NFC East 2011

The Game Room
1

Sorry to steal your thunder Bearflag70, and Ellis Dee, but so much is happening that I thought the thread needed creating!
But to continue your openings from previous years, here’re the links:
NFC East 2005
NFC East 2006
NFC East 2007 - OOPS! Missed it!
NFC East 2008
NFC East 2009
NFC East 2010

Can anyone stop the talent they are stockpiling in Philly? And why don’t they have problems with salary cap?

Will the Cowboys’ transition from talent on the field to talent on the sideline be the difference maker? And will Jerry Jones start giving money to the paperboy just to feel like he’s participating in Free Agency?

Will the Giants be the first home field Superbo–Bwaahaa. Sorry, couldn’t even type that all the way.

Is losing Haynesworth addition by subtraction? The Redskins seem to be the only team worried about the run. Everyone else is prepping the passing attack & defense.

A trip through the AFC East this year isn’t helpful for total wins. But I’m glad football is back!

2

Predictions:

The national media will over-hype everything that comes out of the NFC East (not so much a prediction as a observation on an ever continuing trend).

Michael Vick will either be injured early or have a season about on par with his non pro bowl stats in Atlanta.

The Eagles will have a top 5 defense. They will also win 9 or less games.

The Redskins will be either the worst team, or the second worst team in the NFL.

Dallas will … fuck if I know what the hell Dallas will do. Anyone who thinks they do will be wrong.

3

I was going to make this thread soon if no one else did. Glad it’s finally up.

I think the Eagles win the division as of right now, with Dallas second and the Giants third. Washington will have a good defense, but they’ll be pretty awful on offense.

I think the Eagles might even start 0-3, actually. God, the amount of bullshit that will be tossed around on this board and elsewhere will be unbelievable. Even if they start 0-3, I think they end up with 10 wins. They would have to lose every significant game the entire season after starting 0-3 to end up with fewer than 10 wins. I don’t see that happening. My guess if everyone stays healthy and Maclin plays this season - 13-3.

If Vick gets hurt and misses significant time (more than a game) the Eagles would be in trouble. The Vick injury meme is way overblown, but he’s absolutely got to learn to slide and run out of bounds. The way the schedule sets up is pretty nice, I think, and I think Young can win 9 games if he were the full time starter this season. But I don’t think 9 games is a playoff spot in the East.

4

I was debating when to start it. Now I don’t have to. :slight_smile:

5

The Redskins will win the East. Rex Grossman predicted it!

(From a Cowboys fan in the DC area who never gets tired of watching the 'Skins lose, and watching the media circus and team meltdowns and calls for heads every single day of the season. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!)

6

Funny, as a Skins fan I get the exact same enjoyment out of the exact same events in Dallas!

7

Philly will go 11-5. They will lose in the playoffs. Vick will be hurt. Fans will rip team for trading away Kolb.

Dallas will start fast before winding up 9-7.

Giants 6-10. Coughlin fired.

Washington 5-11. Shanahan fired.

8

Care for a wager?

9

I must have missed something, why wouldn’t Maclin play this year?

10

Nah. Not yet. I’d want to pay more attention to the team before putting anything but a dismissive comment on the Eagles.

I will note that Derrick Locke was the only Eagles running back who averaged more than 4 ypc, with an average of 7.5. A stud in waiting…

11

Mono or something like it. Has not practiced yet.

12

The Eagles will not make the playoffs.

13

Yikes.

14

Yeah its Mono, which he acquired all the way back in February.

15

Firing Shanahan would mean yet another short-tenure head coach under Snyder. It would be a disruptive and idiotic move. As such, I fear your prediction will turn out accurate. :frowning:

16

5-11 is possible, but I think they’re closer to 8-8.

Playing the AFC East certainly doesn’t help, but they won 6 last year and, the drubbing by the Eagles aside, remained pretty competitive in most of their losses (6 games lost by 4 or less points).

There are a lot of holes all up and down the lineup, but they’ve taken steps this off-season and I think their defense will keep them in most games, perhaps even allowing them to steal a couple depending on which Grossman shows up–Sexy Rexy or Gross, Man.

Regardless, I don’t think Shanahan gets fired. By all signs Danny Boy really seems to have given up the reins to Allen and Shanahan and is letting them attempt the herculean task of fixing his and Vinny Cerrato’s mess.

17

Honestly, IMO they look closer to 2 wins than 8. The defense will be better, but it was among the worst in the league last year. And the offense will be worse.

How many guys on that team are clearly above-average; not just “okay” or “good enough,” but real playmakers? I count Orakpo and Landry. Maybe one or two other guys emerge (I like Torain). That’s it.

As for Grossman, the problem isn’t that he’s inconsistent – that used to be his problem, back in 2006. Since then he’s mostly just been bad. He’ll hit a couple deep balls, but that’s it. As for Beck and Clemens, they were both high picks who were still #3 QBs several years into their careers.

You may be right about Snyder … and if so, he picked the wrong coach. Shanahan is, at this point, a very mediocre coach. He’s been basically .500 over the last decade, and he’s made a series of clear missteps (McNabb, Haynesworth). I don’t see a real young core being built here, no plan for the future.

18

Debatable. Losing McNabb and replacing him with Grossman is a wash, imo. They brought in some older, fading WRs, but when one considers that last year their number three was Joey freaking Galloway, just about anything is an improvement. They also upped the run game by replacing Clinton “Ouch” Portis with Tim Hightower.

Trent Williams, Chris Cooley, Fred Davis, Santana Moss (when used properly–he’s no number 1), London Fletcher (even still), DeAngelo Hall (when he wants to be), and, based on a small sample size, Brandon Banks.

Is it enough to win a Super Bowl? Absolutely not, but they’re not entirely devoid of talent.

Can’t really argue with any of this. QB is one of many positions of weakness on the team; one not really addressed this off-season except in the respect that it appears there will be more of a focus on the run game to limit the reliance on Grossman.

Possibly. I’m no fan of his, but mediocre is still an upgrade, and even mediocre can get you more than 2 wins.

I can’t speak for this because I don’t know how much of a say Shanahan actually had in either matter. Both were definitely mistakes, and only the most deluded fans thought otherwise at the time.

They’re still recovering from Vinny “Let’s give all our picks away” Cerrato, so it’s still a work in progress. They traded down several times this year to accumulate more picks, and Allen and Shanahan do have a plan (around Redskins’ blogs they call it the Shanaplan). It was seen this past year when they didn’t drop beaucoup bucks on every free agent out there, but rather addressed one (of many) aspects of weakness and brought in a ton of guys to foster competition at numerous positions.

Point is, I’m not deluded into thinking this team is anything special, and perhaps my view is jaded by years of mismanagement, but I’m content knowing they’re finally moving in the right direction. They are, I think, a better team this year than last. Whether that amounts to wins on the field, we’ll know shortly, but I still think they’ve got a legitimate shot at going .500.

19

soulmurk, I concur with everything you said. I will add that to be fair, the current regime inherited Fat Albert, though the manner in which they handled that train wreck certainly left something to be desired. It’s over and done with now, so looking forward…

I know it was just the first preseason game following a shortened offseason, but I’ve gotta tell you based solely on what I saw tonight, and mind you all the usual early preseason caveats, this does not look like the worst team in the NFL (I know, Spurrier’s teams looked great in the preseason). It’s a given that the Steelers are going to be good, and it’s a fair assumption that the Skins are not going to be very good, but even that being the case, they took care of the ball, they marched down the field on one of the best defenses in the league (starting from the 1 yard line), and while of course they couldn’t punch it into the end zone, they made a lot of plays. The defense was sharp; they will certainly be drastically improved.

I think what we saw in the first half was pretty indicative of what we’re going to get out of this year’s Redskins: the D will be much better, and the O will move the ball pretty well between the 20s, but they will struggle inside the red zone and probably wind up somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-8. In any case, and granted it’s really the only direction they could go but still, they are definitely headed in the right direction.

Thank you and good night from Fedex field!

20

BREAKDOWNS!

QB:
1: PHI - Michael Vick, 2: NYG - Eli Manning, 3: DAL - Tony Romo, 4: WAS - Beck/Grossman.
I put Vick at 1 because his 2010 was spectacular. He was a top 2 MVP candidate and if he played his usual 15 games instead of 12, he may have won. Probably not, but it would have been closer. He was dangerous as a passer AND runner, something I’m sure everyone expected :rolleyes:when he was put into action early last year. Manning and Romo are 2 and 2a, and I flipped them at least three times. I decided to give Eli the nod in what I consider a tie for two reasons; Romo missed a lot of time last season and Eli never does, and Eli has that ring. I think Romo’s best is better than Eli’s, but will we see it for a whole season again?

RB:
1: PHI - LeSean McCoy/Ronnie Brown, 2: NYG - Ahmad Bradshaw/Brandon Jacobs, 3: DAL - Felix Jones/Tashard Choice(?), 4: WAS - Ryan Torain/Tim Hightower
McCoy was clearly better than Bradshaw last year in almost every category (1657 total yards vs 1551, 9 total TDs vs. 8, 1 fumble vs. 7, better DVOA, etc.), and while I think Jacobs is better than Brown, the difference isn’t enough to make up for it. I like Felix Jones, but the dude has to stay healthy one year, and their backup situation is a mess. I’d still take Jones’ upside over the Torain/Hightower combo, even with the Shanny magic.

WR:
1: PHI - Desean Jackson/Jeremy Maclin/Jason Avant, 2: DAL - Miles Austin/Dez Bryant/Kevin Ogletree?, 3: NYG - Hakeem Nicks/Mario Manningham/Domenik Hixon?, 4: WAS - Santana Moss/Jabar Gaffney/Anthony Armstrong
Much tougher choice here. I could easily see the Giants at 1 (Nicks is probably the best receiver in the division, though Maclin gives him a serious fight there), or Dallas (Bryant on the way to being #1 in the division within a year or two), but the Philly top two is so dangerous (best top two totals last season and no one in the division can do what DJax does) and they win a close three way race on the strength of their superior slot receiver and fourth guy. Steve Smith, if healthy, would be the best third receiver in the division by far, and he’s possibly the team’s fourth guy. Too much depth for Philly here.

TE:
1: DAL - Jason Witten, 2: WAS - Chris Cooley, 3: PHI - Brent Celek, 4: NYG - ???
Witten by a mile. Dude has been awesome for years and he isn’t even 30 yet!? Cooley is steady but hasn’t put up good TD numbers in years. Celek would have been two if his 2010 was anywhere near his 2009… but he regressed massively. He’s still very young and can be the top TE in the division in two years. Do the Giants even have a TE? Seriously. Who is it?

O-LINE:
1: PHI - Peters/Herremans/Jackson/Watkins/Harris
2: NYG - Beatty/Diehl/Baas/Snee/McKenzie
3: DAL - Free/Kosier/Costa/Holland/Smith
4: WAS - Williams/Lichtenssghtdtasger/Chester/Montgomery/Brown
I’m looking forward to hearing some arguments here. I know the Giants line was really good last year, but they lost a couple leaders there and have a serious question mark at the most crucial spot on the line. Meanwhile, the Eagles upgraded at their three weak spots along the right side and added probably the most respected O-Line coach in the league. And the Eagles have the best LT in the division, which is a plus. Dallas would be in a lot of trouble if they didn’t get Free back (because the Eagles probably would have gotten him instead, seriously), and the 'Boys also have some question marks along the line (the inner 3?).

FWIW, Evan Silva at Rotoworldagrees with me

RECAP:
I hate doing posts like these and I’m considering not posting this at all for the inevitable cries of “homer!” but what can you do? It’s not like I’m a Redskins fan predicting an 8-8 finish. Aside from a fun romp regarding the Eagles second team’s dominance, I’ve tried to be as even and unbiased as possible in my consideration of the Eagles on this board. I just don’t see any holes on offense. I can’t see ranking these any other way with the exception of O-Line, where Philly is at worst #2.

Defense a bit later!