News: BTB: NFC East Division: Cowboys Give Thanks!

NewsBot · Nov 26, 2013

For week 12, the Dallas Cowboys were the only NFC East team to emerge with a victory, and for that we give thanks.

New York Giants (4-7)

Dallas Cowboys 24

New York Giants 21

Next Up: At the Washington Commanders

Tom Coughlin Voices Displeasure With Trash Talking - Ebenezer Samuel, New York Daily News

"Talk is cheap. Play the game. I don’t see anything that gets accomplished by the verbalization part of it. We’ve never been a team that has been one to provide bulletin-board material." - Giants head coach Tom Coughlin

Looks like Ol' Tommy C wasn't any happier with the Giants gum-flapping than were Orlando Scandrick and Jason Hatcher. The difference is the Dallas Cowboys did something about it before the coach did. Lesson learned, coach?

New York Giants news 11/26: Cowboys Turn To Talk - Ed Valentine, Big Blue View

Worth reading for the title alone, but in case you pass, I'l include a couple quotes from Giants players here.

"They won, that’s what you’re supposed to do. My statement, I stand by it. Our season was on the line and their season was on the line and they won the big game. They came into our house and won, the better team won." - Terrell Thomas, who had guaranteed a Giants victory

"They got the win, they beat us twice this year, so they have the right to talk trash. You can't get irritated with it now, you should have done something about it during the games." - Cullen Jenkins

Big Blue Morning: Dealing With "Reality" Dan Graziano, ESPN

Dan Graziano, who formerly covered the NFC East for ESPN, now focuses his attention on the New York Giants. He is always a good source for an honest assessment of what is going on inside the enemy's camp.

Win The Division? Giants Can Forget It Dan Graziano, ESPN

Yeah, I like Dan's work so he gets mentioned twice.

With five games left in the season, the Giants are 4-7, two games behind a first-place tie between the 6-5 Cowboys and the 6-5 Eagles. They went 0-2 against the Cowboys and 1-1 against the Eagles, and the No. 2 tiebreaker in a division race (two-way or three-way) is the teams' record in division games. The Giants are 1-3 in NFC East games. The Eagles are 3-2 and the Cowboys are 4-0. So the Giants would basically have to make up three games, not two, in the final five in order to get in.

Essentially three back with five to play...HMM looks like it is time for our friends at Big Blue View to start talking about the draft.

Washington Commanders (3-8)

San Francisco 49ers 27

Washington Commanders 6

Next Up: home against the New York Giants

A Fifth For A Tuesday - MacKenzie Rivers, Hogs Haven

In this piece Rivers not only mentions a way for Commanders fans to deal with the misery of the 2013 season, but also states the case for Mike Shanahan to return for a fifth season at the helm of Dan Snyder's franchise.

Blame him, but do not fire him. While recognizing the problems this team has, and how we got here, grant Coach Shanahan a fifth year to further cement a nucleus that includes one of the best tackles in football in Trent Williams, two of the best skill positions players in the NFL in Pierre Garcon and Alfred Morris and a quarterback that has the right and the God given ability to truly believe he is on his way to becoming one of the best if not the best signal caller in the game.

Doesn't bother me a bit. Shanny has finished dead last in the NFC East every year except for the one time he won the thing with a rookie QB. I like those results.

Washington Commanders, From Robert Griffin III To The Defense, Are An Easy Feast For 49ers - Thomas Boswell, Washington Post

After the way the Washington football team played on national TV on Monday night, they may have to change their nickname to the Thickskins.

That sums up a team that has finished last in the division three of the last four seasons. Did I mention that they are well on their way to making it four out of the last five? AHH, The sweet smell of success

Commanders Moving In Wrong Direction - John Keim, ESPN

You have to love the blame game when it gets played out in a division rival's home town.

Something is not working. It's not just the quarterback. You can point your finger just about anywhere and have a legitimate beef. You want to blame head coach Mike Shanahan? Go ahead. You want to blame defensive coordinator Jim Haslett? Have at it. You want to target special-teams coordinator Keith Burns? Stand in line. You want to point the finger even higher and look at the owner, Dan Snyder? Fair game.

Sounds to me like somebody needs to blow it up and start over, but I hope that they don't.

Brooks: RGIII Shouldn't Be Playing - ESPN.com News Services

Gee, didn't we hear this same thing at the beginning of the season? At that time it was coming from Washington fans who felt that the team was rushing their quarterback into action too quickly. This time around it comes from an opponent who had just spent four quarters thumping on RGIII.

Bobby Trey had this to say in his defense:

"People are trying to character assassinate me and it's unfortunate." - Robert Griffin,III

Philadelphia Eagles (6-5)

Bye Week

Next Up: home against the Arizona Cardinals

Eagles No Longer One Hit Away From Matt Barkley - Mike Kaye, Bleeding Green Nation

With Chip Kelly naming Nick Foles the Eagles starting quarterback for the rest of the season, the head coach also acknowledged the health of now-backup Michael Vick. The veteran is now healthy and ready to be the next man up in the quarterback lineup, bringing rookie Matt Barkley's reign to an end. Barkley had been the backup quarterback for seven games and played in three of those contests.

That should make Eagles fans breathe a little easier. After all it is not like Michael Vick is made of glass, is it?

For Eagles, Wildcard Now Possible - Phil Sheridan, ESPN

The Eagles return from their bye week with clear directions to the NFC East title scrolling on their smartphones. It is a road, as expected, that leads through Dallas. But wait. What is this little shortcut? Hard to believe, but that assumption the Eagles absolutely had to win the division to reach the postseason is no longer valid. After sitting out the weekend’s action, they are suddenly viable in the NFC wild-card picture as well.

Yeah, well if you can get by the streaking Arizona Cardinals, who are ahead of you in the wild-card chase, then we can talk about this. For now, to be in the playoffs, it still looks like you have to get by the Dallas Cowboys.

Foles, Eagles About To Hit Hot Water - Tim McManus, Birds 24/7

"He used to say that with a quarterback, it’s like a tea bag, you don’t know what you have until you put it in hot water." - Chip Kelly on drafting QB's in the NFL

With he decision made for Nick Foles to be the Eagles starter for the remainder of the season, McManus compares the quarterback to the proverbial tea bag.

Quarterback is a pressure-packed position, and there’s no way to know what your guy is made of until he is tested in big moments. That is important to keep in mind as we continue to evaluate Nick Foles. The city is anxious to know whether Foles is a long-term solution for this franchise; whether he can be the guy to lead this team to the top. The answer is that we don’t yet have the answer. We might not even be close to having it. But the next-month plus should get us nearer to the truth.

While I admit that I wanted the Cowboys to select Foles in the draft, I had him projected much later in the draft and as a long term replacement for Kyle Orton. I still don't see him as a NFL starting quarterback.

NFC Playoff Picture: Giants Do The Eagles No Favors - Brandon Lee Gowton, Bleeding Green Nation

Thanks for nothing, Giants. The Cowboys now jump to 6-5. That ties them with the Eagles for first place in the NFC East division. Dallas technically owns the lead due to the head-to-head tiebreaker from their 17-3 win over the Eagles earlier in the season.

It sort of makes me wonder if Eagles fans are sensing something: five games remain and a team that is tied for the division lead and has a game remaining against their co-leader is already talking about needing help and discussing wildcard races, are they expecting to falter down the stretch? Food for thought, perhaps.

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News: BTB: NFC East Division: Cowboys Give Thanks!

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