What a crazy Sunday in the NFC South! We knew it had the potential to be a strange one with the Falcons and Buccaneers squaring off, the Saints in Houston facing the 2-0 Texans and the Panthers at home to the Jaguars... but we had no idea how strange it would get. While these games in themselves weren't surprising there were some bizzare results. So why don't you grab yourself a cup of Monday morning coffee while we look at the best, worst and weirdest of the weekend in the NFC South.
The Awesome
Atlanta's Wide Receivers
It's hard for fans to be pumped after an ugly 16-13 loss, but there was a significant dose of awesome that came out of the game if you're a Falcons' fan- Roddy White and Julio Jones. The two WRs combined for a ridiculous 15 catches for 255 yards. What's even stranger though is despite both receivers getting over an entire field's worth of yards neither scored a touchdown.
Final 12 minutes for New Orleans
Both the Saints and Texans decided that defense was overrated, so instead of playing any they opted for an utter shootout, especially in the second half. The 4th quarter took this to a new level as the game started to look less like a football game, and more like the fight scene from 'They Live'. In the end though it was the Saints who took control in the final 12 minutes as they scored 23 points to come away with a 40-33 win.
The Abysmal
The entire Falcons-Bucs game
With the exception of the aforementioned wide receivers, the rest of the Falcons-Buccaneers match-up was pretty miserable. Matt Ryan played okay, but Josh Freeman was shaky under center and neither Michael Turner nor LeGarrette Blount ran the ball well as they combined for 101 yards on 35 carries. This was an NFC South game that had all the makings of being a game of the week, but in the end it fizzled out and we were left with a fairly boring, uninspired football game; shame really.
Steve Smith
What happened to the Panthers' WR yesterday? After putting together back-to-back 150+ yard receiving games while beating the likes of Patrick Peterson and Charles Woodson he was shut down by Jags' CB Rashean Mathis... wait... what? Granted, both teams were playing in a fishbowl due to rain but Smith's 2 catch, 15 yard game was absolutely awful. I was sure he'd take Jacksonville's secondary out to the woodshed, not the other was around.
The Asinine
The rain in Carolina
You know that fishbowl I was talking about? Yeah... it was that bad. I can't recall ever seeing a football game as wet as the slop Carolina and Jacksonville played in. If you don't believe me then look no further than this second quarter video highlighting a Panthers' interception by Sherrod Martin. This rain lasted roughly 70% of the game and even when the rain stopped the play surface was a slippery mess. Rookie QB Blaine Gabbert fumbled no less that four snaps because he couldn't get a grip on the football. It was just an astoundingly messy game.