National Football League

NFC South pass defenses pummeled in Madden 24 trailer. Can they fight back?

Published Jun. 8, 2023 11:08 a.m. ET

Bills quarterback Josh Allen was unveiled this week on the cover of the new EA Sports Madden 24 video game, which also had a tightly edited 76-second trailer posted online Wednesday, not unlike a summer blockbuster movie.

If you were looking for snippets of NFC South players, there's a split-second of Bucs receiver Mike Evans in the intro, and then it isn't pretty from there:

-- Saints safety Marcus Maye is seen chasing after Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, only to be decleated by tight end Dallas Goedert and sent flying on his back.

-- Falcons safety Jessie Bates is late in coverage on a pass thrown to Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, who turns upfield as Bates falls to the ground in overpursuit.

-- Bucs safety Antoine Winfield, trying to cover Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, misses badly and stumbles in the other direction as Jefferson makes the catch and celebrates.

That's the 2023 NFC South for you, lacking superstars in the post-Tom Brady world and only in the game to show how realistically other players can make exciting plays. The division didn't have a team with a winning record in 2022, and the national expectations aren't particularly high for much improvement this fall.

The Madden lowlights reflect what everybody did last season against NFC South pass defenses. Consider the passing touchdowns allowed and interceptions for each team's defense last year:

Saints: 17 TDs, 7 INTs
Panthers: 25 TDs, 10 INTs
Falcons: 26 TDs, 10 INTs
Bucs: 29 TDs, 10 INTs

By interception rate, all four were in the bottom nine of the 32 teams, all getting picks on less than 2% of passes attempted against them. Collectively, opposing quarterbacks had 2.6 touchdowns for every pick they threw against NFC South teams. The Saints were successful in limiting passing yards (second-lowest in the league) and passing touchdowns (tied for third-lowest), but the rest of the division was again in the bottom 10 for opponent passer rating.

The Bucs finished with only 10 interceptions, and only four of them came against quarterbacks expected to start this season, with one each against Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott. The rest are all against likely backups in 2023 — three off Jameis Winston and one each off Trace McSorley, Jacoby Brissett and Sam Darnold.

The good news? NFC South teams were active in trying to upgrade their secondaries. The Falcons gave Bates $16 million a year to add one of the best safeties in the league. They also traded for cornerback Jeff Okudah and signed veteran Mike Hughes to go with a strong returning corner in A.J. Terrell. Carolina added safety Vonn Bell and upgraded its staff by hiring Ejiro Evero as defensive coordinator.

Tampa Bay, with limited cap space, made it a priority to keep corner Jamel Dean, and with corner Carlton Davis and safety Winfield, the Bucs still have the top three defensive backs from their Super Bowl team three years ago. They moved on from four defensive backs: safeties Mike Edwards, Logan Ryan and Keanu Neal, plus corner Sean Murphy-Bunting, who combined for 2,271 defensive snaps last year. Their only addition was Seahawks safety Ryan Neal, leaving their nickel job largely unclaimed entering training camp.

The schedule will help the NFC South pass defenses, who all get to play the entire AFC South, which probably means at least two games each against rookie quarterbacks or their placeholders. They all face the NFC North, which no longer means Aaron Rodgers but instead Jordan Love and Justin Fields. Atlanta gets two of the league's worst quarterback teams in Arizona and Washington, and the division gets to avoid Burrow, who went 4-0 against the NFC South last year, throwing 11 touchdowns against one interception. They won't have to face Brady, who had eight touchdowns against one interception in six divisional games.

The four NFC South defenses combined for just 37 interceptions last year while every other division had at least 46, and the league average was 50, which is to say there's considerable room for improvement. Success in the secondary will contribute to the division's overall progress, and perhaps a year from now, NFC South defensive backs will be the ones making plays in the video-game trailers, instead of falling in the background.

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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