Marshall Faulk Talks on www.opensports.com

We were talking about the NFC East like it was the best thing since the invention of football, but the fact that they can lay a goose egg shows you the parity in this league. You just can’t count teams out. Teams like Cleveland and St. Louis came to play, they played well, and they beat teams we know are better.

Looking at the Giants, Eli Manning is the kind of quarterback who is going to struggle at times. He’s going to take chances and try to do things like throw balls into tight areas. In order for him to continue to have success, he just has to know when to do those things. For this game, they just didn’t happen at a good time. When people look at it, they want to say that, “That’s the same old Eli!” but I think he’s a much different quarterback now. The team is much different. We just have to give them the opportunity to bounce back, because it’s going to happen for them. You have to give them time.

Dallas has got a lot of problems, and it’s going to all depend on how quickly they can get Tony Romo back. I don’t think Brad Johnson is going to do a terrible job, but to lose Felix Jones and now Pacman’s gone, there’s a lot of issues with this team. And we’re going to just have to wait and see what happens with them.

Roy Williamsis going to the Cowboys, but I don’t see how much difference that makes unless they plan on shopping one of their other talented players in order to get a cornerback. When you think that they have guys like Terence Newmanout and Pacman out, you’re basically left with a rookie in Mike Jenkins and Anthony Henryat cornerback. It’s just not looking good for Dallas at this point in time when you think about experience at the cornerback position. Whether they’re going to move a couple of other guys, that remains to be seen, but I do know that this team is struggling, without a doubt.

Browns

I think they’ll keep Derek Anderson, because in this league you really have to have two quarterbacks. When you look at Tom Brady being out, when you look at the fact that Peyton almost missed the season and they don’t have a back-up, you watch Romo going down, you have to have a reliable back-up. I think that, in time, we’ll see Derek Anderson move if Brady Quinn is as promising as they have said.

Matt Ryan

This kid basically came in not having played any good defenses and beat the Bears (who, granted, weren’t at full strength). In the waning moments of the game, this kid made a huge throw, and you have to give him credit. Boy, what a huge, huge game for him to have. I can see his confidence building and building.

I wouldn’t say they’re going to be able to compete in the AFC South, but you have a young kid who has an opportunity to become a household name in this business pretty early.