NFL Preview 2019 – NFC East

NFL Preview 2019 – NFC East

The NFC East will have two contenders and two teams that will be treading water.  Two teams that will be wondering if they made the right choices in  the off season.  None of this is going to be ground breaking information in the NFC East this year.  Two teams either got a bit better or stayed pretty close to the same.  The other two teams made some good choices and some serious reaches.

The reaches probably will not make them any better this year.  The good choices probably will not make them better this year either.  Maybe for somewhere down the road.  Possibly for a different coach.  The NFC East is almost always a huge fight each year.  This year it will not be much different but it does look like it will be a two team right.

 

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles season will come down to how healthy Carson Wentz is this year.  This year they have no Nick Foles to come out in relief.  They really had no choice but to let him go. The Eagles had a dissapointing 9 – 7 season last year.  Even though they think it was a down year it was pretty respectable for a season after winning the Super Bowl.  There have been a lot of teams that have just crashed and burned after a Championship.  The Eagles were able to make the playoffs even with their rocky season last year.  The problem this year is that they have no fall back.  They need Carson Wentz to be health for at least most of the season and for sure at the end of the season.   They can’t go into the playoffs this year with a backup at quarterback.  The Eagles finished second to the Cowboys last year.  They lost to the Cowboys twice last season.  If they had split that last year they would have won the NFC East.

I do not see the Eagles losing both those games this year.  The Giants and Redskins are not going to be much better than they were last year.  The Eagle have a pretty manageable schedule this year.  There is not a difficult three game stretch in their schedule till the first three weeks of November when they play the Bears, Patriots and Seahawks.  Even in that stretch they get them all at home.

Their biggest losses are Nick Foles and Chris Long.  Long had lost a step but his leadership will be missed.  Over all the defense will be fine.  The Defense Last year was just outside of the top 10.  If they can stay there or get lightly better then the defense will be in good shape.  The bigger loss is Foles.  Of course this loss will only matter if Carson Wentz goes down.  If Wentz can stay healthy then it all good.

Eagle Record 11-5

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys over achieved last year.  They Finished first in the East by one game just edging out the Eagles.  This was with almost no distractions and the Cowboys were able to avoid an injury riddled season in 2018.   This year they are all ready starting off with all kinds of controversy.  With Ezekiel Elliott holding out wanting to be the top paid running back in the NFL.  More power to him,  I hope that he gets it.  The Cowboys do run their offense through Elliott.  He is by far their best skill player.  If he is not there is will hurt.  If his contract is not worked out by the start of the season they may get some false hope with out him.  They start out with the Giants and Redskins.  Two teams that will more than likely not be very good.  The Cowboys could win both those games without Elliott.  Not so sure that would be a good thing for the Cowboy faithful.  While Zeek has ever right to hold out and ask for more money.  Till it means something to the Cowboys on the field it really does not matter.

Then there is also the contract situations with Amari Cooper and Dak Prescott.  Both of those contracts will not be resolved till next season.  Having these out there could be good or is could be really bad.  Probably more for the players than for the Cowboys.    With out Zeek in the line up we will see exactly who each of these players truly are.  Cooper will probably be alright..  Prescott could just crash and burn.

Jerry Jones has always been able to build talented teams.  That is where it all seems to end.  After building the team you have to get that team to perform.  I am not sure that they have the right coach to make that happen.  The Eagles will be a better team than they were last year.  I am not so sure of the Cowboys. Luckily for the Cowboys they play in a division this year that has two teams that will be really bad.

Cowboys Record 8-8

Washington Redskins

I am not sure that the Redskins got better this year.  It was a good move to pick Dwayne Haskins in the first round of the draft.  Of course it is an unknown on how he will turn out but he has great upside.   Reports coming out are the Case keenum is going to be the game one starting quarterback.   Either the Redskins are playing it safe, old school or Haskins is just not getting it in the preseason.   I don’t know what it is.  The Redskins should just look at the Browns from last year for some inspiration.   There are some players that learn much better under pressure.  The poise that Haskins showed last year at Ohio State shows that he is one of those players.  Granted the offensive line at Washington could use some work but messing around starting a quarterback that has no future on your team is a step back not a step in the right direction.  If Alex Smith was still here then it would be a different story.  But he is not so it is time to move forward.

I would put Jay Gruden on the short list of coaches will lose their job during the season.  I am not really sure why they kept him this year.  The Redskins did finish 7 – 9 last year but I would not say that they showed a lot of progress.  I do not expect the Redskins to be better this year.

Redskins Record 6 – 10

New York Giants

The New York Football Giants are a mess.  I am not really sure anything more than that needs to be said.  You have a GM that seems to make decisions based on his emotions rather than on football.  A coach in Pat Shurmur that has an amazing record of 15 and 34 as a head coach.   I guess you could give him a push since he was the coach of the Browns for two years.  In the off season they pushed out a chunk of their best players because they were “causing” problems.  They basically gave Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns.  They also traded one of their best defensive players in Olivier Vernon also to the Browns.  If you are getting the feeling that the Giants by themselves decided to just get worse and make the Browns better you would not be alone in that thought.

It looks like even though the Giants Drafted Daniel Jones with the sixth pick in the draft they are going to stick with Eli Manning.  To me that is an odd choice at best.  Eli has not been at his best the last few seasons.  He is 38 years old now and it is really starting to show.  Yes he has two super bowl rings.  He did contribute to those wins but it also took some extreme luck.  So be it.  It did happen.  If they were really that sure of Jones then he would start day one.  Unfortunately for Saquon Barkley he will probably have another amazing season that will be wasted.  

I could see this being a season where the Giants lose Dave Gettleman and Pat Shurmer early in the season.  I do not see that as a bad thing.  The Giants have bled talent over the last 12 months and have done nothing to stop the hemorrhaging.  I do not see the Giants being a better team this year.

Giants Record 4 – 12