NFC South pass defenses pounded in Madden 24 trailer. Can they battle back?

Bills quarterback Josh Allen was revealed this week on the cover of the brand-new EA Sports Madden 24 video videogame, which likewise had a firmly modified 76-second trailer published online Wednesday, not unlike a summertime hit motionpicture.

If you were looking for bits of NFC South gamers, there’s a split-second of Bucs receiver Mike Evans in the introduction, and then it isn’t quite from there:

— Saints security Marcus Maye is seen chasing after Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, just to be decleated by tight end Dallas Goedert and sentout flying on his back.

— Falcons security Jessie Bates is late in protection on a pass tossed to Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, who turns upfield as Bates falls to the ground in overpursuit.

— Bucs security Antoine Winfield, attempting to cover Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, missesouton severely and stumbles in the other instructions as Jefferson makes the catch and commemorates.

That’s the 2023 NFC South for you, doingnothave superstars in the post-Tom Brady world and just in the videogame to program how reasonably other gamers can make interesting plays. The department didn’t have a group with a winning record in 2022, and the nationwide expectations aren’t especially high for much enhancement this fall.

The Madden lowlights show what everyone did last season versus NFC South pass defenses. Consider the passing goals permitted and interceptions for each group’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 4 were in the bottom 9 of the 32 groups, all getting chooses on less than 2% of passes tried versus them. Collectively, opposing quarterbacks had 2.6 goals for every choice they tossed versus NFC South groups. The Saints were effective in restricting passing backyards (second-lowest in the league) and passing goals (tied for third-lowest), however the rest of the department was onceagain in the bottom 10 for challenger passer ranking.

The Bucs endedup with just 10 interceptions, and just 4 of them came versus quarterbacks anticipated to start this season, with one each versus Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott. The rest are all versus mostlikely backups in 2023 — 3 off Jameis Winston and one each off Trace McSorley, Jacoby Brissett and Sam Darnold.

[RELATED: Madden cover curse: Does it still exist and could it impact Josh Allen?]

The great news? NFC South groups were active in attempting to upgrade their secondaries. The Falcons provided Bates $16 million a year to include one of the finest securities in the league. They likewise traded for cornerback Jeff Okudah and signed veteran Mike Hughes to go with a strong returning corner in A.J. Terrell. Carolina included security Vonn Bell and updated its personnel by hiring Ejiro Evero as defensive planner.

Tampa Bay, with minimal cap area, made it a toppriority to keep corner Jamel Dean, and with corner Carlton Davis and security Winfield, the Bucs still have the leading 3 defensive backs from their Super Bowl group 3 years earlier. They moved on from 4 defensive backs: securities Mike Edwards, Logan Ryan and Keanu Neal, plus corner Sean Murphy-Bunting, who integrated for 2,271 defensive snaps last year. Their just addition was Seahawks security Ryan Neal, leaving their nickel task mostly unclaimed goinginto training camp.

The schedule will assistance the NFC South pass defenses, who all get to play the whole AFC South, which mostlikely suggests at least 2 videogames each versus novice quarterbacks or their placeholders. They all face the NFC North, which no longer implies Aaron Rodgers however rather Jordan Love and Justin Fields. Atlanta gets 2 of the league’s worst quarterback groups in Arizona and Washington, and the department gets to prevent Burrow, who went 4-0 versus the NFC South last year, throwing 11 goals versus one interception. They won’t have to face Brady, who had 8 goals versus one interception in 6 divisional videogames.

The 4 NFC South defenses integrated for simply 37 interceptions last year while every other department had at least 46, and the league average was 50, which is to state there’s substantial space for enhancement. Success in the secondary will contribute to the department’s general development, and possibly a year from now, NFC South defensive backs will be the ones making plays in the video-game trailers, rather of falling in the background.

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