year. My prediction was higher than most, but the Ravens have far exceeded even my expectations.

PY: If the expectations in Detroit this year were what they were in Atlanta, Matt Millen would still have a job and Rod Marinelli would be viewed as a decent coach. Seriously, after what happened to the Falcons last year, there were no expectations in Atlanta. Three or four wins and less than three major off-field controversies would have been considered a nice season. People were hoping the Braves went deep enough into the playoffs that there wouldn't be much gap before the Hawks started playing some preseason games because, as far as Falcons fans were concerned, there was going to be no reason to watch the Falcons.

In large part, I think that turned out to be a good thing. The incredibly low expectations allowed the Falcons to decide to start Ryan from Day One because fans wouldn't have the lofty expectations for him that they usually do for a first-round quarterback. Ryan didn't have to start the season under a microscope and that gave him a chance to get comfortable in a hurry. Even at midseason, Atlanta fans still were looking at the Falcons with guarded optimism. It has only been in recent weeks that people have started to even think about the playoffs.

TG: James, I have to disagree with you that Harbaugh was the most unknown of the new coaches. People at least knew him by his last name, his father being a well-known college coach and his brother playing NFL quarterback before embarking on a coaching career of his own. People still think the name of the new Dolphins coach is Tony Soprano.

As for expectations, no sane individual ever would have predicted Miami would finish with double-digit wins or be in position to make the playoffs in Week 17. But that was no more unfathomable than what's transpired in Atlanta.

But here's where Sparano will be taken for granted when it comes time for people to consider coach-of-the-year honors. Parcells, with his mere presence, inflated expectations. Fans weren't bold enough to consider an AFC title, but seven or eight wins was within the realm of possibility. And when people judge Miami's turnaround, the first person they will give credit to is Parcells.

JW: Tony Sparano had the catchy name, he was a Parcells guy, and he came from "America's Team," the Dallas Cowboys. By the time he was hired in Miami, he was on the radar of sports fans. Harbaugh's hiring had people looking through media guides to double-check his pedigree.

We'll just have to agree to disagree, Tim.

But speaking of taking things for granted, let's not overlook the strength of schedule the Ravens had coming into the season. Baltimore had the fifth-toughest schedule in the league that included non-division opponents such as the Tennessee Titans (13-2), Indianapolis Colts (11-4) and the entire NFC East division.

Although some things changed during the course of a season, Atlanta entered the year with the No. 21-rated schedule and Miami's was No. 23.

Baltimore is in control of its playoff chances this week, in part because it went 3-1 against the NFC East, which is a mark the Dolphins and Falcons probably couldn't match if given the chance. Also, if head-to-head meetings have anything to do with coach of the year voting, Harbaugh and the Ravens did go into Miami and beat the Dolphins by two touchdowns in Week 7.

PY: James and Tim, I think we can all agree none of these three guys were household names in comparison to some of the veteran head coaches. But Harbaugh did have the bloodlines of his father and brother and was well-known as one of the league's top special-teams coaches. Sparano wasn't an unknown because the assistants in Dallas are as well known as head coaches most places. Smith was easily the least known of the trio of new coaches.

He'd been a coordinator in Jacksonville, where media attention is minimal, and he spent a bunch of years coaching in some small stops through the college ranks. The only area where Smith stood out was the fact he was tremendously ordinary. Even his name is ordinary.

I remember at the NFL owners' meeting last spring, ESPN's Michael Smith and I had breakfast with Smith. They were joking about having the same names. I remember thinking, "My television colleague is the more famous of these two." With apologies to Michael Smith, it's no longer that way. Mike Smith has become famous because he is the Coach of the Year.

TG: Mike Smith sounds like the name people use when they check into motels that charge by the hour, and I wondered if his coaching career would be measured in the same increments given the circumstances he was headed into.

But when you look at the turnaround of each club, the Dolphins have been the most dramatic. Sparano has overseen one of the biggest one-season improvements in NFL history. No one-victory team has won 10 games the next season, and the Dolphins could finish with 11 and a playoff berth, another unprecedented feat.

The Falcons' and Ravens' turnarounds have been remarkable, but the Dolphins' has been historic.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

J. McCown	L. McCown

Friday's preseason opener between the Bucs and Dolphins in Miami likely will be the biggest event ever in the McCown family. Josh McCown is scheduled to be the starting quarterback for the Dolphins and it looks like Luke McCown will start for the Bucs.

With Jeff Garcia still recovering from an injury, all indications are the Bucs will give the nod to McCown over veteran Brian Griese. That's a smart move because the Bucs already know what Griese can do and they need to take a long look at McCown.

He showed some promise late last season. He also has looked very good, at times, in training camp, but has struggled to be consistent. Coach Jon Gruden has been looking for a quarterback of the future for several years and a strong showing by McCown could do a lot for his future.