While there was plenty of awesome in Atlanta's victory over Jacksonville on Thursday I'm excluding them in favor of a few games a little fresher in our minds. Thankfully the remaining three teams of the NFC South were quick to supply plenty good, bad and ugly.
The Awesome- Drew Brees
It's criminal that Brees isn't getting enough credit for his 2011 season thus far. The national media landscape has been caught gushing over Tim Tebow and Aaron Rodgers, but it's Brees who is on pace for a truly historic season. With his 412 yards and 5 TDs against Minnesota he is now on pace for an insane 5,400 passing yards and 42 touchdowns; those are numbers that can't be quantified.
Adding Darren Sproles to the mix has added an extra weapon to Brees' arsenal and given him a reliable outlet when his deep passes aren't there. When it's all said and done I believe Sproles is the key reason Brees has been able to transcend his previous season's and is on pace for a legendary one. The only thing stopping him now is the bench, and whether Sean Payton will rest his QB.
The Abysmal- Tampa Bay's lack of rushing
Perhaps the reports of Raheem Morris almost getting fired before the game got back to the head coach because on Saturday night it didn't even look like he really cared. Despite the Cowboys having suspect run defense at times the Bucs only used one running back for the entire game, and even then LaGarrette Blount only got 9 carries. It was inane to make Josh Freeman shoulder all of the responsibility for Tampa's offense after coming off an injury.
As I said, it looked to me like Morris as a coach gave up, and it was astounding to see. This is a team just 12 months removed from a 10 win season, and as it stands they look like an organization without focus or direction. A big source of this is the huge regression of Freeman as a QB, and that falls on the coaching staff.
The Asinine- The Carolina Panthers run the fumblerooski
The Carolina Panthers aren't a playoff team, but at least they're exciting. This is one of those situations where you better get them now, because in another year or two it wont be so easy provided the Panthers can keep their coaching staff together. I don't know what else to say about the Panthers use of the fumblerooski in their win over the Houston Texans, so I'll let you experience it for yourself; it was asinine and brilliant at the same time.