Tag: NFC South News

Atlanta Falcons hire former Bucs HC Raheem Morris as new head coach

Morris was the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams since 2021 and was the head coach of the Bucs from 2009-11.

Both the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons have their guys — it’s been a big day for coaches in the NFC South.

Hours after Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales was hired to become the Carolina Panthers’ new head coach Thursday, the Atlanta Falcons are finalizing a deal with Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris to become the next coach of the Atlanta Falcons, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Morris was Atlanta’s interim head coach in 2020.

Like Canales, Morris has Bucs ties — in fact, his only other head coaching gig before this one was in Tampa Bay. Morris served as the head coach for the Bucs from 2009-11, where he put together a 10-6 record in 2010. The rest of his tenure didn’t go well, though, and awful first and third years resulted in a 17-31 record in Tampa Bay before he was fired.

Morris has had success as a coordinator, winning a Super Bowl in 2021 with the Rams. Morris was also the defensive coordinator for the Falcons in 2020, so the program already has some experience with him. While interim head coach in 2020 after coach Dan Quinn was fired, Morris went 4-7 with the Falcons as interim head coach.

With this hire, the NFC South coaching carousel is complete. Unless any major changes occur, Todd Bowles will coach the Buccaneers, Canales will coach the Panthers, Morris will coach the Falcons and Dennis Allen will coach the New Orleans Saints.

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Atlanta Falcons fire HC Arthur Smith

The Bucs will be facing a new head coach when they play the Atlanta Falcons twice a year.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t be facing Arthur Smith any longer.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Monday that the Atlanta Falcons fired head coach Arthur Smith, ending his three-season stint with the Atlanta Falcons. The firing occurred after Smith lost the last game of the season to the New Orleans Saints 48-17 to finish the year 7-10.

Smith has finished 7-10 in every season he coached with the Atlanta Falcons, ending his tenure in Atlanta with a .412 winning percentage. The change is a big one for the NFC South, as the Bucs will now face an entirely different head coach when they play the Atlanta Falcons twice a year in 2024. Smith was 2-4 against the Bucs in his head coaching tenure with the Falcons, going 1-1 against them in the regular season in 2023.

The Falcons will now be among the teams officially looking for a head coach this upcoming offseason, joining the Las Vegas Raiders, Carolina Panthers, and Los Angeles Chargers (for now).

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Falcons CB A.J. Terrell clears concussion protocol, will play against Bucs

The Bucs will have to contend with one of Atlanta’s key defensive pieces when they play on Sunday.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have to contend with one of the Atlanta Falcons’ most skilled defensive players on Sunday.

ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter reported Saturday that Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell, who was listed on the Falcons’ injury report after going through concussion protocol, is out of that protocol and will play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Terrell suffered the concussion while making a tackle on running back Breece Hall against the New York Jets last week.

While Terrell has been a good corner in the NFL this year, ranked 25th of all CBs by PFF, he struggled in the team’s last matchup against the Bucs. He had a particularly bad time against Bucs wideout Mike Evans, who caught a touchdown pass over him on a deep bomb from quarterback Baker Mayfield near midfield. Mayfield and Evans will hope to get that connection going again when the team faces off Sunday with the NFC South on the line.

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NFC South standings after Week 13

The Bucs clawed closer to the NFC South lead on Sunday and have the chance to take it in their next game.

The NFC South carousel continues.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers did exactly what they needed to do to get back into the race in the NFC South, defeating the Carolina Panthers 21-18. With that, they move into second place in the division, just below the Atlanta Falcons who defeated the New York Jets. Because the New Orleans Saints lost to the Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay now is tied for second in the division with them and has the head-to-head tiebreaker. Should the Bucs win in Atlanta next week against the Falcons, they will hold a share of first place.

Here is what the NFC South looks like as it stands:

Team W L T Win% PF PA Home Away Strk
Atlanta Falcons 6 6 0 .500 226 240 4-2 2-4 W2
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5 7 0 .417 233 245 3-3 2-4 W1
New Orleans Saints 5 7 0 .417 257 255 2-3 3-4 L3
Carolina Panthers 1 11 0 .083 191 313 1-4 0-7 L5

And here is how each NFC South game went in Week 13:

NFC South standings after Week 11

The Bucs are still in the thick of it despite losing to the 49ers on Sunday.

Every team in the NFC South has now had their bye week, so we’re all squared up in the division.

The Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints were both on bye in Week 11, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers each played their games — and both lost. The Bucs dropped their game on the road to the San Francisco 49ers, while the Carolina Panthers were defeated by the Dallas Cowboys at home in a drubbing.

Here is what the NFC South looks like after Week 11:

Team W L T Win% PF PA Home Away Strk
New Orleans Saints 5 5 0 .500 214 198 2-2 3-3 L1
Atlanta Falcons 4 6 0 .444 189 217 3-2 1-4 L3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4 6 0 .444 192 200 2-3 2-3 L1
Carolina Panthers 1 9 0 .100 163 275 1-4 0-5 L3

And here is how the two NFC South games played in Week 11 turned out:

Falcons to go back to Desmond Ridder as starting QB after bye

Looks like the Bucs won’t be playing a different quarterback in their rematch against the Falcons after all.

It seemed as if the Atlanta Falcons would have a new quarterback when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced them again on Dec. 10, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case anymore.

The Falcons initially announced quarterback Taylor Heinicke would be the starting quarterback for Atlanta, but after Heinicke played in three games and started in two, the Falcons are making the switch back. NFL’s Ian Rapoport reported on Sunday that Desmond Ridder will once again be Atlanta’s starting quarterback after the team returns from their Week 11 bye.

Ridder has played two games against the Bucs, once at the end of 2022 and once this year at the beginning of the season. In those two games, he’s completed 69.1% of his passes for 474 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. That doesn’t mean he was turnover free, though, as Ridder fumbled three times against the Bucs in their first matchup in 2023 but won the game anyway 16-13.

So far on the season, Ridder has completed 65.4% of his passes for 740 yards, 6 TDs and 6 interceptions. He’s fumbled seven times in nine games.

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Former Bucs Super Bowl champion signs with New Orleans Saints

An important piece of the Bucs’ Super Bowl run will play against them as a division rival in 2023.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to see Jason Pierre-Paul again — just not in the way they were probably hoping to.

NFL insider Josina Anderson reported on Tuesday that Pierre-Paul is set to sign with the New Orleans Saints after a tryout, brining him back to the NFC South. This time, though, he’ll be playing against the Bucs, and he’ll see his former team on New Year’s Eve when the two face off again.

Pierre-Paul was a force in Tampa Bay, netting 124 solo tackles, 33 sacks, eight forced fumbles and two interceptions during his time with the Bucs. He was a big part of the team’s Super Bowl run, netting two sacks and 10 total tackles in the four games in 2020 that ended in Tampa Bay taking home the Lombardi. Since then, he had a stint with the Baltimore Ravens in 2022 where he managed three sacks and 26 total tackles.

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NFC South standings after Week 10

The Bucs are just half a game back from the division lead after they won their game on Sunday and the rest of the division lost.

And just like that, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are back in it.

The Bucs won their game against the Tennessee Titans while every other team in their division lost — the division-leading New Orleans Saints dropped their game to the Minnesota Vikings, the Atlanta Falcons lost to the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers lost in prime time to the Chicago Bears. With all that, the Bucs have moved up a spot to second in the division and now are just half a game back of the division lead heading into Week 11.

Here’s what the NFC South looks like at the moment:

Team W L T Win% PF PA Home Away Strk
New Orleans Saints 5 5 0 .500 214 198 2-2 3-3 L1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4 5 0 .444 178 173 2-3 2-2 L2
Atlanta Falcons 4 6 0 .400 189 217 3-2 1-4 W1
Carolina Panthers 1 8 0 .111 153 242 1-3 0-5 L2

And here is how every game went in the division:

NFC South standings after Week 9

In what has been a tumultuous division in 2023, there is yet another new leader in the NFC South after Week 9.

Over halfway into the NFL season, a new team has taken the NFC South crown.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers held the division lead for the first six weeks of action, and the Atlanta Falcons had it for the next two, but now, the New Orleans Saints stand atop the NFC South for the first time this year after Week 9. The Saints defeated the Chicago Bears to move to 5-4 on the year, while the Bucs and the Falcons both lost their games against the Texans and Vikings, respectively, to stay put. The Carolina Panthers won their first game of the week last week against Houston, but are back to their losing ways after dropping a game to the Colts.[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]

Here’s what the NFC South looks like after Week 9’s action:

Team W L T Win% PF PA Home Away Strk
New Orleans Saints 5 4 0 .556 195 171 2-2 3-2 W2
Atlanta Falcons 4 5 0 .444 166 192 3-2 1-3 L1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3 5 0 .375 158 167 1-3 2-2 L4
Carolina Panthers 1 7 0 .125 140 226 1-3 0-4 L1

And here is how all the games within the division went:

Falcons bench QB Desmond Ridder for Taylor Heinicke

The Bucs could face a different quarterback when they meet up again with the division-leading Falcons in December.

The Atlanta Falcons might look a little bit different when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers face them again in December.

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith announced Wednesday that the Falcons are benching quarterback Desmond Ridder and starting QB Taylor Heinecke against the Minnesota Vikings. Smith added that it was “just for this game,” but he’s also a notorious unreliable narrator — Ridder was possibly benched against the Tennessee Titans despite Smith claiming that he was being tested for a concussion. Ridder cleared concussion protocol on the sideline.

In his career against the Bucs (including playoffs), Heinicke has thrown for 562 yards, two touchdowns and a pick in the two games he has started for Washington. If all goes well with him in Atlanta, he’ll get a third crack at playing Tampa Bay on Dec. 10 in a game that could decide the division.

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