First of all, whatever the media says is usually wrong. In 2012 they said the Giants would win the division, Commanders won. 2013 they said Commanders would win, Eagles won. 2014 they said the Eagles would win, Cowboys won. These guys in the media make the "safe pick", which is usually whoever won the division the previous year, just so they won't be publicly ridiculed. In this case, the safe pick (well not in my mind) is the Eagles because we lost the league leading rusher and they got him. So on the surface it looks like the Eagles gained the advantage over us but that couldn't be any more false.
People don't realize that the Eagles essentially swapped Nick Foles, LeSean McCoy, and Jeremy Maclin for Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray, and Nelson Agholor (their first rd pick). First, even if Sam Bradford stays healthy, I don't buy for one second that he's an upgrade over Foles. I guess people forget because he got injured last year but with Foles starting in 2013 the Eagles finished 10-6 and won the division. In 2014 before he got injured he led the Eagles to a 6-2 start... so a combined 16-8 record. And during those games he threw 40 TDs and only 12 INTs. On the other hand Bradford hasn't done anything productive in his NFL career. Bradford is 19-30 as a starter (albeit with a bad STL team) and has thrown 59 TDs to 38 INTs. So even if the guy stayed healthy (very unlikely), I don't know how I'm supposed to believe he'll be better than Foles has been for them. As far as Murray vs McCoy... I mean it's close but I would honestly rather have LeSean McCoy. He's so elusive and quick, and he actually isn't afraid to punch it in to the end zone when he gets out in space. Give McCoy our starting O-line and he easily gets 2,000 yards. Not even to mention, Murray is extremely injury prone. Last season was his first to play 16 games... so we'll see if that continues this season in Philly. Then with their WRs, I shouldn't have to explain why Jeremy Maclin who just racked up 1,300 rec yards is a better player than an unproven rookie, Nelson Agholor. I'll acknowledge that Philly did add a couple nice players on defense with Kiko Alonso and Byron Maxwell, but both have question marks. Alonso is very injury prone and is coming of an ACL tear, and Maxwell very well could be a product of a great secondary in Seattle where he was able to shine because of the players around him. So overall I think their offense downgraded and their defense only slightly upgraded. Not sold.
Now from Dallas' perspective, the main reason we could be even better than last year is because how improved the defense will be. We're basically adding 2 pro-bowl caliber players with Sean Lee and Greg Hardy, basically two first round talents with Randy Gregory and Byron Jones, we're getting back a motivated Mo Claiborne, we'll have Demarcus Lawrence the entire season (missed 8 games last yr), and young guys like Tyrone Crawford and Anthony Hitchens who are due for great breakout seasons. As far as our offense, particularly our running game, we'll be fine. I've explained many times why I wasn't a huge fan of Murray's game even though I appreciated him while he was here. Basically I think he was great at being patient and finding the holes, but once he got in those holes he wasn't very elusive and always looked for contact in open field which normally resulted in him immediately being tackled. Then people (Eagles fans and the media) will say "but he had 1,800 yards!"... well yeah he did but on damn near 400 touches. His yard per carry was solid, but not exceptional. The bottom line is, our offensive line is the reason why Murray had the success he did. And our line got even better with La'el Collins. I'm not worried at all about Randle and McFadden. Both of those guys are extremely talented and if given a chance behind our O-line, I have no doubt that they (along with Dunbar/Michael) can make up for more than what Murray did here last season.
So yeah, the media is gonna hate but it means absolutely nothing. If anything, it's a good thing that they're doubting us.
