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Trent Dilfer, Gary Horton, Mel Kiper Jr. and Matt Williamson got together and came up with an outstanding project that looks a few years down the road. Check out this Insider post in which they have NFL Future Power Rankings for all teams.

The rankings are based on what the panel projects teams will look like in the 2015 season. The panel used the following criteria -- roster, quarterback, draft, front office and coaching staff -- and weighed each in order of importance to come up with the rankings. You can see a more detailed explanation of the methodology here.

From an NFC South perspective, the rankings don’t look all that different from results in recent years or what most people are projecting in 2012.

The panel says the New Orleans Saints, who have won two of the past three division titles, will be the division’s best team in 2015. The panel notes the bounty scandal and its punishments, but the consensus seems to be that the Saints can overcome that because there’s a strong nucleus in place, as well as a good coaching staff and front office. Horton notes the Saints have to build around guys like Jimmy Graham and Mark Ingram in the future. I think it’s true that the Saints have to develop some more young stars in the next few years. But, as long as Drew Brees is the quarterback, the Saints should be a top-10 team.

After the Saints, there’s a bit of a surprise. Although the Saints and Falcons have been the class of the division in recent years, the panel doesn’t see that quite being the case in 2015. The Falcons are No. 13 and the Panthers are No. 12.

Let’s start with why the Panthers are viewed as a team on the rise. Dilfer sums it up well by saying quarterback Cam Newton has an incredibly high ceiling. In 2015, Newton will be just approaching that ceiling. There’s no doubt the future looks bright for Carolina, but the Panthers may have to replace longtime stars Jordan Gross and Steve Smith before too long.

I disagree with the panel slightly on the placement of the Falcons. I think Atlanta will be a top-10 team in 2015 and probably each year between now and then. I agree with the panel that the Falcons have some old players at several positions, but I think general manager Thomas Dimitroff gradually will address those issues. As long as Matt Ryan and Julio Jones stay healthy and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon continues to emerge as a defensive star, I think the Falcons will be an annual playoff contender.

The Buccaneers are No. 19. While that ranking is last in the division, the Bucs have been in the 20s and 30s in a lot of recent rankings. The panel sounds optimistic about the Bucs in discussing the young talent and the new coaching staff. But there are a lot of unknowns. If quarterback Josh Freeman can get his career back on track and coach Greg Schiano can make the transition from college to the NFL, I think the Bucs have a real chance to jump up in the rankings when 2015 actually rolls around.

Check out this Insider post by Trent Dilfer. He ranks the NFL’s quarterbacks, starters and even some backups, although Jimmy Clausen didn’t quite make the list.

Dilfer breaks the quarterbacks down into seven categories and I don’t think anyone will be surprised to hear that he’s got Drew Brees in his “Hall of Fame’’ category. There’s little doubt Brees will be in the Hall of Fame someday, and there’s absolutely no doubt he’s one of the league’s top two or three quarterbacks these days.

I think even fans of other teams freely will admit Brees is the NFC South’s best quarterback. That brings us to the quarterbacks of the other NFC South teams and how they fared in Dilfer’s rankings.

Two categories down, Dilfer includes Atlanta’s Matt Ryan in his “A Ring Away’’ category. He has Ryan grouped with guys like Philip Rivers, Joe Flacco, Tony Romo and Matthew Stafford.

The next category down is “Mostly Good’’ and that’s where Dilfer has Carolina’s Cam Newton and Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman. They’re grouped with guys like Michael Vick, Andy Dalton and Carson Palmer.

Overall, I’ve got no issues with Dilfer’s list. I’m often asked in chats to rank the four NFC South quarterbacks. During last season, I tried to stay away from picking between Ryan and Newton as the No. 2 quarterback in the division. That’s mainly because Ryan and Newton are completely different quarterbacks. It also was because we were watching Newton evolve in his rookie season and there were changes in his level of play (usually for the better) just about every week.

But, since the season is over and since we’re on the topic, I’ll go ahead and reveal my rankings of the four NFC South quarterbacks. I’ll go in the same order Dilfer did.

We already addressed Brees and we’ll finish with Freeman. But why am I taking Ryan over Newton? First off, I’m only taking Ryan slightly over Newton. He’s been in the league for four years and has won each of those seasons. He hasn’t won big yet, but he may. Newton has way more upside than Ryan, but he’s not a finished product yet. A year from now, I might be sitting here writing that Newton is way better than Ryan. Heck, I might even be writing Newton is better than Brees.

He’s got that kind of upside. But he’s only played one season and only won six games. Let’s see a little more of Newton.

That brings us to Freeman. At the start of this past season, I thought Freeman had a chance to jump over Ryan into the No. 2 spot. That obviously didn’t happen and Freeman tumbled to No. 4 in the division. But Dilfer wrote that he still thinks Freeman can become elite. I agree totally.

Yes, Freeman had a bad 2011 season and some of the blame falls on him for that. But I put more blame on his coaching and supporting cast. I think the talent is there and Freeman can bounce back in 2012.

Anyway, those are my rankings at the moment. I know they’re open to debate. That’s what the comments section below is for.

There is one man on the planet who could solve everything that is wrong with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

One man who, with the simple nod of his head, would sell out Raymond James Stadium instantly, stop the losing, put an end to just about all the trouble off the field and give the Bucs credibility and respectability with their fans and across the league.

His name is Tony Dungy.

Let me be clear: I’m not saying it will happen. Raheem Morris is still coaching the Bucs, and the team already has picked up his contract option for 2012. But the Bucs are on a six-game losing streak and seem to be in total chaos. Dungy seems happy away from coaching and may not ever want to get back into the business.

I’m not saying the Glazer family, which owns the Buccaneers, has decided to fire Morris. And if that decision does come, I’m not saying the Glazers would pursue Dungy.

I’m simply saying I believe the Glazers should make a run at Dungy, who coached the team from 1996 to 2001.

Go after Dungy with an open checkbook and promise that never again will he be ordered to fire Mike Shula (in Hawaii) or any other assistant.

Maybe Dungy simply shrugs off any overture and stays with his broadcasting career and ministry work. But maybe, just maybe, Dungy would be tempted.

I ran the scenario by three people who worked closely with Dungy at one time or another. None of them knows whether Dungy wants to coach again. But all three agree that if there is one coaching job that might tempt him, it would be Tampa Bay. Dungy lives in the Tampa area.

I used to think that there was no way Dungy would even want to work for the Bucs again. The Glazers fired him and Dungy is a fierce competitor. He can be stubborn and, although he comes across as very humble, Dungy has a deep streak of pride.

Would his principles allow him to go back to work for people who fired him?

They just might. If the Glazers came begging, Dungy might feel he has the upper hand, and that’s important to a man with his pride. But Dungy’s not an egomaniac who would want to handle every personnel matter. General manager Mark Dominik appears to be in the good graces of ownership, and he’s got three years remaining on his contract. Dominik is following a plan of building through the draft, which is pretty similar to the route Dungy took the first time he was with the Bucs.

Take some of the money that’s being saved by not signing free agents and wave it in front of Dungy. It could pay huge dividends immediately and down the road.

Hire Dungy and, bad economy or not, there will once again be a waiting list for season tickets. Dungy is a beloved figure in Tampa Bay, and fans who never warmed up to Morris and his young team (and grew tired of Jon Gruden and his failure to put together a consistent winner after winning a Super Bowl with Dungy’s team) would be ecstatic if the best coach in franchise history came back.

Dungy would clean up a locker room that has a lot of guys who have had off-field troubles. Dungy’s not going to walk into One Buccaneer Place and tell Aqib Talib and Tanard Jackson to hit the road. He believes in second chances (see his extensive work with Michael Vick). He would lay down the law with Talib, Jackson and everyone else in the locker room. He’d tell them they have to toe his line, which is located in a completely different place than Morris’ line, and instantly would cut them if they ever got in trouble again. Any player who has played for Dungy will tell you the last thing they ever wanted was to let him down.

That would translate into discipline on the field -- something the Bucs have lacked during the Morris years or even in Gruden’s tenure.

Dungy is a defensive guru. He could fix Tampa Bay’s defense, which already has lots of draft picks and money invested in the front four.

In his previous stint with the Bucs, the only two knocks on Dungy were that he couldn’t win “the big one’’ and he never found a franchise quarterback.

But Dungy dispelled all that when he went to Indianapolis. He won a Super Bowl there. Dungy also inherited Peyton Manning, who was a bit more gifted than Trent Dilfer and Shaun King. Dungy didn’t bring his boring offense to Indianapolis. He adjusted and let Manning do what he does best.

That’s another thing that could make a return to the Bucs attractive to Dungy. The Bucs have all sorts of flaws, but the one positive thing they have going for them is they have a franchise quarterback in Josh Freeman. Yeah, I know Freeman’s not having a good season, but he is a big-time talent.

Give Freeman a good supporting cast and some stable coaching, and the Bucs are winners. If Dungy were to take the job, he might be wise to keep offensive coordinator Greg Olson or quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt or both. Freeman likes them both, and some continuity would help his development.

But Dungy wouldn’t have much trouble putting together a strong staff. In all likelihood, Indianapolis is going to have a coaching change. That means a bunch of coaches who once worked for Dungy would be available. Heck, Dungy might even be able to pry Monte Kiffin away from his son, Lane, and the University of Southern California. Kiffin decided to leave the Bucs near the end of Gruden’s time. Kiffin and Gruden got along fine, but I don’t think they ever had the strong bond Dungy shared with Kiffin.

As the Bucs have struggled to sell tickets and try to get their fans to understand why they’re building almost exclusively through the draft, team officials have said they want to give fans a team they can love again.

They haven’t made any progress in that area this season. There’s one easy way to get fans to love the Bucs again: Go out and hire the coach who made them lovable in the first place -- if he'll take the job.

» NFC Final Word: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 11 (remember, the New Orleans Saints have a bye):

Crunch time: It would be a very long shot for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to go into Lambeau Field and defeat the Packers. But I’m going to be keeping a close eye on this one for reasons other than the final score. I want to see if the Bucs show effort in this one. In last week’s loss to Houston, a lack of effort was a serious problem. There’s been a lot of emphasis around One Buccaneer Place this week on getting a better effort. I’m real curious to see if that happens. If it doesn’t, coach Raheem Morris officially could move onto the hot seat. When a team isn’t giving much effort in the second half of a season, ownership -- and the rest of the world -- will look at that as a reflection on the coach.

Running away:The Bucs have started slowly on offense pretty much all season and have had a tendency to fall behind early. That’s become an even bigger problem in the current three-game losing streak. The Bucs have been quick to abandon the run after falling behind. In the past three games, they’ve averaged just seven running plays in the second half. When that happens, quarterback Josh Freeman is placed in a tough spot. Freeman, who only threw six interceptions last season, already has thrown 13 this season. That leads the NFC and is second in the NFL. The last Tampa Bay quarterback to have 13 interceptions through the first nine games of a season was Trent Dilfer back in 1996.

Road woes: The Carolina Panthers have lost their past 11 road games. That ties them for the second-longest road losing streak in the league since 2006 and it’s the longest active streak in the NFL. The only longer streak was by the Lions, who lost 26 straight road games from 2007 to 2010.

Home woes:The Falcons were dominant in the Georgia Dome in the first three years of coach Mike Smith’s tenure. But they’re 2-2 at home this season. A loss to Tennessee on Sunday would give the Falcons more home losses than they’ve had in any season since Smith took over. But it’s not like the Georgia Dome has suddenly become a friendly place for visiting teams. It was about as loud as I’ve ever heard it last Sunday. People who say the Falcons are struggling at home need to remember their two losses have been to the Packers and Saints.

Stay in your lane: The Atlanta linebackers are going to be a key in Sunday’s matchup. They need to keep Chris Johnson from turning the corner. After a very slow start, Johnson has come on the past two games. Through Week 8, he was averaging just 2.5 yards per carry when running outside the tackles. In the past two games, he’s averaged 5.7 yards when running to the outside.

TAMPA, Fla. –- I’m at Raymond James Stadium on an absolutely gorgeous night. Made it in without much trouble, but you can definitely tell the atmosphere is going to be pretty festive for “Monday Night Football."

The gates don’t open for quite some time, but the parking lots are already filling up. The atmosphere is a lot more like it used to be back in the old days when every game used to sell out. I'm going to go down to the field in a minute to say hello to ESPN broadcaster Trent Dilfer, who I had the pleasure of covering early in his Tampa Bay days.

I’ll be back with the inactives, any lineup changes and anything else of note as it comes along. Also, stop back on the NFC South Blog to join us for the Monday Night Live chat. We’ll start promptly at 8:30 p.m. ET and talk throughout the game.

By the way, we now are less than three hours from seeing Curtis Painter.

Very interesting Insider piece by Trent Dilfer. He puts Tampa Bay’s Greg Olson at the top of his list of underrated play callers in the NFL.

I’m glad Dilfer points this out because I don’t think Olson has gotten the recognition he deserves. Last year, he got plenty of production out of an offense that featured quarterback Josh Freeman, receiver Mike Williams and running back LeGarrette Blount, who each were in their first season as a starter.

I wasn’t crazy about Olson’s play calling in the season opener against Detroit, but head coach Raheem Morris is at least partly responsible for the decision to go to the two-minute offense early and abandon the running game. Against Minnesota last week, Olson stuck with Blount and the running game in the second half and it paid off.

Olson is a very good play caller and will only get better as the Bucs develop some of their young receivers to complement Williams. Is Olson the best play caller in the NFC South?

Probably not. That honor belongs to New Orleans head coach Sean Payton, who calls his own plays. But you can’t call Payton underrated because he’s been known as an offensive guru for a long time.

I’m not sure you can call Atlanta’s Mike Mularkey or Carolina’s Rob Chudzinski underrated for different reasons. Mularkey’s had good results with the Atlanta offense the past three seasons, but the deep passing game has yet to click this year, so there still are some questions to be answered. Although Chudzinski is in his first season as Carolina’s coordinator and off to a good start, it’s not like he’s flying under the radar. He came into this job with a lot of respect from around the league and was fairly well known by fans.

That’s not quite the same rise Olson has had. He started off as Tampa Bay’s quarterbacks coach in 2009, but suddenly was thrust into the coordinator’s job when Jeff Jagodzinski was fired in training camp.

Let’s take a look at a couple of interesting links about the NFC South and its quarterbacks.

In this Insider piece , Trent Dilfer ranks Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman as the young quarterback with the highest ceiling. I couldn’t agree with him more, although a few more big games from Cam Newton could change my thinking. But there really are no limits for Freeman.

He’s got a world of physical talent, but his biggest strength might be that he has so many intangibles. Dilfer points out the one challenge for Freeman could be his supporting cast. It’s not great. The Bucs are a team that builds through the draft and I think you might see them drafting a lot of offensive players next April.

I also think Newton’s got a very high ceiling, but we need to see him play a little more before deciding how high his ceiling is. I think Atlanta’s Matt Ryan has pretty much reached his ceiling. He’s a very good quarterback and the only area for growth is for Ryan to have more success throwing downfield. If he can do that, then he’ll start winning some postseason games.

Also, check out this fine feature by Josh Kipnis. He writes that the NFC South has the best collection of quarterbacks in the league. No argument here. Think about it. The NFC South has Drew Brees, who is a top-five quarterback and may even be the league’s second best behind only Tom Brady.

Ryan’s already very good and so is Freeman. Plus, as Dilfer noted Freeman should only keep getting better. Newton’s debut was extremely encouraging. If that wasn’t some sort of mirage, then I don’t see another division that has as much overall quarterback talent as the NFC South.

Mel Kiper Jr. and Chris Mortensen agree the Saints have to focus on their front seven during the draft.

NEW ORLEANS – In this video last week, Trent Dilfer said the Atlanta Falcons need to put more on the shoulders of quarterback Matt Ryan. Dilfer said Ryan is more than ready to carry an offense.

I asked Atlanta coach Mike Smith about Dilfer’s comments on Sunday and here’s what he had to say.

“This is a quarterback-driven league,’’ Smith said. "Matt does an outstanding job and has done an outstanding job for all three years. Part of his maturation process will be to have more put on his plate. We’ve probably put more in front of him than most quarterbacks in this league in terms of what we ask him to do in running our offense. I think we can continue to expand it by identifying what he does well and the parts he has around him. That’s what coaching is all about.

“I really believe that Matt is one of the elite quarterbacks in this league and I think that he’s going to continue to see the arrow pointing up and his growth will continue to multiply over the next couple of years. He’s started to get a really good feel, not only for our offense, but how people are trying to defend him. I think that’s very important for a quarterback is to understand how people are trying to defend the scheme and with how they’re trying to defend him.’’

Auburn quarterback Cam Newton worked out Thursday. The Carolina Panthers, who hold the No. 1 pick in the draft, weren’t there.

Neither was any representative of any other NFL team. The workout was for the media only. Teams will get a look at Newton at the scouting combine or private workouts later on. But they’ll also be able to see some film of Thursday’s workout because it’s out there now.

Was Newton’s workout enough to lift his draft stock? Well, if you look below, you’ll get to hear ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer break down Newton’s workout. Dilfer is a guy who never has been afraid to say what’s on his mind.

He said Newton’s stock should “skyrocket’’ and NFL front-office types and coaches will get very excited about the quarterback. Dilfer made it sound like Newton answered any questions about his ability to be a strong passer in the NFL. The former quarterback said Newton excelled in a series of throws that were much more challenging than what usually takes place in workouts.

Wonder if the Panthers have seen the tape yet?

Time for a few quick programming notes as I get ready to begin the trip to Atlanta.

We held the weekly NFC South chat Friday. I have to get to the airport and don’t have time to pull out highlights, but you can see the entire transcript of the chat here. Our Final Word segment on the Falcons and Packers will pop up a bit later this afternoon.

I’ll check in from Atlanta later tonight if there are any developments of note. Meantime, I’ll share a couple of other items as we count down the hours until Saturday night’s game.

KC Joyner writes that the Falcons should air it out against the Packers. I’m with Joyner on this one. But I’m not talking just about this game. I’ve thought for a long time the Falcons should put a little bit more on Matt Ryan’s plate, because I think he can handle it.

Speaking of Ryan, ESPN’s Trent Dilfer had these glowing words of praise about the Atlanta quarterback during a recent conference call with the national media.

“It’s not just how he plays,’’ Dilfer said. “It’s how he handles himself. … The quarterback is not the most important position – it’s the most influential position. You influence everybody in the building not just by how you play, but how you handle yourself. He’s so classy. He’s such a grinder, he’s so tough. He brings that emotional aspect to your team that you can truly, truly build your franchise around that person. Yeah, they found the right player, but they found the right person more importantly.”

On Saturday, NFC North colleague Kevin Seifert and I will be in Atlanta to cover the game. Since Kevin is from Minnesota, I’ve asked him to bring along the family snowmobile, just in case our rental car can’t navigate the streets of Icelanta. I’ve also asked Kevin to bring along an extra winter coat, pair of gloves and ski cap, since I live in Florida and don’t own any of those things.

Anyway, our plan is to be into the Georgia Dome several hours before kickoff. We’ll bring you all the pregame news and notes. Once the game starts, we’ll be taking part in Countdown Daily, which is a chat where you can talk back and forth with Kevin and I as well as Matt Williamson from Scouts Inc. All the information you need to get in there will be posted on this blog an hour or two before kickoff.

When he met with the New Orleans media Tuesday, Saints coach Sean Payton defended the actions of some of his players immediately after Monday night’s win in the Georgia Dome.

Several members of the New Orleans Saints defense were seen coming out of the locker room and back on the field, where they were seen, at very least, posing for pictures near an Atlanta Falcons logo. That set off fireworks among fans and in the media. The Saints have been accused by some of rubbing it in to the Falcons and others have accused the Saints of being arrogant, which isn't the first time that claim has been made.

But Payton said he believes too much has been made of the incident and added that he understands the attention it has brought.

“It’s something the linebackers have done for a while here,’’ Payton said. “It’s always done with respect and after the game. If you go into our linebacker meeting room there’s pictures there with their families. There are pictures of the Super Bowl. There are pictures after a big win at Dallas, but it’s always after the teams leave the field and it’s never in any way, shape or form meant at all to be disrespectful. I think in light of last night, a lot’s been made that it was in more of an arrogant manner. I would disagree with that. It’s something that’s done after the fact, after the teams have left the field.”

I did not witness the incident because I was in Atlanta’s locker room after the game. But television colleague Ed Werder described what he saw and said it wasn’t anywhere near the level of Terrell Owens dancing on the Dallas Cowboys logo years ago.

I’ll just say it probably wasn’t a good idea for the Saints to do anything that even gave the appearance of showing disrespect for the Falcons. But I know Atlanta and New Orleans fans have much stronger opinions.

I’m going to break my rule of leaving for the stadium three hours before kickoff and extend it to four hours. That’s largely because I believe it could be a little tricky getting around downtown Atlanta and the Georgia Dome tonight.

For the record, I’ll be arriving at the Georgia Dome with several colleagues, but I think it’s important for Falcons fans to know that Trent Dilfer will not be with me.

Anyway, I’ll touch base as soon as I get settled into the Georgia Dome. Also, Matt Williamson from Scouts Inc. and I will be taking part in Countdown Daily, an in-game chat with readers and others from ESPN joining in. We’ll post an item on the blog that will take you into Countdown Daily an hour or two before kickoff.

In the meantime, let’s turn to ESPN Stats & Information for a few nuggets to hold you over as we wait for the showdown between the Saints and Falcons.

• Drew Brees, with 391 completions this season, needs nine to reach the 400-mark for the third time as a pro. All other players in NFL history combined have produced just five 400-completion seasons: Warren Moon, Drew Bledsoe, Rich Gannon, Kurt Warner and Peyton Manning have one each.
• The Saints allowed 202 rushing yards to the Falcons on Sept. 26 in an overtime contest in which Atlanta had 50 rushing plays. But last week, the Saints allowed 208 yards to the Ravens on only 39 carries -- an average of 5.3 yards per carry. It was the first time since the 2008 season that New Orleans had let an opponent amass 200 rushing yards and average five yards per carry.
• Garrett Hartley missed a 29-yard field goal in overtime when the Falcons and Saints met on Sept. 26 at New Orleans. Matt Bryant later won the game for Atlanta, 27-24, with a 46-yard field goal, and Hartley spent the next two weeks on the inactive list while 46-year-old John Carney took his spot. It was the NFL's shortest field-goal miss in overtime since an Atlanta-Tampa Bay game in Tampa on Christmas Eve of 2005. In that game, Atlanta's Todd Peterson had a 28-yard overtime attempt blocked and Bryant, then with Tampa Bay, missed from 27 yards on the next possession. Bryant eventually won it for the Buccaneers with a 41-yard field goal.
• Matt Ryan's passer rating in 2010 is 90.5; he could become the first Falcons quarterback to finish a season with a rating of 90 or higher (minimum: eight starts) since Chris Chandler earned a 100.9 rating for the 1998 team that wound up playing in the Super Bowl.
• Everything's working in the Falcons' favor this season: Opposing kickers have made only 13 of 21 field goal attempts against Atlanta; that rate of 62 percent is the lowest against any NFL team. (You have to go back to 2003 to find the last NFL team against which opposing kickers had such a low percentage; that year, the Redskins "held" their opponents to a 61-percent rate.)
• The Falcons have won eight straight, but over the last three games, their opponents have run for 454 yards and have averaged 5.8 yards per carry. The last NFL team to win three straight games despite allowing at least 450 rushing yards and at least 5.8 yards per carry was the Saints in 2006.
• John Abraham joined the 100-sacks club two weeks ago, and with a sack last week at Seattle, he now has 101.5 sacks. His single-game high of four sacks came while playing for the Jets against the Saints back on Nov. 4, 2001, his second season in the league, but he has had only two sacks (including one this year) in eight games against New Orleans since then.

» NFC Final Word: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 16.

The no-show bowl. I think it’s safe to say that next week’s Outback Bowl between Penn State and Florida will draw this season’s biggest crowd to Raymond James Stadium. Penn State fans are known for traveling and Tampa isn’t far for most Florida fans to travel to say farewell to coach Urban Meyer. It’s a good matchup. But, even though I’m wearing a Penn State hat as I type this, I don’t see how the Gators and Nittany Lions are that much better of a matchup than Sunday’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Seahawks are very much in the hunt for the NFC West title and the Bucs still can get to the playoffs if they win this one and next week at New Orleans. This game won’t be aired on local television in the Tampa Bay market, and it’s probably going to draw about 35,000 fans. Blame it on the economy, the day after Christmas or whatever. But it seems pretty strange that every other game in the league with playoff implications sold out with ease.

Brees or Ryan? We talked about this the other day. Is Drew Brees still the NFC South’s best quarterback or has Matt Ryan surpassed him this season? I believe it’s a real close call and I think we’ll know the verdict immediately after Monday night’s game. In other words, the winner takes all -- at least for this season.

Running on empty. The Bucs have been one of the great success stories of the league this season after going 3-13 last season. They’ve turned the corner and the future looks bright. But last week’s embarrassing home loss to Detroit tells me the Bucs might have finally hit the wall this season. Coach Raheem Morris has squeezed every drop of talent out of his young team, but a ton of injuries appear to have finally caught up to the Bucs. Only a few weeks ago, I would have said the Bucs were headed for 10 or 11 wins. Now, the eight wins they already have is looking like a pretty realistic measure. This season has been a success in many ways. But winning against the Seahawks or next week in New Orleans would be nice, because it would allow the Bucs to close the season with momentum that can be carried over to next season.

Special rivalry. I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way, and it’s really nothing more than a hunch. But I think Monday's game between New Orleans and Atlanta will come down to special teams. My reason is simple. In their previous meeting in the Superdome in September, the Falcons won largely because Garrett Hartley missed a field goal. Atlanta fans like to remind New Orleans fans of that miss. And New Orleans fans like to remind Atlanta fans that the NFC South standings and the overall playoff picture might look a lot different if the Falcons hadn’t been “lucky.’’ Lucky or good, I think a special-teams play will make the difference in this one. Maybe it’s a made or missed field goal attempt, a long return of a kickoff or punt or something else on special teams. It just seems like special teams are becoming a natural part of the NFC South’s best rivalry.

High-stakes game. This game has huge meaning for both teams. But let’s boil it down to simple terms. If the Falcons win, they are the NFC South champion and will hold the No. 1 seed in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. If the Saints win, they still have a shot at grabbing those two things from the Falcons. New Orleans also would have to win its finale against Tampa Bay and the Falcons would have to lose their finale against Carolina. If that happens, New Orleans would claim the No. 1 seed. Oh, by the way, I haven’t been able to confirm it yet, but there are rumblings that Atlanta receiver Roddy White has invited Trent Dilfer to hang out on the Falcons’ sideline -- or maybe not. (Here's what Dilfer said about the Falcons earlier this week.)

Not sure if this is quite Trent Dilfer/Roddy White material, but colleague KC Joyner threw some batting practice for NFC South fans when he wrote that Atlanta’s Matt Ryan has surpassed Drew Brees as the NFC South’s best quarterback.

I’ll let Atlanta and New Orleans fans duke this one out in the comments section. But I will throw in my two cents and admit that in Wednesday’s item about potential NFC South MVPs, I ranked Ryan slightly above Brees. To this point, I think Ryan has had a better season. Like I said in the piece on NFC South MVPs, I think Brees can jump to the top of the list with a strong showing against the Falcons on Monday night.

Joyner takes the argument much further and goes into great detail. I’ll just say I think Ryan has been better to this point this season and that he’s an excellent quarterback. But, all that said, if I had to take an NFC squad and go out and win one game, Brees would be the quarterback.

Oh, by the way, I don’t want to get too far ahead of the game. But I’m also of the opinion that in a couple of years, Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman at least has the potential to be as good or better than Ryan or Brees. He’s not all the way there yet, but Freeman’s upside is incredible.

Anyway, Joyner has thrown the pitch. Go ahead and take your swings in the comments section below.