Who wants to win the NFC South? Nobody, apparently. At least not the Carolina Panthers, who hold an increasingly thin lead in the division - and not the Atlanta Falcons, who had a chance to take first place with a win on Sunday.
Both teams got blown out and embarrassed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the last two weeks.
First, the Bucs trashed the Panthers 43-13, sacking Bryce Young five times and forcing him to commit three turnovers while running all over their defense for 258 yards and three touchdowns. Then the Bucs beat the Falcons 16-0, letting the rain play their defense against Michael Penix, who coughed up four interceptions while Atlanta got bullied on the ground, giving up 324 rushing yards.
Along the way, Baker Mayfield has only had
to throw 14 total passes - proving this Tampa team can win games as ugly as it gets at this level.
Despite their 3-5 record, right now it's difficult to pick anybody else to win this division. ESPN says picking the Buccaneers is not an overreaction.
"Tampa Bay is the only team in the division that has scored more points than it has given up so far this season. The Bucs were the preseason favorites, won the division four years in a row before last season and know how to do it. Again, somebody has to win this division, and the Bucs look like the best team in it since Week 5. Nobody ran away with it in the first four weeks, so the Bucs absolutely have a shot."
Tampa started the season 0-4, and should have been completely out of the race by now. Instead, they have turned their season around and once again look like the best team in the division - admittedly that's a low bar.
The Bucs do have two challenging games coming up, as they will visit the Chicago Bears and then the Detroit Lions with their bye week in the middle. After that their schedule is pretty smooth sailing until the end of the season, though. Meanwhile, the Falcons have a brutal slate ahead of them and the Panthers will face a really tough run in December.
Right now the smart money certainly seems to be on Tampa.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: ESPN predicts Bucs win NFC South after humiliating Falcons, Panthers
