Nfc East 2007 Previews and Projections
1) Dallas: Bill Parcells nay-sayers can say what they want now that the "Big Tuna" has once again galloped off into retirement, but the uncomplicated truth of the matter is that the Cowpokes are a much better team now than they were when Parcells took the reins following the 2002 season. In the Tuna's four year stint at the helm he guided the Boyzzz to a winning combined regular season mark of 34-30 and made the playoffs twice, yes the Boyzzz lost both playoff games under Parcells, but don't lose sight of the fact that this is a team that had posted an whole mark of 15-33 in the three seasons prior to his coming and had not made the playoffs since 1999!
Nfc East 2007 Previews and Projections
Team owner Jerry Jones has brought in Wade Philips, who has the Chargers defensive coordinator, to replace Parcells who left the Dallas cupboards fully stocked with talent, like Norv Turner who now has the keys to the blue Ferrari that is the San Diego Chargers, Philips now has the keys to a beautiful silver Lamborghini that calls Texas Stadium home. The Dallas offense is basically the same unit that closed last year ranked 5th in the league and started in last year's fluky 20-21 playoff loss against Seattle, there are three exceptions however, old Super Bowl winning Qb Brad Johnson was brought in to mentor/backup starting Qb Tony Romo, Leonard Davis was signed away from Arizona to man the right guard position and old Dallas backup Qb Jason Garrett will be the man calling the offensive plays.
Defensively the Cowpokes need to improve on last years 13th ranked unit that allowed a mind boggling 419 yards per game on mean to their final five opponents, to facilitate this they drafted Anthony Spencer out of Purdue with their first round option and signed hard hitting old Seattle security Ken Hamlin. Dallas for real only has one other frailness and that is with their kicking game, year in and year out Dallas always seems to need a reliable kicker and this year is no different. The Pokes idea they had solved that qoute last year with the signing of old Colt kicker Mike Vanderjagt but as it turned out Peyton Manning was exact with regard to Vanderjagt being an "idiot kicker" that couldn't take pressure. Vanderjagt was cut after 11 games last season and Martin Gramatica was siged as his replacement, Dallas is serious about fixing this qoute and showed this fact by drafting Nick Folk out of Arizona in the 6th round to compete with and hopefully replace Gramatica. Projected record: 11-5
**Look to play Against these Cowpokes in their first road game of the season when they trip to Miami on 9/16/07 to face a Dolphin team that will probably be installed as a home doggie or a very small favorite, that suits us just fine because there is fullness of talent and pride on this Dolphin team to play well in their home opener and Dallas will be coming to town in potential "let-down" mode having just played their season opener at home against their divisional rival G-men and have a date on deck against the Bears who were the Nfc's Super Bowl representative last year, can you say "sandwich game"?
2) Philadelphia: These Birds won the Nfc Eastern agency last year with a mark of 10-6 which gives Philly five divisional titles in the past six seasons, however, it was Not star Qb Donovan McNabb who led the Birds down the stretch to a 5-1 right up mark (4-2 Ats), won the divisional crown, or won their preliminary playoff game against the G-Men, it was ousted backup Qb Jeff Garcia who is now with Tampa Bay. McNabb has now had season ending injuries three of the past five years which prompted Hc Andy Reid to draft old Houston Cougar Qb Kevin Kolb in the second round and sign A.J Feeley to a three year covenant extension.
Kevin Kolb will need a integrate of years to mature and grow in Andy Reid's offense but should be a excellent match and the Eagles hereafter with regard to starting 50 right games and playing every down of his college occupation in a spread offense predicated on a quick, short, passing game. Versatile Rb Brian Westbrook who had over 1200 rushing yards last year along with a total of 77 catches and 11 Td's, should continue to be the Birds spear head, to spell Westbrook the Eagles drafted Tony Hunt out of Penn State in the 3rd round. In a surprising move the Birds let Wr Donte' Stallworth walk away and sign with New England and as a replacement brought in old Ram Kevin Curtis.
Defensively, Philly ranked 15th in the league whole last year but had a rush stopping unit that allowed 141 yards per game and ranked a shoddy 28th in terms of yards allowed, to fix this leak the Birds upgraded their line backing corps by trading with Buffalo for Takeo Spikes and drafting Stewart Bradley out of Nebraska, the Eagles will also have Chris Gocong back from injury who was drafted as a Lb in 2006. To aid the defensive line the Birds brought in Montae Reagor from the Colts and signed Ian Scott away from the Bears, they will also have the services of the "Freak" Jevon Kearse who will be returning to the lineup from a injury shortened season.
The Birds have been the cream of the crop within this division, however, they are an aging group that has an injury prone Qb leading them into battle, the mixture of having a fairly easy schedule to navigate with regard to their only tough non agency road games taking place at New England and at New Orleans, along with getting to face Chicago and Seattle in Philly-land and being in a agency that has two teams (G-Men and Washington) in disarray, should have the Eagles contentious once again for other divisional crown against the much more talented Cowboys. Projected record: 10-6
** Look to play On the Eagles on September 30th when they visit the Giants, the chinks in the G-Men's armor probably will not have shown themselves as of yet while the Eagles will have started to gel entering this 4th game of the new season, the Birds were +5.5 and +7 point doggies in their past two visits to the Meadowlands and at this early stage of the season will in all likelihood be installed as doggies again which suits us just fine because a peek at the past history of these teams reveals that Philly has won outright and covered the posted spread in three of their past four visits to New Jersey.
3) Washington: The Redskins posted a shoddy mark of 5-11 last season, however, a closer look-see reveals that Hc Joe Gibbs and company had five games decided by 3 points or less, in those five games they did not fare so well with regard to posting a mark of 1-4 right up and 1-3-1 Ats, oddly sufficient 4 of those 5 nail-biters took place on the Skins home grass! A uncomplicated truth is that Washington needs to learn how to win in crunch time, if the Skins had won all five of those close affairs they would have closed the season with a description of 9-7 and quite maybe would have made the playoffs as well.
The Skins were not for real all that terrible on offense with regard to finishing the season ranked 13th, what did them in was their 30th ranked defensive unit that in truth was injury depleted and especially across the front which led to Wash allowing opponents to run for 137.4 yards per game and only sacking the other teams Qb 20 times all season long, which by the way was the worst Qb take down tally of any team in the Nfl! To exact this situation the Redskins signed Lb London Fletcher-Baker away from Buffalo, signed Fred Smoot off the Vikings roster, and snagged security LaRon Landry out of Lsu via the draft who was probably the best security in college football last year.
In the end it will all come down to how well Qb Jason Campbell runs the offense and how well be protects the ball and avoids turnovers, Campbell started the final two games of last season and posted a combined total of 59 points in those outings, in time he should flourish under offensive guru Al Saunders but the Skins have got to realize that this young man can not carry the load all by himself. In the big photograph if the Skins want to compete in this agency with the likes of Dallas and Philadelphia they have got to get their running game going with Rb Clinton Portis who is returning from a shoulder injury and reliable backup Ladell Betts, and they have to shore up that leaky defense. Projected record: 9-7
**Look to play Against these Redskins when they visit Philadelphia on September 17th to partake in a Monday Night Game, the Eagles have defeated the visiting Skins four of the past five years in right up fashion when the game was held in the City of Brotherly Love and this year should be no different for Washington with young Qb Jason Campbell under center playing his first road game of the new season. Needless to say the home town Birds will be installed as the betting favorites in this affair and that's nice to know because agreeing to the ole history book the favorite has covered the posted spread 6 of the past 7 times these two teams have met.
4) Ny Giants: The G-Men are very similar to divisional rival Washington in more ways than one with regard to both teams having head coaches on the proverbial "hot seat", both teams possessing middle of the road offenses, and both teams needing to show marked revising with their defensive units if they want to compete, the only salvage grace for each club is the fact that each has a not-so-hard non divisional schedule to navigate. Last season the G-Men staggered to a 2-6 right up mark to close out the regular season but in head shaking fashion somehow someway managed to make the wildcard round of the playoffs with an 8-8 description only to lose to the Eagles on a last second Fg.
The Giants allowed 26 Qb take downs last year for an mean of 1.53 sacks allowed per game which was the 6th best tally in the league, however, that number figures to rise this year for two reasons, first of all Rb Tiki Barber has retired and in his place steps 6 foot 4 264 pound Rb Brandon Jacobs who has been on the G-Men's roster for the past few seasons. Jacobs should do a decent job but he naturally does not have the all round versatility of Barber to keep opposing defenses honest which of procedure is needed to make the play performance game work and keep the Qb upright. Secondly, the Giants released Lt's Luke Petitgout and Bob Whitfield, to replace Petitgout as the starter the G-Men have moved Lg David Diehl over and will use Rich Seubert as the Lg, off the bench the Giants will use Guy Whimper to back up both positions. If this unit does not gel, or they contact a lump of injuries, then Qb Eli Manning can expect to be on his backside more often than not.
Defensively, the G-Men have taken a hard line stance with all star Michael Strahan who is still keeping out and is being fined to the tune of 000 per day, the idea process here is that he will for real return to the team. To help the Giants sick 25th ranked defense Lb Kawika Mitchell was signed away from the Chiefs, Dt Marcus Bell was signed away from Detroit and old Texas Longhorn Cb Aaron Ross was drafted in the first round. In the big photograph the G-men naturally have way too many quiz, marks on their roster to expect whatever other than other mediocre season and if that's the case we may very well see Bill Cowher or Marty Schottenheimer replace Tom Coughlin at the man in charge. Projected record: 8-8
**Look to play Against these G-Men on September 30th when they host the visiting Eagles, the chinks in the G-Men's armor probably will not have shown themselves as of yet while the Eagles will have started to gel entering this 4th game of the new season, the Birds were +5.5 and +7 point doggies in their past two visits to the Meadowlands and at this early stage of the season will in all likelihood be installed as doggies again which suits us just fine because a peek at the past history of these teams reveals that Philly has won outright and covered the posted spread in three of their past four visits to New Jersey.
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