2021 NFC East Champ- Rock, Paper, Scissors?

Rockport

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After looking at the 2020 season and where teams in the NFC East ranked based on numerous team based stat categories ( info taken from espn website) as well as considering all that has transpired since, the offseason, free agency and of course the draft. I came away with the following thoughts :

1- I believe the NFC East is on the rise again! The talent added through the draft and free agency across all the teams will clearly make this division better. QB's are the only thing holding this division back at the moment ( That is a big deal though LOL ) ! Dallas has there guy - Eagles and Giants think they do but those Qb's kinda need to prove it well Daniel Jones i would argue is on the hot seat - Eagles Jalen Hurts has a couple years to prove it - Washington is clearly the only team with a stop gap Qb - BUT what if Aaron Rodgers went to either the Giants or Washington ( Nightmare Scenario Honestly )

2- NFC East Is gonna be a dogfight and super competitive. We could be looking at some good old smash mouth NFC East football again and i for one am very excited about that. Only thing we need is Madden and Summerall back doing the play by play. I have a feeling all fan bases will be on the edge of their seat during every division game. As far as the NFC East Division Title ! putting injuries aside it could come down to the final week and one could argue a good old fashioned game of rock, paper, scissors !

I personally feel The division is seriously only up for grabs between the Cowboys , Giants, and Washington when it comes to the Eagles and there first year head coach, i feel there is just to much uncertainty there after last years turmoil to seriously be in the running, however their draft class is being fawned over and it would be foolish to dismiss their chance to play spoiler to any of the other teams title hopes if given the chance. I mean this is the NFC EAST hahahaha

Let's take a deeper look shall we ( Taken from NFC EAST WIKI ) :

Last 20 years of division champs
2020 - Wash
2019 - Eagles
2018 - Cowboys
2017 - Eagles
2016 - Cowboys
2015 - Wash
2014 - Cowboys
2013- Eagles
2012- Wash
2011- Giants - Long Overdue for the Giants
2010- Eagles
2009- Cowboys
2008- Giants
2007- Cowboys
2006- Eagles
2005- Giants
2001- 04 - Eagles Last Time Back to Back Champ

Looking at History winning again doesn't bode well for Wash - Giants are Overdue for sure since last time they won it was 2011. But hey at some point every team in the NFC East has won it back to back even the Cardinals 74-75 so it is not unheard of ! It has just been awhile.

FUN FACT - From 1986 - 1995 - Over this 10 Year stretch The NFC EAST won 7 of 10 Super Bowls thats dominant !
3 for Dallas
2 for the Giants
2 for Washington


2020 NFC East Defensive Team Rankings:

Dallas Cowboys
Scoring Defense - Ranked 28th - 29.6 PPG Allowed
Total Yards - Ranked 23rd - 386.4 YPG Allowed
Rush Yards - Ranked 31st - 158.8 YPG Allowed
Pass Yards - Ranked 11th - 227.6 YPG Allowed
Turnover Differential - (-3) 23 Takeaways vs 26 Giveaways

Washington Football Team:
Scoring Defense - Ranked 4th - 20.6 PPG Allowed
Total Yards - Ranked 2nd - 304.6 YPG Allowed
Rush Yards - Ranked 14th - 112.8 YPG Allowed
Pass Yards - Ranked 2nd - 191.8 YPG Allowed
Turnover Differential - (-4) 23 takeaways vs 27 giveaways

NY Giants
Scoring Defense - Ranked 9th - 22.3 PPG Allowed
Total Yards - Ranked 12th - 349.3 YPG Allowed
Rush Yards - Ranked 10th - 114 YPG Allowed
Pass Yards -Ranked 17th - 237.9 YPG Allowed
Turnover Differential - (0) 22 Takeaways vs 22 Giveaways

Philadelphia Eagles
Scoring Defense - Ranked 20th - 26.1 PPG Allowed
Total Yards - Ranked 19th - 363.1 YPG Allowed
Rush Yards- Ranked 23rd - 125.8 YPG Allowed
Pass Yards - Ranked 15th - 237.4 YPG Allowed
Turnover Differential - (-10) 19 Takeaways vs 29 Giveaways

2020 NFC East Offensive Team Rankings

Dallas Cowboys
PPG - Ranked 17th - 24.7 PPG
YPG - Ranked 14th - 371 YPG
Rush YPG- Ranked 17th - 111.8 YPG
Pass YPG- Ranked 8th - 260.1 YPG

Washington Football Team
PPG- Ranked 25th - 20.9 PPG
YPG- Ranked 30th - 317.3 YPG
Rush YPG- 26th - 100.7 YPG
Pass YPG - 25th - 216.6 YPG

NY Giants
PPG- Ranked 31st - 17.5 PPG
YPG- Ranked 31st - 299.6 YPG
Rush YPG - Ranked 19th - 110.5 YPG
Pass YPG - Ranked 29th - 189.1 YPG

Philadelphia Eagles
PPG- Ranked 26th - 20.9 PPG
YPG- Ranked 24th - 334.6 YPG
Rush YPG- Ranked 9th - 126.7 YPG
Pass YPG- Ranked 28th - 207.9 YPG

Diving into these stats and then looking at each teams particular set of circumstances from last year including but not limited to- covid19 and everything associated with it , Injuries to big names , no true offseason and new coaches on nearly every team -- I expect a drastic jump on every team in all honesty for example :

No Way the Giants are at the bottom of the league in Offense again this year. Joe Judge ( I think he is gonna be a good coach and i had no idea who he was when they announced him ) has them playing well on D and they added pieces. One could argue they have the best balance when considering both sides of the ball but we have to see how the offense gels ! They loaded up on Offense, with Barkley coming back and all their additions they are gonna be a high powered offense for sure Garrett has weapons now. The pressure on Daniel Jones this year will be immense and it will all come down to him and how he handles that but make no mistake he will have no excuses if he does not produce.

Washington - I would say has the top D in the division but the worst offenses, but they say D wins championships , Ron Rivera ( I wish the Boys grabbed him when he was available honestly ) is putting together a scary defensive there in Washington and they added more talent in William Jackson on the offensive side they also Curtis Samuel a speedster to help Terry McLourin who i do think is a beast ! It wouldn't surprise me if their D carried them to the title again and also would not surprise me if QB was the reason they did not make it,

Then we have Dallas who i would say has the best established offense with the best QB in the division and they say QB's are the reason you win, but they also sport the worst D in the NFC East. Now like all of you ! I hope the addition of Dan Quinn and our primarily defensive heavy draft will provide us more balance but we will have to wait and see how it plays out !

Eagles will improve for sure just don't think it will be this year for them contending for the NFC East if i had to say one reason 1st year head coach among other things !

2021 Is gonna be fun to watch i hope all teams stay healthy and lets see which team prevails - i can't shake this feeling every fan from every team is gonna be nervous all year , all this could change drastically if Aaron Rodgers were to be traded to one of these teams otherwise this could come down to a serious game of ROCK , PAPER , SCISSORS I don't think any team in the NFC East should kid themselves its not gonna be easy for anyone in 2021 and it also would not surprise me if any of the 3 were to win it !

Gonna be a Fun Ride

Let's Go Boys :flagwave:
Great write up! The key to the Cowboys season mostly depends on the offensive line. If they can stay healthy then the Cowboys will run away with the division. With Dak back at the helm they will again be a top 5 offense. With all the changes on defense, with both the players and coaching staff, I think they will make a huge leap up into the top half of the league. With this offense that’s all they need. :flagwave:
 
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gimmesix

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NFC East has been down, I don't expect it to stay down. Heck was only 2018 Philly won the SB and yes last few season overall the division has been down, it has been down before and came back strong

Right. We just don't know when. Is it ready for a resurgence this year? The Giants and Commanders both have strong defenses but suspect offenses. We have a strong offense (when healthy), but a suspect defense. The Eagles are just a mess.
 

nalam

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NFC East has been down, I don't expect it to stay down. Heck was only 2018 Philly won the SB and yes last few season overall the division has been down, it has been down before and came back strong

Right , Combo of Brady and Bellicheat came up empty against NFC east in 3 of the 4 tries. I think, only eagles with vomiting Mcnabb they could beat , lost to Gints Eli ( :facepalm:) twice and philly - Folk once .
 

Starforever

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CowboysZone DIEHARD Fan
I'm not saying this just because I am a Dallas fan.
1.Dallas
2.Dallas
3.Dallas
4.Rest of NFC East
 

Creeper

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Absolutely outstanding objective and as neutral a post as I'm gonna find here. A pleasure to read. Appreciate ya.

Thanks. I remember back in the 1990s being on the old message boards duking it out with the Green Bay Packers trolls. It was easy to be positive about this team because they were winning and we had the likes of Erik Williams pounding Reggie White and Michael Strahan on Sundays. I want to be that positive again about the Cowboys. I just don't see a team like that yet.
 

75boyz

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Thanks. I remember back in the 1990s being on the old message boards duking it out with the Green Bay Packers trolls. It was easy to be positive about this team because they were winning and we had the likes of Erik Williams pounding Reggie White and Michael Strahan on Sundays. I want to be that positive again about the Cowboys. I just don't see a team like that yet.

You're welcome.

Anybody here who posts even a basic knowledge of division rival rosters with neutrality is a winner by me bro.

I also long for those days of this team's dominance you mentioned both at the player and coaching level against the highest of competition.

Not real confident in player, and especially not the coaching, of this team ever reaching those levels again.

It is what it has become.
Great post again.
 

ActualCowboysFan

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I'll start by saying that it will come down to which team is healthiest the last month of the season. With 17 games, it will be a season of attrition.

But all things being equal, I would worry about the Giants. When you look at their weapons, they are loaded on offense. If the offensive line gives Jones time, he will be good enough. The Giants also have defense. They get Xavier McKinney back for the full season after he missed all but one game last year with an injury. They also added pass rush to their defense which is going to be huge with their interior DL that is as good as any in the division. The Giants are the most balanced team in the division, IMO.

I will not ignore the Eagles. They still have a lot of talent on defense, and added two solid DTs prospects in the draft. In fact, the Eagles drafted 4 defensive linemen, just in case you forgot how much they value DL. They also added a CB and a Safety, Jacoby Stephens, who I think may be a sleeper in this draft. The big question mark in Philly is Hurts, the QB. He started out hot last year but faded as defenses caught up with him. Some of that could have been due to injuries on the OL. The OL will be back and better. They will be a tough out for any team in the NFC East.

The WFT has the best defense, and I think it got better in the off season, but so did their offense. If they improved the OL enough, I don't know but Fitzpatrick, when he is hot, does not need a lot of time to find a big play. Then again, he is a very inconsistent player so we will have to see.

Finally, there are the Cowboys. I don't think they did enough on defense to stop good offenses. To me, their weakness last year, the middle of the DL, is still a weakness. Their weakness on offense, the middle of the OL, is still a weakness. Connor Williams and Tyler Biadasz facing the NFC East DTs is a scary thought. I worry even with Dak healthy, the Cowboys often got off to slow starts last year on offense. They need to be better than that in 2021.

I still see a 8-9 type season this year for Dallas. Nothing they did in free agency made the defensive line better. Washington and NY both used free agency to get better. My early early prediction before my brain is polluted with Jerry's silly training camp hype is 1. NY Giants 2. Washington FT 3. Dallas Cowboys 4. Phil. Eagles. The team I am most uncertain about is the Eagles. I know, it seems like nuts to pick the Giants but I do think they had a really good offseason utilizing ALL the tools available to them to improve their team. The Cowboys defense will have to be a lot better for them to win this division. The NFC East is a December division and by that I mean the team that is hottest late will win. So look for a team playing good defense down the stretch.
NYG regressed on the OL. Defense in the NFL is much less likely to repeat year to year and they lost their NT. Dak nearly outperformed Daniel Jones in 4.5 games.
 
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