It’s back! Even though this appears to be the year the NFL will do everything in its power to destroy its popularity (Wildly inconsistent discipline! Rule changes NO ONE asked for! Punish defenses the year after the passing TD record got broken! Let’s all kiss Dan Snyder’s ass!) I’m sure we’ll all forget the stuff they’re doing once the action on the field gets going.
Except in the NFC East that is, yuck!
Once again this is football’s worst division, and I can sum up my prediction in a few short sentences:
1) Eagles QB Nick Foles can’t be as good as he was last season.
2) Giants QB Eli Manning can’t be as bad as he was last season.
3) By NFL rules, someone HAS to win this division, so whoever winds up with the least bad record gets to go to the playoffs.
The Giants are no great shakes, but among this dreadful group I have them nosing out the Eagles mainly because the Giants are likely to be a little better while the Eagles are likely to be a little worse.
The departure of DeSean Jackson, a mediocre draft and a defense that didn’t get a whole lot better should doom Philadelphia and its undeserved attitude of complacency to second place in the face of a Giants team that acted like it needed to get better and did.
In Washington, the departure of Mike Shanahan will, in and of itself, help the team start to heal.
Apparently Shanahan is only a good coach on a team with an aging superstar QB who has underperformed in the Super Bowl. Maybe Denver should hire him back? In the meantime, the RacialSlurs (yeah, count me among the people who just won’t use that OTHER name anymore) still have no defense, but will have a pretty nice offense. It will take Robert Griffin a full year, however, to undo the harm that two years of misuse have foisted upon him. At least there’s hope.
You can’t say the same thing in Dallas, where the league’s worst defense lost its leader (DeMarcus Ware), it’s best player (Sean Lee) and will be without its best defensive back (Orlando Scandrick) to start the year.
Dallas is gonna get scored on like a hockey team without a goalie, and rest assured the fans will all blame Tony Romo when they don’t even sniff .500 anymore. This team needs a significant rebuild, and if they have a heart they’ll ship Romo out to someone who can use him to try to win now.
Predicted Finish:
NY Giants (9-7) (4th seed; NFC Wildcard Round)
Philadelphia Eagles (8-8)
Washington RacialSlurs (7-9)
Dallas Cowboys (5-11)
Games to Watch:
Week 4 – NY Giants @Washington: The middle of a tough four game stretch in the ‘Slurs early schedule will clue us in on whether they’re on the way up or still in the midst of a rebuild.
Week 4 – New Orleans @Dallas: It is always fun to speculate what the highest scoring game in the NFL will be. My money’s on this one.
Week 13 – Philadelphia @Dallas: If you can’t get down with Eagles/Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day well then go f*ck yourself.
Week 17 – Philadelphia @NY Giants: There’s a good chance this one will be for the division, and the one and only undeserved playoff spot one of these four teams will take up.
