By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The NFL loves its parity. It’s one of the things that has helped it thrive as a league over the years. Just about every fan base (sorry Cleveland, I’m not looking at you on this one) goes into the season with playoff aspirations and a sense that their team has it what it takes to make a run. It really is one of the beautiful things about the NFL.

Over the past decade the NFC South has taken that parity out to dinner, married it, bought it a house with a white picket fence, and introduced it to every actor/actress on its “If I ever meet this person I get to………” list.

So far this year doesn’t seem to be any different. I know it’s dangerous to look too much into any one game, but it’s hard not to walk away from the Falcons/Panthers game this weekend and see anything different than two teams headed in opposite directions.

There is a lot to worry about if you’re a Panthers fan. You knew coming into the season that the secondary was going to struggle and the hope was that the front seven on defense and the offense would be able to steady the ship while that took place.

Basically the secondary’s struggles are the only thing that has come true. The “Hog Mollies”, as Gettleman likes to call them, along Kuechly and Davis haven’t necessarily been bad up to this point, but they’re not playing at quite the same level they were last year, which only magnifies the secondary’s issues.

The real surprise, to me at least, has been on the offensive side of the ball. It’s probably not exactly fair to judge their woes considering they have played two of the league’s best defenses in Denver and Minnesota, but they just haven’t looked in sync all year.

Even the game against San Francisco is starting to look a little like an aberration. Of course, it doesn’t help when your offensive line is doing their best enema impersonation, opening up the floodgates on the quarterback to opposing teams. There’s still plenty of time for things to turn around in Carolina, but with the talent they have this is not the start you want.

Atlanta is on the opposite end of the spectrum which is kind of surprising for the sheer reason that they are pretty much the same team I expected them to be. Very good offense, god awful defense. I guess the biggest surprise is just how good the offense has been….when you actually get the damn ball to Julio Jones.

300 yards! Are you kidding me?

Then again, Matt Ryan threw for over 500 yards, so you know, there’s that too.

In all seriousness though, I’ve been extremely impressed with Atlanta’s ability to put points up on the board, and if the defense can ever get directions to the stadium on game day, instead of Dave & Buster’s, they could really surprise some people.

I know they started out even stronger last season, but you just get a sense that this season is a little different. The next two games (Denver and Seattle) will say a lot about whether or not the Falcons are for real this season, but so far, so good.

If history, and personal experience, has taught me anything it’s not to get too excited about the possibilities. All this winning means is that Tampa or New Orleans is next in line to win the division next year. And the NFL wouldn’t have it any other way.