Without doing any analysis, I’d speculate that they don’t actually change or get worse. In fact I would bet they actually continue to improve incrementally. The issue is twofold, the expectations shift from young guy who is expected to make mistakes and gets accolades when he has good-to-great stretches to a veteran who is expected to be consistently good-to-great and mistakes are no longer tolerated. Second, they start consuming a big chunk of salary so their supporting cast necessarily gets less money which usually means they get worse, more missed blocks, more dropped passes, worse routes, and more missed games. So unless they get a lot better to offset those losses, or a GM starts batting close to 1.000, that contract is gonna be a problem.
So, NFC East ends up with:
- Dallas hoping that Dak comes back 100%
- Washington trades Haskins for a low draft pick. Alex Smith as 2021 starter? Kyle Allen as backup? Draft someone as developmental?
- Philly and New York basically starting over.
I don’t think NY is really starting over. They’ve been trending up the second half of the season and much like Dallas are hoping that Saquon comes back at 100%.
The Eagles and Cowboys are a garbage fire, even with Dak I can’t imagine that Dallas would be competitive with that defense. The Footies are gonna be gunning for a QB in the offseason, time to give up on Haskins and you can’t hope for Smith to be reliable for an entire season.
The Giants have won their last four games, including beating Seattle, so they are hardly “starting over” They are probably the strongest team in the NFC East, which admittedly, is not saying much.
I think much of the “starting over” is based solely on the evaluation of the QB position. I agree, the Giants have a pretty solid team. After a rough start, Andrew Thomas and the offensive line are playing pretty well, both in pass protection and making holes for Wayne Gallman. Their defense is top 10 in scoring, and they have playmakers like Bradbury and Williams on defense, and I think Joe Judge has done a great job. They’re certainly rebuilding, but they have a pretty decent core.
And a huge question mark at QB. I’ve been anti-Daniel Jones since they (over)drafted him, and he’s done next to nothing to change my mind. But he still has shown the capacity to be a “win with” QB, ala Trubisky 2018 (especially if Saquon comes back well) , and that can keep them competitive. But Colt McCoy is no answer, and they’ve done the “all eggs in one young QB basket” thing I despise.
I think the falling apart of one of the best offensive lines ever assembled, is the big story in Dallas. Dak, Zeke, the passing game, and even the defense all look a ton better when you have the kind of offensive line they had. But now, as it slowly falls apart, we will see how they do with a mediocre offensive line. So far, the results are not good. And, as you point out, that defense is just awful. And I don’t think Jones has the acumen to draft to make it better.
I don’t think the Eagles are a dumpster fire. They’ve been devastated by injuries, and the regression of Carson Wentz, but I don’t think those things continue indefinitely. Wentz, to me, can have the Ryan Tannehill career arc, where he can become a fine NFL QB based on his experience, as long as he’s not asked to do too much. His contract is a huge albatross, but unless some team is desperate (and teams are always desperate for QBs), they’re stuck with him. But I do think that defensive line has another good year in it, and the Eagles have the players to be competitive. Just not this year.
I think we need to stop hating on Jerry the GM in Dallas. The guy regularly drafts excellent players. The contracts he gives out are sometimes bloated, but on balance that is not their core issue. The coaches he hires…that’s maybe a different story.
The issue with the Eagles is that they simply seem to be a badly coached and ill prepared team. Like Nagy, the bloom is very much off the Peterson rose. Their injuries aren’t out of the range of normal for a NFL team, lots of teams have taken a lot of serious hits to the OL. They aren’t unique there, and the Eagles skill positions are a really really poor. Their WRs are a bottom 5 group.
I don’t know if they mentioned this on the broadcast.
It’s hard to believe how much Wentz has regressed, and I can’t help but think much of it is between his ears. He’s not been the same QB since getting hurt at the end of 2017.