Well now that the first week of the NFL preseason has come and gone let's take a look at some players from each NFC South team who stood out amongst their teamates.

Atlanta Falcons : QB Matt Ryan looked good starting his first game in the NFL.  In his limited time behind center he passed for 113 yds and a touchdown while going 9-of-15 passing. Not bad for a rookie and a team without much hopes of making any noise at all this season.

His lone touchdown pass was a 25-yard strike to Roddy White with 10:55 remaining in the first half. White slipped behind the defense on the play and caught the pass as he worked his way into the endzone. 

The First team defense also played pretty well considering they started a rookie former LSU CB Chevis Jackson and three second year players Brent Grimes, Tony Taylor and Jamaal Anderson.

Carolina Panthers : DeAngelo williams stood out the most to me on the offensive side of the ball scoreing twice on the ground. He looked to be healthy and pretty quick when running the ball. He's a player the Panthers will rely upon this season to help take the load off QB Jake delhomme. He finished the night with 55 yards on nine carries for the night for an impressive 6.1-yard average.

Big props to the offensive line as well during these runs. The holes they created were huge enough that the worst RB in the league might have been able to look impressive going through.

The defensive line looked really impressive especially Juluis Peppers who forced a fumble and on another play his pressure caused an errant pass which turned into an interception. Peppers is looking to rebound after a mediocre 2007 season.

Tampa Bay : I wasn't all that impressed with the Buc's offense against a very weak Miami defense. Although they were without starting QB Jeff Garcia none of the other QB's showed me that if Garcia goes down they'd be able to carry this team to the playoffs. RB Michael Bennet had a very nice game. He  finished the game with 74 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries plus a game-high four receptions for 16 yards.

The defense on the other hand looked like the same Tampa defense we've come to know and expect. CB Ronde Barber had the Bucs' first sack, forced a fumble and tied for the team lead with three tackles.

The defense didn't allow a play longer than 21 yards, not bad for just a half days work. The Buccaneers' starters on defense made an impressive debut in the opening quarter. Miami's first drive was a quick three-and-out — two running plays that went nowhere and an incompletion that was momentarily ruled a fumble.

New Orleans : WR Robert Meachem was the best player for the Saints who opened their preseason on thurs. night in Arizona.  He had two highlight catches on the night. A short run brought up a third-and-10 and Brunell fired a 49-yard pass to a diving Meachem at the Cardinals’ 3 yard-line. However his TD catch and run was the most impressive. He caught a pass across the middle of the field and broke three tackles en route to a 60-yard TD that gave the Saints a 24-10 lead in the fourth quarter.

 QB Drew Brees went six-for-seven passing on the first drive for 35 yards, including a perfectly thrown pass on third-and-goal from the Cardinals’ 7 yard-line to WR David Patten for a score.

The defense didn't look all that good to me and even though they gave up no huge plays and kept everything in front of them, they still allowed Arizona to make those catches pretty much uncontested. The Saints still have plenty kinks to work out and hopefully look better in the next game when most of the starting defense will get a chance to play a few downs.