Are Washington now the standard bearer in the NFC East?
There’s nothing that captures the decline of the NFC East quite like pondering whether a Dan Snyder-run franchise is the best in the division. But after being the froth that rose to the top of the NFC East bowl last year at 9-7, Washington have made moves to try to win the division again.
They picked up the biggest name in the offseason by signing former Panthers Pro Bowl cornerback and all-world trash talker Josh Norman. He’ll help immensely improve a pass defense that was ranked 25th in the NFL last season, as will free agent safety David Bruton and early-round defensive back draft picks Su’a Cravens and Kendall Fuller. On offense, Washington boast perhaps the division’s most stable quarterback-coach combo in Kirk Cousins and Jay Gruden. Cousins had a breakout year in 2015 and rendered former franchise savior Robert Griffin III expendable, while Gruden went 9-7 and made the playoffs in his second year as a head coach. Compare that to the Eagles with Carson Wentz and Doug Pederson, the Giants with Eli Manning and unknown commodity Ben McAdoo, and the Cowboys with Tony Romo’s carcass/Dak Prescott and Jason Garrett, the answer to the question: “Who would Jeff Fisher be if he had red hair?”
Unless Cousins proves to be the latest Washington QB to have been a one-season wonder, the only thing that could keep Snyder’s creation from the top of NFC East is the much more difficult schedule the team will face in 2016. While Washington got to feast on a last place schedule in 2015, this year they get the Cardinals and Panthers along with the AFC North and NFC North. It will be difficult to improve on 2015’s 9-7 record. But in the NFC East, a repeat of last season could be enough to make Washington the division’s first repeat winner since the Eagles controlled things from 2001 to 2004. And then the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles ownership will have to face the harsh reality of being worse than Snyder.
Is Tony Romo’s injury a blessing in disguise?
The Cowboys entered training camp fancying themselves a Super Bowl contender because that’s what Jerry Jones believes the team he’s built is every year, 20-year periods with just two playoff wins total be damned. But few not wearing blue-tinted, star-framed glasses really saw the Cowboys as a championship threat this year even if Romo miraculously made it the entire year without once grabbing at his back or collarbone while prone on the field. The Cowboys were 4-12 last year, 1-7 at home and had the fourth-worst points differential in the entire NFL. They were not one healthy Romo away from lifting the Lombardi Trophy. And this season, in addition to missing Romo, the Cowboys will open without defensive players DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory and Rolando McClain due to suspension. Super Bowl favorites they are not.
So while Romo being out again for six to 10 weeks is no one’s definition of a good thing, the Cowboys could use his latest injury to lay the groundwork to become a good thing. Fourth round pick Dak Prescott showed promise in the preseason and he’ll start the season at quarterback alongside fellow rookie Ezekiel Elliott, the team’s first-round running back selection out of Ohio State. That’s the start of a potentially exciting youth movement. Receivers Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams are still only in their mid-20s, too, meaning the Cowboys may have fallen into an offensive core that could be the face of the franchise for five years or more. Romo will be able to play again in October or November, but the Cowboys will have to decide if playing him is worth delaying a promising future for another run with a disappointing past.
Can Ben McAdoo bring the Giants some consistency?
The Giants finally decided to get off the Tom Coughlin rollercoaster in January. After 12 seasons and two Super Bowl titles surrounded by disappointment and letdowns, the franchise moved on. What we don’t yet know is if the Giants rollercoaster will continue with him gone. Maybe it was Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants veterans who were driving it all along, the true cause of every twist and turn and jaw-dropping fourth quarter defeat.
Onto the sideline grass Coughlin wore down with his incessant pacing steps Ben McAdoo, the team’s offensive coordinator since 2014. He is credited with bringing some consistency to Manning’s game over the last two years. The NFL’s last remaining Manning had maybe his best overall season in 2015, yet the Giants still finished 6-10 and saw their coach forced out. So while Manning was to blame for some Giants collapses in years past, in 2015 it was the last-ranked defense that seemingly blew a fourth quarter lead in every loss. Here McAdoo chose consistency and retained defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. He’ll try to keep his job with a revamped defensive line featuring free agent acquisitions Olivier Vernon and Damon Harrison and the addition of first-round cornerback selection Eli Apple. The Giants don’t need a worst-to-first performance from their defense; just a worst-to-21st will keep them in the mix in the NFC East. If that doesn’t happen, McAdoo will be making Coughlin faces soon enough.
What are the Eagles doing?
The Eagles and Browns are among the group of NFL franchises never to have won a Super Bowl. All ultimate failure is not created equal, however. While the Browns have long been a punchline, the Eagles have been more or less competitive for a generation. But Philadelphia are very much trending towards punchline status over the last year.
After overreacting to Chip Kelly’s first two semi-successful years on the job and handing him player personnel control, the Eagles overreacted again after the disastrous 2015 season and didn’t simply bust him back to being head coach only, but canned him completely. Then, instead of bringing a young and exciting coach or a proven veteran winner, they decided to try to recreate the Andy Reid years by hiring longtime Reid deputy and former Eagles backup QB Doug Pederson. It was the generic brand vanilla ice cream of coaching hires and Pederson has done absolutely nothing since taking the job to build confidence that he can restore the “glory” of the Reid years or even reach the 10-6 heights that Kelly took the Eagles to twice.
The journey into the NFL abyss continued at the draft when Philadelphia gave up a ransom to get the No2 overall pick so they could take quarterback Carson Wentz, who is about as far from a sure-thing as Philadelphia is from North Dakota. And now, after a preseason that saw Wentz struggle and get injured, the Eagles have traded Sam Bradford and handed Wentz the starting job – a job that will put him behind an offensive line without suspended tackle Lane Johnson, and surround him with skill position players lacking a single legitimate star to bail him out.
Maybe Wentz has the talent and make-up to develop into a quality NFL quarterback if he’s handled properly at the start of his career. But dropping him into week one with little help around him is putting him on a bust path. That’s if he doesn’t just get broken in half before his first NFL series ends. Unfortunately for Eagles fans, this season won’t end soon enough.
Projected records:
1=) Washington: 9-7
1=) Giants: 9-7
3) Cowboys: 6-10
4) Eagles: 3-13
