Last season, Washington surprised most experts and fans across the league by enjoying enough success to capture a weak division. Yet, for a second season in a row, the NFC East champion was eliminated by the Green Bay Packers. Unlike what Green Bay did by barely scraping by at home against Dallas two seasons ago, the Pack left no doubt in a convincing, come from behind victory in Washington. Still, Washington enjoyed success, but can they continue that level of play and determination for a second straight season? If not, which of these inconsistent teams can replace them as division champions. Both Philadelphia and the New York Giants struggled mightily on defense, while Dallas struggled on offense. Those were major liabilities that proved debilitating for each of those franchises, and whoever emerges will have to put those past problems and failures behind, and come up strong this season, answer all of the critics.
So, how does the NFC East shape up? Let me take a shot at it:
1. New York Giants (projected division winner) - Last season, offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo tried to bring in a new attitude for this team. Yes, the Giants tried to open up their full offensive potential, and this resulted in one of the most explosive offenses in the league. The Giants scored more than all but five other teams in the league, and at times, the offense looked like it bordered on being elite. Eli Manning had long wanted the opportunity to work with an offense that could allow him to fulfill his full potential and, indeed, the Giants provided that for him last season. For the most part, the experiment to tap the full potential of the offense has to be considered a success. Yet, the Giants wound up with a dismal 6-10 mark, and only won one game after the team stood with a winning record of 5-4 at midseason. That is because, on the flip side, the Giants defense was atrocious. There is no polite way to say it. The Giants had one of the worst defenses in the league. A team that redefined defense, and which was known for the strength of their defense for much of their history, now ranks as among the worst teams in the league on defense. The weaknesses were exposed time and time again, and New York just allowed way too many points to expect much more in the win column than the 6-10 mark that this team ended up with. To address this, the G-Men invested a lot of money to focus on improving the defense. Three of their first four draft picks were designed to improve the defense, and the Giants added some talent through free agency, in order to help plug up the holes that were revealed time and again last year. This should help to make the Giants potential contenders, especially since this is a relatively weak division. After all, Washington would likely not have been a playoff team had they been in any other division within the NFC, but in this division, they would up as champions. They will not sneak up on people this season, and Philadelphia is rebuilding. That leaves Dallas, a team as unpredictable as New York, and it should come down to one of these two teams to take this division at season’s end. I’m going with the G-Men to win this division this year.
2. Dallas Cowboys (projected second place) - The Dallas Cowboys have been a notoriously difficult team to predict these last few seasons. They were mediocre for much of the 2000's, then suddenly made the playoffs with a backup quarterback in 2006, and he led them to a glorious 13-3 mark in 2007, only to get bounced out in the first playoff game by the G-Men. Then, Dallas showed remarkable inconsistency, making the playoffs only once in the next few seasons, until they finally broke through with a very impressive 12-4 mark in 2014, which was good enough for the division title. They beat Detroit in a controversial wild card contest, then fell just short against Green Bay up at Lambeau Field. Even though they lost their star running back in the offseason, the 'Boys seemed to be in good position to take this weak division. So, who could have foreseen that they would fall off so dramatically, and wind up in last place? But while the Cowboys seemed to find the answers in 2014, they raised more questions in 2015. This was particularly true with the offense, which really suffered from the departure of DeMarco Murray. That, plus the injury to quarterback Tony Romo just killed this team. Dallas failed to reach 30 points even once last season, and they did not even reach 20 points in fully half of their games, and only reached 20 or more points once in their final six games. With numbers like those, is it any surprise that the Cowboys fell from 12-4 in 2014 to 4-12 in 2015? They need Romo to stay healthy, and for a capable running back to be behind the kind of offensive line that this team enjoyed back in 2014. If that happens, the Cowboys will be competitive, and may win the division. But if it does not, then it is hard to expect Dallas to do anything but struggle once again.
3. Washington (projected third place) - Washington kept surprising people and wound up winning the division last season. That is the good news for fans in the DC area. The bad news is that this team now has to deal with the schedule that comes with being the defending division champions. They will have to face tough teams that were strong last season, including Green Bay, Minnesota, Arizona and Carolina. Plus, the NFC East plays the AFC North, which means that Washington will open the season against Pittsburgh, and will travel to London to face Cincinnati. Add to that the local rivalry that will be renewed with what presumably will be a tougher edition of the Baltimore Ravens, as well as the bumpy remainder of the NFC East (remember that this team split with both the Giants and Dallas last season), and what remains is a tough road for this team to repeat not only as NFC East champs, but more generally, to even qualify for the postseason again. Still, they showed grit and determination last season, and it was this more than anything else that proved to be the difference in allowing Washington to win the division last season. They still should have plenty of that. Plus, Kirk Cousins seems to have finally answered all of the questions at quarterback, as he enjoyed a solid season that saw him win the top spot without any more doubts. Everybody remembers his saying, "You like that!" However, Washington's defense was not quite as solid and, again, this team simply cannot expect to benefit from as soft a schedule and sneaking up on people as they did last year. That is why I have them no higher than third place this coming season.
2. Philadelphia Eagles (projected third place) - Probably, the Eagles should have found a way to win a weak division last season. But they did not, and that was enough for Eagles management to pull the plug on the Chip Kelly experiment, which never really did pan out for them. Kelly had brought a certain offensive flair for a little while in Philadelphia, but people began to catch on, and the Eagles were not among the elite teams offensively. Yet, the major problem for Philly last year was on defense, where they allowed more points than all but four other teams. This problem was particularly pronounced the later into the season it got, as the Eagles allowed 27 or more points eight times in their last ten games. In the two other games, they allowed 20 points. Indeed, the defense proved to be a liability for this team, and the Eagles just never really got things together enough to really get the better of Washington. a team that showed more determination to win than any other in this division. So, the Eagles basically scrapped everything with what they were doing this off-season and are starting all over again. That means that there is a lot of uncertainty, and while they might build towards something more solid in the future, it certainly does not bode well for this coming season. Hard to imagine that they will enjoy major success, and that is why I am predicting a last place finish for this franchise in 2016.
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