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| Eli Manning will lead the Giants out of the NFC East and into the playoffs |
With NFL training camps starting around the League, now
seems like an ideal time to get your fandom in shape and keep your sports
reputation pristine at your next saunter to a PokemonGo gym. The Sports Shop will preview each NFL
division, replete with predictions from the rest of the crew from the
show.
This post will focus on the teams of the NFC East, what
they’ve done in the offseason, and what to expect of them this season.
Last Year’s Winner: Washington Football Team
Washington
Record Last Season: 9-7 (Division Winner)
Key Acquisition(s): Josh Norman, Josh Doctson (draft)
Key Loss(es): Alfred Morris, Robert Griffin III, Terrence
Knighton, Junior Galette (injury)
A year after stunning nearly everyone and winning the
division, Washington will still be a large question mark going into the
2016-2017 season. While the past few
years have featured plenty of controversy at the quarterback position, the team
desperately needed to address a secondary that routinely ranked in the bottom
third in the League in touchdowns allowed the past three seasons.
To address their persistent issues in the back of their
defense, they scooped cornerback Josh Norman out of Free Agency. Norman
becoming available was a shock to most around the League, but was perfect for a
team in need of stability at the position.
Norman is 28 years old and is coming off his best season. He instantly makes their secondary better
with his ball-hawking skills (a preposterous stat? it was more advantageous to
throw the ball away than to throw to Norman’s man last year). He’ll be a
welcomed addition considering Washington ranked 21st in
interceptions last year. Washington also
picked up Safety Su’a Cravens out of USC in the second round of the draft.
He’ll play immediately as their dime linebacker, essentially a tweener position
that will allow him to play in space on obvious passing downs. They followed
the Cravens pick with the selection of Kendall Fuller, a DB out of Virginia
Tech.
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| Kirk Cousins will be the number 1 QB headed into the season (USATSI) |
The offense will be fascinating to watch, as Kirk Cousins
comes into the season as the starting QB for the first time in his career. He was Franchise Tagged and essentially has a
year to prove he’s the future of the position for Washington. He’ll have a plethora of talented options in
the passing game to buttress his bid for permanence in the Nation’s capital. In
addition to DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, Jamison Crowder’s emergence means
that Washington will have one of the best WR corps in the League (to say nothing of 1st round draft pick Josh Docston, who will begin his career on the Physically Unable to Perform list) . Additionally Jordan Reed, who started the
most games of his career last season, will look to make an impact from the TE
position. Alfred Morris has moved to the rival Cowboys, which perhaps would be
a bigger issue had Washington not ranked 30th in yards per attempt.
Prediction: The team
addressed its most pressing need with the commitment to the secondary in the
draft and free agency. There is still the matter of the poor showing at the
running back position, but perhaps having a deadly receiving corps will help
alleviate defenses’ aggressiveness attacking of Washington’s running backs.
This season will come down to whether Cousins has improved.
He didn’t beat a single team with a winning record last season. It was good enough to win the division last
season. But it won’t be this year. They’ll
have a shot at a Wildcard berth, but won’t
repeat as NFC East champion.
Philadelphia Eagles
Record Last Season: (7-9)
Key Acquisition(s): Chase Daniels
Key Loss(es): Byron Maxwell, Kiko Alonso, DeMarco Murray,
Walter Thurmond, Chip Kelly (coach)
Last season was the last of the Chip Kelly era was entertaining
only if you resided outside of Philadelphia. After shipping out LeSean McCoy
and DeSean Jackson (under some extreme inauspicious conditions) and letting
Jeremy Maclin walk, a 7-9 season just wasn’t going to cut it. After an overtime win against the Cowboys
brought the Eagles to 4-4, the squad never climbed back to .500, dropping two
out of their last three games and missing out on the playoffs.
Many of the people Kelly brought in as head of player
personnel have been jettisoned
to make room for the new coach, Doug Pederson, and returning head of player
personnel (from the Andy Reid era) Howie Roseman. With the large amount of
upheaval on the roster, and a new guy calling the shots, it will be a surprise
to everyone exactly what the team will look like. One thing is clear, they will huddle, and be
more traditional with their play counts—a constant point of contention under
Kelly, even with his early offensive success.
The defense was an absolute mess last season. Whatever they
thought they were getting in the acquisitions of Alonso and Maxwell soon proved
to be a fallacy. The team ranked 28th
in rushing yards per attempt, 31st in passing touchdowns allowed,
and 30th in first downs allowed per game. Almost out of necessity, the defense will be
better because…how could it be worse?
Prediction: This will be a season of change. Keep in mind, while Sam Bradford will start
the season at QB, number 2 overall pick arson Wentz will certainly be in the
wings—and I’d be surprised if we don’t see him or Daniels at some point this
season as the starter. Don’t expect the Eagles to improve in a competitive
division, as they will miss the playoffs
yet again.
Dallas Cowboys
Record Last Season: (4-12)
Key Acquisition(s): Cedric Thornton, Alfred Morris, Ezekiel
Elliott (Draft)
Key Loss(es): Greg
Hardy
The team lost its starting quarterback, and number one Wide
Receiver to disastrous (and predictably poor) results. Watching Kellen Moore, Brandon Weeden, and Matt Cassel struggle to be
even mediocre in Tony Romo’s stead was extremely difficult last season. Even
with 36 year-old Romo coming off a third collarbone injury, Dallas has only managed
to bring in Dak Prescott from Mississippi State to compete for a backup
position. Thankfully Romo will be asked to shoulder less of the load, as the
majority of the line is back and Elliott (the highest rated running back in the
draft) should bolster the running back corps significantly. While he is a rookie, everyone is expecting
big things from Elliott. It’s impossible
to ascertain any significance from the numbers they put up last season on this
side of the ball because of the team’s key injuries so early in the season.
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| Elliott may be a rookie, but big things will immediately be expected from the OSU RB |
The defense has been a hodgepodge of talented-yet-troubled
players. The Greg Hardy experiment was a disaster. Ronaldo McClain will miss
time due to suspension, as will DeMarcus Lawrence, and Randy Gregory. Nearly all of those players were brought in
to help a struggling pass rush that ended up ranked 25th in the
League in sacks. They were decent enough against the run considering how often
they found themselves down significantly in games (six of their losses were by
10 or more points). Despite the rash of injuries to the offensive side of the
ball last season, the real question will be on defense—something that they
attempted to address in the draft. Three
of the team’s first four picks were on the defensive side of the ball, and all
were in the front seven. Pressuring the ball consistently will be key for any
shot at a successful season.
Prediction: I’m a sucker for teams that can run the ball
with defiance—who see the defense stacked against it and still hand the ball
off to their back. Romo is older, but having him as a second option (have I
somehow neglected to mention one of the best WRs in football, Dez Bryant?) will
be glorious. They’ll compete for the division title, and will likely take the Wildcard.
NY Giants
Record Last Season:
(6-10)
Key Acquisition(s): Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins,
Key Loss(es): Prince
Amukamara, Jon Beason (retired), Reuben Randle, Brandon Meriweather
The
Giants were no stranger to injury last season. Victor Cruz missed another
year with a lower body injury. The dream of a Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr. WR
corps may finally be on the precipice of occurring. Certainly Eli Manning will appreciate
the additional target, but he’s been quietly very good the past couple of
years, despite the lack of team success. He is one of five guys to throw for 60
TDs over the past two seasons. Another
year under Head Coach Ben McAdoo and Manning will almost certainly continue his
dynamic play; they were first in the League in passing touchdowns and 6th
in points per game. If Cruz can get back
healthy, this offense will be stellar.
As good as the offense was, even it couldn’t pull this team
out of the nosedive of the second half of the season. The Giants dropped six of their last seven
games in large part due to their inability to stop the pass. They were dead last in pass yards allowed per
game, and they gave up 31 passing touchdowns; bad enough to be ranked 25th
in the League. The injuries piled up in the secondary, and eventually the team
was pulling guys off the free agency pile to play significant snaps.
Rest of the crew predictions:
Erroll Reese: NY Giants
Michael Shelton: Dallas
L Dub: Dallas
K Mac: Washington
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