A mid-camp look at the NFC East: Dallas in a landslide

[CATCH17]

The Eagles wont be that bad, neither will the Giants. I expect 10 wins for Philly, 8-10 for New York.

I got the opposite.. New York finishing 2nd and Philly finishing 3rd.

 

[DoctorChicken]

He's not elite or anything, but the guy has something. I sure wish he was our backup here.

You stated the opinion that Weeden was better than Foles, though.

 

[Plankton]

Well I'm not really into qualifiers with 'a supporting cast that bad'. If you have a good rooke season as QB then you make the most with what you have and these QBs did..Most of these QB inherited bad teams and turned them around into playoff teams. Bradford has never done that or even had a winning season.
RGIII
Ben Roethlisberger
Dan Marino
Andrew Luck
Russell Wilson
Cam Newton
Matt Ryan

Think about it - as football is a team game, the supporting cast does matter. And, the fact is, Bradford has been in the NFL for five seasons. Out of the offensive starters he played with in his rookie season, all were under the age of 30, and all but two of them are out of the NFL, and neither of the guys still in the league are anything more than average. Think that doesn't impact how a guy turns out?

And despite that, in 2010, Bradford had his team 60 minutes from the playoffs, and was on the plus side of a TD/INT ratio for a team that had Brandon Gibson as its #1 receiver.

This is laughable to even make the comparison. Marino joined a team that made the Super Bowl the preceding season. The 2009 Rams went 1-15. And you're going to list Marino as a comp?

Wilson joined a team that was 6-10 the preceding season. Roethlisberger joined a 6-10 Steeler team. Luck joined a positively dreadful Colt team, but had Reggie Wayne, and three very good rookie targets in T.Y. Hilton, Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen. Luck had an outstanding season, and is better than Bradford was, but to be fair, had a better supporting cast. Cam Newton was also a good comp, and was outstanding his rookie season, but had Steve Smith, DeAngelo Williams, Greg Olsen and Pro Bowl linemen in Jordan Gross and Ryan Kalil. Again, better performance, but much better supporting cast. Matt Ryan had Pro Bowlers Michael Turner and Roddy White as fellow skill position players. He had a better year, but again, had a better supporting cast.

Bradford had an outstanding rookie year when you consider what he had surrounding him - yes, I said that again. He has not been an outstanding player for his career.

 

[erod]

You stated the opinion that Weeden was better than Foles, though.

Good gosh, please tell me I never said that. I will admit I thought Weeden would be better here than he has. That isn't panning out well.

 

[erod]

And despite that, in 2010, Bradford had his team 60 minutes from the playoffs, and was on the plus side of a TD/INT ratio for a team that had Brandon Gibson as its #1 receiver.

If he won that game, the Rams would have finished 8-8. Let's not oversell that.

 

[Derinyar]

I think the eagles are an unknown. They have a very different offense then they had last year. I suspect it will score points, because they have 2-3 extra drives a game to score points in. The front of their defense looks good and the back almost has to be better then it was. I don't think Bradford can finish a season there this year. Their OLine has two good tackles and a decent center but major questions at both guards. Their offense also only has one player with much speed, and he's a rookie, well I guess Sproles has speed also. I'm thinking they should be an 8+ win team, in part because I think both us and the eagles should be able to do something like 3 of 4 from the Skins and Giants, who both look to have some major issues they can't fix right now. When you figure in the NFC south and the AFC east there should be at least another 3+ wins there, without much problem. I can easily see us at 12 wins again, based on schedule. I think Philly can also get there, if everything goes right and they stay healthy. I think that's where we have them beaten is in depth. We can actually have some injuries and survive them, barring about 3-4 players.

 

[DoctorChicken]

Good gosh, please tell me I never said that. I will admit I thought Weeden would be better here than he has. That isn't panning out well.

Considering it was in response to AerotheLion, and he's kind of a d bag, I assume you were just trying to rustle his jimmies a little.

 

[ccb04]

Actually, the offense is very good fit for Murray and Matthews. Kelly wants a one cut runner that hits the hole. The reason they got rid of McCoy was that he was too bouncey and had too many negative runs. Kelly wants a runner who gets upfield right away and isn't bouncing around looking for holes.

And they had all these flaws in 2013 and 2014 and yet they still managed to win 10 games a year. The idea that they are now a 7 win team is peculiar to me.

I think we are a 10-12 win team, they are 9-10 wins, Giants around 7-9 wins and Skins around 5-8 wins.

McCoy may have been too bouncey at times...but his style was still effective in the system, as he led the league in rushing in 2013 & finished with 1300+ yards in 2014. He's also proven more durable than either Matthews or Murray. Not to mention, he was often a thorn in the Boys side. And they of course had Sproles last season as well.

Philly finished tied for 2nd in the league with 49 sacks in 2014...but ranked 31st in pass defense. For comparison, the Cowboys finished with 28 sacks and IIRC, had the 19th ranked pass defense. While they added more free agents & drafted a couple of DB's...they also traded away Boykin & the guy tasked to replace him went down. Will be interesting to see how significantly they can improve. Also looking forward to seeing how the Cowboys additions of Hardy & Gregory...and the continued maturation of players like Lawrence & Crawford, turns out in terms of getting to the QB.

They Eagles also benefitted from a record-tying 7 special teams TD's in 2014. Can they duplicate that kind of production again? I would say doubtful.

I think they can challenge, and be a 10 or so win team based mostly on the last 2 seasons. Like many decent teams, they have some talent. But while the Boys have a somewhat uncertain situation at RB, they have a similarly uncertain situation, only at QB. And while Philly added some potential pieces, they also again made some head scratching moves...to include recent ones such as releasing Mathis & trading Boykin. Significant injuries are critical to pretty much any team, so I won't bother including that aspect.

 

[erod]

Considering it was in response to AerotheLion, and he's kind of a d bag, I assume you were just trying to rustle his jimmies a little.

I can't blame it on that. I really did think Weeden would be better here than Cleveland. This is the first time in his career that he's had the same offensive coordinator for two straight years. So far, he's been brutal. He looked OK last week until his Garo Yepremian moment.

I think Foles will do well with Fisher. Not great, but adequate. Watch them in that division. The Rams are getting close. In fact, I'd love to be in Oxnard today watching their defensive line against our offensive line.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The Eagles wont be that bad, neither will the Giants. I expect 10 wins for Philly, 8-10 for New York.

Remember when we had the up and coming Dez and a trainwreck at OL? That is this years Giants. When Beatty went down so did their pass protection.

 

[5Stars]

Remember when we had the up and coming Dez and a trainwreck at OL? That is this years Giants. When Beatty went down so did their pass protection.

I also remember when the Giants came down and kicked the Cowboys butt with that defense they had that year they won the SB. That's not going to happen again.

 

[The Natural]

Expect to be heartbroken.

I'm a Cowboys fan, why would I be heartbroken?

 

[The Natural]

I got the opposite.. New York finishing 2nd and Philly finishing 3rd.

ok cool

 

[perrykemp]

You stated the opinion that Weeden was better than Foles, though.

Foles had the 3rd highest QB rating for a season in NFL history in 2013.

Higher than Drew Brees, Big Ben, Tony Romo, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, etc, etc have ever achieved in a single season.

In what universe would anybody take Weeden over Foles?

 

[VACowboy]

Dallas: 11-5
Philly: 9-7
New York: 7-9
Redskanks: 0-16

I thought NY would be better than Philly before all their injuries.

 

[VACowboy]

Foles had the 3rd highest QB rating for a season in NFL history in 2013.

Higher than Drew Brees, Big Ben, Tony Romo, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, etc, etc have ever achieved in a single season.

In what universe would anybody take Weeden over Foles?

That is just the magic of Chip Kelly's genius.

/sarcasm

 

[jobberone]

The Eagles suck.

The Giants suck.

The Skins suck.


That should pretty much take care of it.

 

[MRV52]

I think people are being shortsighted with the Eagles. Will they win the division? Probably not. But this is the best Eagles team on paper in the 3 years Kelly has been there. Their front seven is very, very good. They improved in the secondary by dumping Williams and Fletcher, their starting CBs.

It all hinges on Bradford. If (and that's a big if) he's healthy, they are going to be a very good team. Better than us? At this point, not really but the idea that we are 5 games better than them is wishful thinking IMO.

How are they better losing Dsean, Mcoy, and Maclin and others. This team will struggle to score the points they had last year.

 

[Sydla]

McCoy may have been too bouncey at times...but his style was still effective in the system, as he led the league in rushing in 2013 & finished with 1300+ yards in 2014. He's also proven more durable than either Matthews or Murray. Not to mention, he was often a thorn in the Boys side. And they of course had Sproles last season as well.

Philly finished tied for 2nd in the league with 49 sacks in 2014...but ranked 31st in pass defense. For comparison, the Cowboys finished with 28 sacks and IIRC, had the 19th ranked pass defense. While they added more free agents & drafted a couple of DB's...they also traded away Boykin & the guy tasked to replace him went down. Will be interesting to see how significantly they can improve. Also looking forward to seeing how the Cowboys additions of Hardy & Gregory...and the continued maturation of players like Lawrence & Crawford, turns out in terms of getting to the QB.

They Eagles also benefitted from a record-tying 7 special teams TD's in 2014. Can they duplicate that kind of production again? I would say doubtful.

I think they can challenge, and be a 10 or so win team based mostly on the last 2 seasons. Like many decent teams, they have some talent. But while the Boys have a somewhat uncertain situation at RB, they have a similarly uncertain situation, only at QB. And while Philly added some potential pieces, they also again made some head scratching moves...to include recent ones such as releasing Mathis & trading Boykin. Significant injuries are critical to pretty much any team, so I won't bother including that aspect.

I never said McCoy wasn't effective. Only refuting this claim that somehow Murray is an awful fit for their offense now and that they made a big mistake moving on from McCoy. I agree with much of what you said. My only point, that somehow got twisted into my apparently thinking the Eagles are the bomb diggity is that I don't believe we are 5 games better than them or that they are a 6 win team. 9-10 wins seems likely unless Bradford gets hurt which is possible. Then they are likely a 7 win team or so.

 

[Sydla]

How are they better losing Dsean, Mcoy, and Maclin and others. This team will struggle to score the points they had last year.

Well they lost Jackson two years ago and still won 10 games. They replaced McCoy with Murray and Matthews which I think is at least a wash. Maclin is a loss so it will be interesting watching how their three young WRs do. They also added players. I don't think Maxwell is a stud CB but he's better than what they had. Kiko Alonso is a big addition at ILB for them.

I think the biggest question outside of Bradford's knee is their two OG positions. It's kind of bizarre that Kelly, who professed that OL was the most important position on the team, would just not draft an OG in two drafts.