NFC East Prediction... 2 Weeks In

[ZeroClub]

If the Giants start out 0-3, I'd be about ready to stick a fork in them.

But the Eagles? No, not yet. They were very resilient last year. There is a decent chance that in a few weeks McNabb regains his sea legs. Looking at their schedule, it wouldn't surprise me if the Eagles were .500 by the time they host the Cowboys on November 4th.

IMO, the Commanders could be about 3 games above .500 by the time they play their first game against the Cowboys (November 18th).

For the Cowboys to run away with the division, the Cowboys would have to be undefeated or nearly undefeated through the first 10 games (Chicago, Buffalo, Eagles, Giants on the road; Rams, Patriots, Vikings, Commanders in Irving). It could happen if everything went right, but usually there are some bumps in the road.

 

[cowboys19]

The Commanders scare the crap out of me for some reason

 

[Daudr]

I've watched both of the Skins games and they just plain suck. The only reason they've won is because the other teams played worse. Campbell can - sometimes - throw the deep ball, but he is often off target. Their running game and defense are the only "highlights," and neither are very impressive.

 

[ZeroClub]

I've watched both of the Skins games and they just plain suck. The only reason they've won is because the other teams played worse. Campbell can - sometimes - throw the deep ball, but he is often off target. Their running game and defense are the only "highlights," and neither are very impressive.

Yeah, I don't think they are particularly great either.

But there aren't many really good teams out there.

Here are the next seven teams that the Commanders play before playing Dallas:

Giants
Lions
@ Packers
Cardinals
@ Patriots
@ Jets
Eagles
and then @ Dallas

The Commanders should be able to beat the Giants; That takes them to 3-0. If the Commanders go .500 over their next 6 games (not unlikely) they are 6-3 when they visit Dallas. 7-2 isn't a huge stretch - even if they aren't particularly special.

 

[HogsRLegends]

Yeah, I don't think they are particularly great either.

But there aren't many really good teams out there.

Here are the next seven teams that the Commanders play before playing Dallas:

Giants
Lions
@ Packers
Cardinals
@ Patriots
@ Jets
Eagles
and then @ Dallas

The Commanders should be able to beat the Giants; That takes them to 3-0. If the Commanders go .500 over their next 6 games (not unlikely) they are 6-3 when they visit Dallas. 7-2 isn't a huge stretch - even if they aren't particularly special.

I don't think any team in the NFC is "special" right now. The only team in the NFL I'd say at this point that looks like an inpenetrable fortress are the Patriots.

Cowboys offense has been impressive...but your win over the Giants was somewhat weakened by the fact that the Packers beat them by 22 at the Meadowlands...and the Dolphins game was close until you packed on the points in the 4th quarter.

 

[ZeroClub]

I don't think any team in the NFC is "special" right now. The only team in the NFL I'd say at this point that looks like an inpenetrable fortress are the Patriots.

Cowboys offense has been impressive...but your win over the Giants was somewhat weakened by the fact that the Packers beat them by 22 at the Meadowlands...and the Dolphins game was close until you packed on the points in the 4th quarter.

The Giants game wasn't convincing. That's true.

The Dolphins aren't a good team, so beating them isn't particularly convincing either. IMO, the Cowboys clearly dominated the Dolphins and it just took a little while for the disparity to show up on the scoreboard.

But at least Dallas still has a right side to its offensive line.

 

[Mansta54]

I've watched both of the Skins games and they just plain suck. The only reason they've won is because the other teams played worse. Campbell can - sometimes - throw the deep ball, but he is often off target. Their running game and defense are the only "highlights," and neither are very impressive.

I agree!!!

 

[TheSkaven]

If the Giants start out 0-3, I'd be about ready to stick a fork in them.

But the Eagles? No, not yet. They were very resilient last year. There is a decent chance that in a few weeks McNabb regains his sea legs. Looking at their schedule, it wouldn't surprise me if the Eagles were .500 by the time they host the Cowboys on November 4th.

The second half of the Eagles' schedule is brutal. If they start 0-3 with their three losses against the Packers, Commanders and Lions, you can almost assure they will not finish above 8-8.

Let me ask you this question, if the Eagles start 0-3, they'd have to go 10-3 the rest of the way to reasonable make the playoffs. Can you find 10 wins in this remaining schedule?

at Giants
at Jets
vs Bears
at Vikings
vs Cowboys
at Commanders
vs Dolphins
at Patriots
vs Seahawks
vs Giants
at Dallas
at Saints
vs Buffalo

Bold above would be my projected losses. If they lose on Sunday, they're probably a 6-10 team. But seriously, I challenge anyone on this board to find 10 wins on that schedule.

 

[ZeroClub]

The second half of the Eagles' schedule is brutal. If they start 0-3 with their three losses against the Packers, Commanders and Lions, you can almost assure they will not finish above 8-8.

Let me ask you this question, if the Eagles start 0-3, they'd have to go 10-3 the rest of the way to reasonable make the playoffs. Can you find 10 wins in this remaining schedule?

I agree, 10 wins would be tough, even if they beat the Lions.

But the bar probably won't be that high.

Just last year, the Cowboys and the Chiefs made it into the playoffs with 9-7 records. The Giants made it in with an 8-8 record.

 

[HogsRLegends]

The Steelers offense wasn't glitzy 2 years ago, yet they won the SB due to a strong running game and defense.

For this year, after going 5-11 last year, I'll take a home playoff game and win. That would be a step in the right direction. It will really be interesting to see if ANYBODY in our division can beat New England. To me, that would be a telltale sign that one team is better then the others.

 

[Hostile]

The Steelers offense wasn't glitzy 2 years ago, yet they won the SB due to a strong running game and defense.

For this year, after going 5-11 last year, I'll take a home playoff game and win. That would be a step in the right direction. It will really be interesting to see if ANYBODY in our division can beat New England. To me, that would be a telltale sign that one team is better then the others.

Good luck making the playoffs if your line doesn't hold up.

We had Jason Fabini. I'm glad you have him.

 

[AmishGangsta]

Good luck making the playoffs if your line doesn't hold up.

We had Jason Fabini. I'm glad you have him.

I'm your huckleberry -- sorry, with all of these tombstone quotes I had to do it

The Randy Thomas injury is huge. It definitely sucks when you follow these players so closely during the offseason/season and then you watch them get injured -- if we have a good season this year, they won't have the chance to be apart of that. That's gotta be tough.

I don't know much about Fabini, so I can't say whether or not he'll play well for us or not. I definitely don't think he's a 16 game starter, but didn't he play tackle in Dallas? Maybe he'll play better switching to guard -- I'm taking the glass is half full approach here

Joe Bugel has his hands full; we're definitely going to find out a lot about Buges over these next couple weeks. The good thing for us is that we have a bye week coming up, to work some of these things out; hopefully we can get past the Giants without our QB getting killed.

I think it's a bit premature to say it's a one team division, and I think your prediction comes one week too early; if the Cowboys beat the Bears and the Giants upset the Skins, then I'd say you're on to something.

As far as the Eagles are concerned, look at their next two opponents: Detroit and New York, they definitely could beat those teams and be right back at 2-2 and in the thick of things -- I don't want to see that happen, but I'm just preparing myself for it.

 

[theebs]

actually fabini was our swing tackle last year, he only had to play a few snaps luckily.

What he really did for us was play third tight end in our goal line set and that was it.

Will be interesting to see him play guard. You guys max protect so much I am almost convinced it doesnt matter who plays right guard and tackle, when two guys are running pass routes it is very hard to get to the qb....I think you guys will be fine.

 

[AmishGangsta]

actually fabini was our swing tackle last year, he only had to play a few snaps luckily.

What he really did for us was play third tight end in our goal line set and that was it.

Will be interesting to see him play guard. You guys max protect so much I am almost convinced it doesnt matter who plays right guard and tackle, when two guys are running pass routes it is very hard to get to the qb....I think you guys will be fine.

Yeah, I don't really know much about the guy, at this point I'm just HOPING they'll find a solution at right guard. Thomas is more than just a guard, he was also one of our best run blockers and our best pulling guard in running situations -- not to mention the fact that, he's one of the leaders. I'm hoping they wait it out on that one so he can return later on in the season.

I really don't think the Jansen injury is as significant because we have Todd Wade there.

The Eagles DID try to attack that side of the line, however, and I didn't feel like we were getting dominated by their Dline; they're supposed to have a pretty good one, too -- whether or not their line is bad, or our line made them look bad has yet to be determined, my guess is that it's somewhere in the middle.

 

[Vintage]

Before the season started, I thought the Eagles would win the division and that the Skins and us would battle it out for second place. I thought we'd be 9-10 wins and the Skins around 8-8.

The Skins defense has looked pretty good. And they have a great RB tandem. Obviously, injuries to the OL could cripple them. But Campbell has a good TE in Cooley and Moss as a deep threat. And Randle El seems to be coming around a bit.

Good defense + good running game should make them contend with us for the division.

As for the Eagles, its too early to write them off. But I'd be plenty worried if I was an Eagles fan.

 

[TunaFan33]

Before the season started, I thought the Eagles would win the division and that the Skins and us would battle it out for second place. I thought we'd be 9-10 wins and the Skins around 8-8.

The Skins defense has looked pretty good. And they have a great RB tandem. Obviously, injuries to the OL could cripple them. But Campbell has a good TE in Cooley and Moss as a deep threat. And Randle El seems to be coming around a bit.

Good defense + good running game should make them contend with us for the division.

As for the Eagles, its too early to write them off. But I'd be plenty worried if I was an Eagles fan.

Skins-I predicted they would "be the team playing under the radar" in preseason. It seems like Gibbs' teams will always find their way out of a hole with their last lifeline.

Eagles-I agree, and yes, they'll likely beat the Lions in Gints in the coming weeks. However-they could desperately use a bye week this week with all the distractions that are surrounding them. Instead, they are coming off a short week with all this baggage. When they started 0-2 in '03, they had the bye week to regroup(and less distractions). So it's really hard to say here.

 

[AmishGangsta]

Before the season started, I thought the Eagles would win the division and that the Skins and us would battle it out for second place. I thought we'd be 9-10 wins and the Skins around 8-8.

The Skins defense has looked pretty good. And they have a great RB tandem. Obviously, injuries to the OL could cripple them. But Campbell has a good TE in Cooley and Moss as a deep threat. And Randle El seems to be coming around a bit.

Good defense + good running game should make them contend with us for the division.

As for the Eagles, its too early to write them off. But I'd be plenty worried if I was an Eagles fan.

Remember what they were saying in the offseason? The Skins didn't address their primary needs on defense, they should have reached for a defensive end, rather than drafting Laron Landry and signing corners and linebackers in free agency "Gregg what are you going to do with that defensive line" ... well I think it's safe to say now that the Skins secondary and linebacking corpse were the main problems on that defense last year, and I hate to toot my own horn -- no, wait, I don't -- but I've been saying that all offseason.

The Skins defense has to take that next step, though, to be considered one of the better teams in the league. They need to get more turnovers.

They haven't had an interception since they played the Saints last year. That has to be some kind of record.

One thing I think is strange, the Skins defense hasn't blitzed AT ALL this year. That's very uncharacteristic of Gregg Williams and his defenses; they've counted on the DLINE -- the worst DLINE in football folks -- to put pressure on the quarterback. Now, you would think that with a defensive line that is so putrid, that would be a recipe for destruction, right?

Maybe the lack of pass rush is the reason for lack of turnovers, who knows, but in that case I think we need to blitz more.

In any case, that says a lot about our secondary.

 

[zrinkill]

The important question would be ...... What are Fantasy Football editors saying ....

 

[AmishGangsta]

The important question would be ...... What are Fantasy Football editors saying ....

Oh man, your still clinging on to that? I have a question for you, have you ever even played fantasy football?

The "fantasy" portion is attributed to being an NFL owner, but It's based off of ACTUAL production. You should try it out, it might just enhance your football knowledge a bit, and it'll force you to watch games that you normally wouldn't watch.