The Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons split their two meetings on the field this year, and now, there's a chance that a rubber match between the two NFC South rivals could take place off the field. With Bill Belichick suddenly a “free agent” after 24 seasons as the head coach of the New England Patriots, it's expected that both the Panthers and Falcons, each who have head coaching vacancies, will be major players in the Belichick sweepstakes.
Could Bill Belichick land in the NFC South? The #Panthers and #Falcons are two potential landing spots for the greatest coach ever. pic.twitter.com/SBrAxgBjQy
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 12, 2024
As Ian Rapoport points out, one of the ‘pros' in the Panthers favor is that Carolina could possibly offer Bill Belichick the same sweet deal he had in New England, where Belichick would not only be coaching the team, but handling things on the football operations side too. For what it's worth, the Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Commanders could theoretically offer the same sort of deal to Belichick. What the Atlanta Falcons have going in their favor is that minus a starting quarterback, the pieces are in place for the Falcons to win now. Even with the Desmond Ridder/Taylor Heinicke duo splitting time under center, a better head coach than Arthur Smith could've probably led the Falcons to the postseason this year.
(Bill Belichick is a better head coach than Arthur Smith.)
It's ironic that the soon-to-be 72-year-old Belichick has come to represent the savior of these two franchises when it was Belichick's Patriots teams that thwarted each of these two franchises best opportunities to win a Super Bowl in the past — the Pats scored a 32-29 win over Carolina in Super Bowl XXXVIII, and a 34-28 win in overtime over Atlanta in Super Bowl LI.
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