ESPN NFL

The Atlanta Falcons are going to easily lead the NFC South in TV exposure Sunday.

Look for the blue in the map on the506.com for the early Sunday games and you’ll see lots of it.

The Falcons and Vikings will air through much of the South and Midwest. They’ll also get strong play in Western states like Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and parts of Nevada. This game also will air in the large Philadelphia television market and through most of New England.

The other two Sunday NFC South games won’t get nearly as much exposure. The game between the Panthers and Colts will be limited mostly to North Carolina, South Carolina and Indiana.

The Buccaneers and Titans will be shown primarily in Florida and Tennessee.

The New Orleans Saints host the New York Giants on Monday night and that game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

LANDOVER, Md. – Umm, did you really think the Saints were going to lose this one?
Seriously. Yeah, I know they got outplayed and their banged-up secondary was horrible. But they were playing the Redskins and even though it took more than 60 minutes to sort out, the better team won.

Call it luck. Call it destiny or call it whatever. I’m not sure what to call it except to say the Saints still are undefeated.

I’m heading downstairs for post-game interviews. I’ll be back in a bit.

Just a quick reminder that the weekly NFC South chat will be held Friday at 1 p.m. ET. Here's the link to get there.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

We'll continue our NFC South positional rankings today with running backs.

Here is my top 10:

1. Michael Turner, Atlanta. Falcons just have to be careful not to overuse him this year. Give him 325 carries and he'll give you 1,500 yards.

2. DeAngelo Williams, Carolina. He's still something of a secret to a lot of people. But that's not going to last much longer.

3. Jonathan Stewart, Carolina. His power is perfect complement to Williams' speed.

4. Derrick Ward, Tampa Bay. I'm projecting a bit here because we don't truly know Ward's role. But I think he's going to be the primary ball carrier in an offense that runs often.

5. Pierre Thomas, New Orleans. A lot of people like to make it sound as if the Saints didn't have a featured back last year. They did. It was Thomas and he's solid.

6. Earnest Graham, Tampa Bay. He's still going to get plenty of carries in a ball-control offense and could even get some time at fullback.

7. Reggie Bush, New Orleans. No, he's not a true running back. But he still can hurt you out of the backfield, at times, as much as any running back in the league.

8. Jerious Norwood, Atlanta. Has shown flashes in a limited role, but you get the feeling the Falcons are going to watch Turner's carries closely this year and that could mean more for Norwood.

9. Ovie Mughelli, Atlanta. He's a fullback, but he belongs on this list. He kept a lot of hits off Turner and quarterback Matt Ryan last year.

10. Brad Hoover, Carolina. Hoover's not quite as dominant a blocker as Mughelli, but he's been very solid and dependable for a long time.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

All season long, a lot of you have been arguing about what division is the strongest.

The argument almost always came down to the NFC South and the NFC East, and a final answer always was open for debate. But now that the regular season is over, we may have a final answer.

Colleague KC Joyner is a big numbers guy and he relies on a pretty basic equation to decide the NFC South is the best division. Joyner goes by overall winning percentage and that puts the NFC South in first place.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

Thirteen games into it -- make it 14 in the case of the New Orleans Saints -- and no one has run away with the NFC South title or completely fallen out of the playoff picture.

It's a logjam of a division with a race so tight that no one can clinch the division this weekend and, even at 7-7, the Saints still are not mathematically eliminated. Carolina is 10-3, Tampa Bay is 9-4 and Atlanta is 8-5.

There have been arguments made the NFC South is the best division in the NFL, but there's not much clarity. The NFC South could end up sending three teams to the playoffs or it could end up with only one representative.

What has been called the NASCAR Division is heading for a furious final lap with all sorts of scenarios possible.

"I hate the scenarios,'' Tampa Bay guard Davin Joseph said. "I hate to look too far in advance.''

That's the nature of uncertainty, but there are five things we do know for certain in the NFC South:

1. The Carolina Panthers, who still have a shot at the No. 1 seed with a game against the New York Giants looming next week, can at least clinch a playoff spot this week. Initially, there were six scenarios for the Panthers to get in, but Chicago's victory against New Orleans on Thursday night, eliminated two of those.

That leaves the Panthers hosting Denver and needing any of the following to clinch a spot:

a. A Carolina win against Denver, combined with a Dallas loss or tie.
b. A Carolina win, combined with an Atlanta loss or tie.
c. A Carolina loss, combined with a Dallas loss, plus a Philadelphia loss or tie.
d. An Atlanta loss, combined with a Dallas loss, plus a Washington loss or tie.

2. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, even after an ugly loss to Carolina on "Monday Night Football," have a chance to clinch a playoff spot this week. That loss took Tampa Bay out of control of the division race, at least for the moment, but the Bucs still can put themselves in the playoffs. Two scenarios will do that.

a. A victory Sunday at Atlanta, combined with a loss or tie by Dallas.
b. A victory Sunday at Atlanta, combined with a loss or tie by Philadelphia.

"Making the tournament is a great accomplishment," Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden said. "I saw a team last year (the New York Giants) win the whole thing getting this position in the tournament. We've got to take care of business -- we've got to win a game. We haven't had a two-game losing streak this season; we want to maintain that. It's very important that we bounce back from a loss. I think that's what good teams do. But our goal is always to make the tournament. That gives you a chance to win the Super Bowl if you're in the tournament."

3. The Falcons have a chance to get into the playoffs, too. They just can't clinch anything this week. But Atlanta, one of the most surprising teams in the NFL, has a chance at anything from the division title to a wild-card spot. For Atlanta to win the NFC South, the Falcons would have to win their three remaining games and Tampa Bay and Carolina would have to lose out.

That's a long shot, but Atlanta could make itself an almost-certain playoff team if the Falcons can win all three games. Even if they win two, the Falcons would be 10-6 and have a shot at a wild-card spot.

4. The Saints might as well start getting ready for next year. They'll probably be mathematically eliminated by the end of the day Sunday. The Saints entered the season with perhaps more talent than any team in the division. But injuries and a brutal schedule have held them back.

There still will be some intrigue in the final two games as quarterback Drew Brees chases Dan Marino's record for passing yards in a season. But the Saints should start looking ahead to next year and finding ways to put a solid team around Brees so that something like this doesn't happen again.

5. The home field means almost everything. Maybe it's a good thing Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta can't clinch the division this week. That means they all are still fighting for the title or, at least, a high wild-card spot. Either of those could get them a home game or games and that could be critical.

In case you haven't heard, NFC South teams are almost unbeatable at home. So far this season, they're 24-2 at home. Division teams have six home games left and, if Atlanta and Carolina win Sunday, the NFC South will clinch at least a tie for the best combined home winning percentage ever.

Beyond that, nothing else is certain in the NFC South this week. That's what makes the division so interesting.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

With a lot of help from the Saints, the NFC South stayed on pace to set a new record for a division winning its home games.

New Orleans' victory over Atlanta now puts the NFC South at 23-2 in home games. That's a .920 winning percentage. The Saints have one more home game, while Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta each have two.

Here's a look at the best combined home winning percentages by a division since 1970:

Best Combined Winning Percentages by a Division (Since 1970) Season Division W-L-T Pct 2003 NFC West 26-6-0 .813 1988 AFC Central 25-7-0 .781 1971 AFC West 20-6-2 .769 1988 AFC East 30-9-1 .763

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

TAMPA, Fla. -- Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Bryant just echoed the sentiments of many NFC South fans, who've been saying the division gets slighted by the national media in favor of the NFC East.

"It's sickening because they look for any little thing," said Bryant, who previously played for the Dallas Cowboys. "For instance, they look for the Pacman [Jones] situation and everything with that. They try to find positives with things and negatives with things and look for anything and nitpick about it when you've got Tampa Bay over here second in the NFC and nobody's really acknowledging that."

But Bryant said that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"It's cool," Bryant said. "As the season goes along, more and more teams begin to be eliminated and their opportunity to further along their season dwindles, then we're going to have to deal with some type of attention, so all we can do is play hard, play football and continue to find ways to win games."

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

If you're looking for a common thread on why the NFC South has been so successful this season, you might want to start with sack differential. That's the difference between sacks recorded and allowed by a team and all four NFC South teams are in positive territory. Here's a look at the league rankings:

By the Numbers: Sack Differential Rank Team Sacks Sacks allowed Sack Differential 1. Tennessee 34 8 26 2. Dallas 40 18 22 T-3. NY Giants 36 15 21 T-3. Philadelphia 39 18 21 T-5. Denver 22 8 14 T-5. New Orleans 24 10 14 7. NY Jets 35 23 12 8. Atlanta 24 13 11 9. Indianapolis 19 12 7 T-10. Arizona 25 19 6 T-10. Carolina 24 18 6 T-10. Pittsburgh 42 36 6 T-13. Miami 28 23 5 T-13. Tampa Bay 25 20 5 15. San Diego 23 19 4 16. Baltimore 26 23 3 17. Chicago 24 22 2 T-18. Cleveland 15 15 0 T-18. Minnesota 33 33 0 T-20. Green Bay 20 25 -5 T-20. Seattle 26 21 -5 T-20. Houston 20 25 -5 T-23. Buffalo 21 28 -7 T-23. Oakland 25 32 -7 25. Jacksonville 22 33 -11 26. Washington 19 32 -13 27. St. Louis 21 37 -16 28. New England 23 40 -17 29. San Francisco 22 43 -21 30. Detroit 23 45 -22 31. Kansas City 6 32 -26 32. Cincinnati 13 43 -30

Kordell Stewart and Jamal Anderson discuss the playoff races in the AFC East, NFC North, AFC North, and NFC South.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

With Tampa Bay's win against New Orleans, the NFC South remains on pace to shatter the record for best combined home winning percentage by a division. The NFC South is now 22-2 in home games this season and eight home games remain. That's a .917 winning percentage. Here's a look at the best home winning percentages by a division since 1970.

Best home winning percentage since 1970   W-L-T Winning Pct. 2003 NFC West 26-6 .813 1998 AFC Central 25-7 .781 1971 AFC West 20-6-2 .769 1988 AFC East 30-9-1 .763

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

The NFC South remains on pace to post the best home winning percentage by a division since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Heading into this weekend, the NFC South teams are a combined 21-2. That's a .913 winning percentage.

The record for best home record by a division is 26-6 (.813) by the NFC West in 2003. The three next-best seasons were 25-7 (.781) by the AFC Central in 1988, 20-6-2 (.769) by the AFC West in 1971 and 30-9-1 (.763) by the AFC East in 1988.

The only two home losses by NFC South teams this year came when Atlanta dropped a game to Denvert in the Georgia Dome and when the Saints squandered a fourth-quarter lead in the Superdome against Minnesota.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

With the Panthers and Buccaneers doing their part Sunday, the NFC South remains on a record pace when it comes to winning at home.

Although the Falcons lost in the Georgia Dome for the first time, the NFC South is a combined 19-2 at home this season. That's a .905 winning percentage.

Thanks to ESPN Stats & Analysis, here's a look at the best combined home records by a division in history:

Year Division W-L Pct

2003 NFC West 26-6 .813

1988 AFC Central 25-7 .781

1971 AFC West 20-6-2 .769

1988 AFC East 30-9-1 .763

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

We've heard plenty about the strength of the NFC East since the preseason. But that division is not alone in its power. The NFC East has lived up to its hype, but the NFC South and AFC East are doing their parts to make this an exceptional season.

For the first time since the NFL realigned in 2002, there are three divisions in which all teams are .500 or better after Week 9. In fact, there only have been two seasons in which a single division had all its teams at .500 or better at this point. Here's a look:

• 2008: 3 (AFC East, NFC East, NFC South)
• 2007: 0
• 2006: 0
• 2005: 1 (NFC East)
• 2004: 0
• 2003: 0
• 2002: 1 (AFC East)