The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles will duke it out for divisional supremacy, and either could end up as winners of NFC East.
The Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East last year with a 12-4 record, but I’m unsure if they’ll repeat this season.
I’m inclined to say they’ll take a step back, finish 10-6 and may not even make the playoffs, but I know they should’ve been playing against the Seahawks in the NFC Championship if not for a dodgy call.
It will either be the Cowboys or Eagles winning the division.
Tony Romo is an underrated man under centre, notching his fourth Pro Bowl nod and first All-Pro selection last season. The loss of DeMarco Murray to the Eagles was a huge hit to this franchise though, and not one they can recover from easily.
Yes, everybody had to play well to get to them to 12-4, but Murray was the workhorse, their offensive weapon, the one player they relied on for wins.
With Murray gone, the Cowboys offer little in the run game. Darren McFadden is not the answer (unless it’s 2008 and he’s coming out of Arkansas), and Joseph Randle still has to show more. Dez Bryant and Jason Witten will help, but there’s only so much three men can do.
The Philadelphia Eagles are one of the most improved teams in the division, if not the entire NFL. Sam Bradford isn’t a very good player, but he’s an upgrade over their other options if he can stay healthy. The signing of Murray replaces any hole that was left by LeSean McCoy’s departure, and with Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles as backup Philly will pound the ground.
Miles Austin, Jordan Matthews and explosive rookie Nelson Agholor will help in the receiving game. Fletcher Cox, Malcolm Jenkins, DeMeco Ryans and Connor Barwin will all contribute on defence. Chip Kelly needs to get his team beyond 10-6 to 11-5 or even 12-4 if he wants to make the playoffs.
The New York Giants – it pains me to write this as a Giants fan – will yet again have another losing season. Eli Manning is a great quarterback, but his best years are behind him. We have little to work with in the run game, and our best options are at receiver, with Odell Beckham Jr looking to light the league on fire once again. Add in Victor Cruz, and on paper, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t win.
Of course, one of the reasons we do lose (apart from our stagnant offence) is our inability to perform on defence. I will note that it’s not entirely our fault – we seem to suffer never-ending injuries on that side of the ball, both all of last year and all of this pre-season. It’s a bit hard to win when at one point last season we had 20 players on injured reserve. Twenty. That was the highest amount in the league.
Nonetheless, when they’re not injured, we have some pretty good players. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Brandon Meriweather in the backfield, with Jon Beason and Jason Pierre-Paul (provided he passes his physical) along the defensive line looks pretty good on paper. Rookies Landon Collins and Owamagbe Odighizuwa should get a lot of reps too, and both can be great players.
Finally we come to the woeful Washington Redskins. They went 4-12 last season, and I can’t see their situation improving much in 2015. They made the right decision in benching Robert Griffin III, a decision that should’ve been made long ago. I don’t know what Dan Snyder sees in him that the rest of us are oblivious to, but he’s not an NFL calibre starting quarterback – that much is clear.
Alfred Morris is one of the best young running backs in the league, and with DeSean Jackson out wide, Kirk Cousins has plenty of options to help him if he starts to struggle. DeAngelo Hall, Dashon Goldson, Jason Hatcher and Ryan Kerrigan will all be key contributors on defence.
It’s between Dallas and Philadelphia, but DeMarco Murray switching teams may have sealed the division champion this season.
Bear54
Guest
Your Giants were winning Super Bowls because of an excellent defensive front 4 but they are not even a shadow of a shadow of their former selves. As a Seahawk fan I now, in retrospect, appreciate the most recent Giant Super Bowl wins against the Pats! Much respect.
Jason Pollock
Roar Guru
The Eagles will really have a breakout year this season with the addition of DeMarco Murray, a (hopefully) healthy Sam Bradford and the players getting more used to Chip Kelly's offense. I can easily see them finishing 13-3 and getting to the divisional round - who knows, they might even make the NFC Championship Game! Agreed about the Cowboys - you can't write off the trio of Romo, Bryant and Witten, but with Murray gone, I think they'll find it hard to score points like they did last year. 10-6 seems a pretty fair prediction to me. Agreed on Giants, our team is pretty talent strapped outside of a few key players. It's unfortunate, I still remember it was only a few years ago we were winning Super Bowls...
no one in particular
Roar Guru
2012 and 2013, when he came back from the first ACL he had 25 starts for 35-17 ratio. In 2012, his last full season, his QBR of 82.6 was better than the guy he is replacing as well as guys like Stafford and Cutler. Dalton, Eli and Flacco were all in the 80’s. Before the injury in 2013 it was 90.9, better then Ryan, Cutler, Dalton, Newton and a guy called Tom Brady, and just behind Roethlisberger and Romo. Both Football Outsiders and AFA ranked in him the top half of QB’s in each of those 2 seasons. He has gotten better every season and is still only 27. The only question is if the knee is full strength and how it plays with his head.
bear54
The Philadelphia Eagles (13-3) will have an historic offense this year. Chip's offensive scheme is effectively quarterback proof (Mark Sanchez looked good last year so it must be fool-proof!!) and with Murray & Matthews they have the same RB on the field for every play. The only concern is if the defense can't handle a few shootouts so they picked up Maxwell from the Seahawks for this very reason. I was ready to right off Dallas (10-6) until they added Chris Michael. He'll enjoy that O-Line and make better use of it than McFadden. Any team with Romo, Bryant & Witten must be respected. It would be nice if the Giants (5-11) could be better but if JPP leaves they have no one on the D-Line to go with no one else on defense. Eli & ODB will wear themselves out trying to score all the points. The Giants may even lose to Washington (3-13)...... but not many other will. The Eagles are my pick to win the division..... and the NFC Championship...... and the Super Bowl.
Jason Pollock
Roar Guru
The Giants just don't have what it takes to get it done against the other teams in the division right now IMO. Dallas are still a good team even without Murray there, but I wouldn't be surprised if they missed the playoffs.
Jason Pollock
Roar Guru
That's fine - care to elaborate? I'm interested in your opinion. He had a good rookie year, but all the injuries he's suffered have set his career back monumentally. I hope this is the year he can stay healthy, turn his fortunes around and start performing like his draft position dictated.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
I'm with you
Chris Meister
Roar Guru
"Sam Bradford isn’t a very good player" - respectfully disagree
no one in particular
Roar Guru
I give NYG more of a chance then DAL. Murray isn’t such a big loss for DAL, his success is mostly due to that Ol-Line. Theres very little between the three teams, but I have them PHI, NYG then DAL. Garrett will be gone at the end of the season and Art Briles will come in