NFC East Preview

Andy: There’s no more New York Post back-of-the-sports-page worthy division in football this year than the NFC East. The Giants lost DE Jason Pierre Paul to a July 4th fireworks mishap. Robert Griffin III thinks he’s the best QB in the NFL, while the Redskins don’t seem to think he’s the best QB on their roster. Chip Kelly is on his 22nd QB in three seasons, putting his faith this season in Sam Bradford, who has missed approximately 77 games in the last two seasons – and now he’s sparring with the media over whether DeMarco Murray was held out of the preseason opener against Indianapolis. And then there’s Dallas – what fantasyland are we living in where Jerry Jones and Co. are the least newsworthy team in the division?

Tony: Let’s not forget about the claims of racism in Philadelphia (which would seem to be completely off base—Kelly appears to just have a disdain for any players that didn’t come through Oregon). And the Redskins’ biggest news of the offseason before deciding to bench RGKnee, was either their desire to hold the folks in the D.C. area hostage for a new stadium to replace the one they built less than 20 year ago or their refusal to consider a name change.

And we’ve left out what ESPN and the other joke media seemed to still want to make the biggest story of the preseason in the NFC East: Tim Tebow and his efforts to make the Eagles as, yes, a third-string QB. I was on the New York Times website this week reading an NFL story, and TWO of the “Related” articles were about him. Newsflash, ESPN – Tebow hasn’t made an NFL roster since 2012.

And, appropriately for this division, we’re on our fourth paragraph, and we really haven’t even mentioned much of anything related to the games on the field. This is still one of the divisions that will matter the least, and of course, will be forced upon the viewing public the most.

Andy: Yeah, what you say is true. Kelly seems to hate everyone equally. And Tebow … until he agrees to change positions, his future in the NFL is going to be tenuous. The level of coverage he gets from the Ocho is laughable.

As far as football, one would think Dallas showed itself to be the class of the division last year. And they still do have a great offensive line, a very good QB, and a solid corps of receivers. I do think they are going to pay the price, at least a bit, for not finding a more established replacement for DeMarco Murray in the run game – or at least someone who is established as more of a player and less for his ability to get hurt, like Darren McFadden. Is Christine Michael the answer? He’s shown some flashes, but not much more. Potential, as they say, just means you haven’t done it yet. Part of what allowed Tony Romo to take it up a level last year was the consistency of the ground attack.

The defense also remains a question mark. The unit was better than expected last season, but I still have some doubts about whether it can repeat.

Tony: All reports I heard last year were that Dallas’ defense wasn’t actually any better—they were just hiding their deficiencies by holding on to the ball for so long by running DeMarco Murray into the ground. I’m not sure that Joseph Randle or Lance Dunbar or Michael can hold up to that—and we know McFadden can’t.

Still, I’m not convinced that they can be beat for the division this year. Chip Kelly appears to have “his” team in Philadelphia now, but his quarterback appears to be one wrong step away from probably being done, and he’s been so focused on building his offense, that I’m not sure if even he knows anyone’s name on his defense.

The Giants are intriguing, as I actually am on the record saying Eli Manning could have a good season (I mean, good for him). But I think there are just too many holes on that team to see them do much better than .500.

And Washington…well, benching your starting QB two weeks before the season, when it wasn’t even supposed to be a competition … long years for fans in the DC area, I suspect. Again. But hey, they’ve got the election rhetoric to keep them entertained, right?

Andy: Yeah, the Giants are about fourth-team deep at safety right now, though, and the aforementioned injury to Pierre-Paul has to hurt them. They’ll win some games, maybe flirt with a .500 record. But I don’t think they’re going to be much of a factor. This is probably a two team race. The Redskins? They’re more deserving of a soap opera appearance than a prime time NFL one. The next time they’ll be mentioned in a sentence that matters is when the Commish gavels open the NFL draft in May.

Predictions: