For the first time in years, I can honestly say….I’m not so sure.
I actually friggin love what my boys have done this off-season, and as I’m sure you all know, we finally hired a proven HC and not one of these good coordinators who fail at leading a full team. I think we had 4 in a row of those guys- McAdoo, Shurmur, Judge, Daboll- might be one more, but I’m trying to forget.
Anyhow, I can’t speak for the Eagles but I’m pretty sure they are very good too….but even still, I really have a good feeling about this year. Harbaugh has only had one losing year in his 18 years of coaching so I’m not expecting that.
Can we win the East? I think we can….but as we all know, injuries also determine these answers as well, and I usually don’t like making predictions before the season starts. Ask me after we have played 3-4 games.
Last year we didn’t have Nabers and Skatt for most of the year, Dexter Lawrence didn’t care, and Dart was learning how to not get killed….as a result, we only won 4. But don’t forget, we had crappy coaches and coordinators and we blew 5 games with double digit leads going into the 4th quarter, not to mention one of the toughest schedules in the NFL. I’m sure you fellows know about one of those games we lost at the end to your boys. That loss hurt me so deeply too. I went from total joy (Nabers TD) to total sadness (Aubrey FG1, FG2).
Bottom line- opening game will tell me a lot, but I predict we will not lose 40 something to 0 this time. I will return here to discuss that game with you, win or lose, when the dust clears.
Wishing both teams a HEALTHY season, and we both can agree with this- I hate the Eagles much much more.