NFC East Predictions

Devlan Sheahan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:33:05 -0400

Out of the four divisions in the NFC, the East easily looks the strongest. With three teams that earned playoff berths last year including the defending Super Bowl champions, it's not a long stretch of the imagination to expect the NFC East to be competitive once again.

Team Overviews

1. New York Giants

It's hard to not set the bar high for the returning Super Bowl champions. Their defense played exceptionally well down the stretch; and the offense, led by Brandon Jacobs and Eli Manning, proved it was able to make plays when necessary, although perhaps I should credit David Tyree for that.

Still, I have my reservations about the Giants. With the exception of their Wild Card game against the Buccaneers, I did not feel that the Giants were the better team in any of their playoff games. But still credit is due to the Giants for keeping the game close to the end and winning when it counts.

I have a few concerns regarding the Giants. First off, although in many people's minds Eli Manning has validated himself as a good or even great quarterback in the NFL, I remain unconvinced. Not because I'm an Eli-basher, I'm not, in actuality I felt he was unfairly criticized early on in the season.

What stands out in my mind is that Eli for the most part was only a game manager. True, he played well during the playoffs with the world's eyes on him, but I need to see a little bit more out of him before I completely jump on the bandwagon.

My other concern is the number of valuable players the Giants lost in the off-season. However, if they continue to draft well and play with the same kind of spirit that they did last postseason, then I'll probably be eating my words not too far down the road.

2. Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys once again found themselves bitterly disappointed at the end of the playoffs, and some might blame Tony Romo.

I've heard people call him overrated and overhyped, and although I myself have hung the moniker Tony Homo upon him, I find him to be a very good player and unfairly criticized.

Although calling him "The Next Brett Favre" seems a bit presumptuous to me (a Packer fan) his style does bear resemblance to No. 4's. Sure, Romo does make some reckless throws, but he also makes plays and throws a ton of TDs.

Although Marion Barber was the more respected and hyped back out of the the Jones-Barber tandem, I do think that the loss of Julius Jones could be detrimental to the Cowboys' offense.

The trend in the NFL has been two-back systems, and the Cowboys had a good tandem. Unless the Cowboys can find a quality back to compliment Barber, I have doubts that Marion Barber will carry the load as effectively without another back to help him.

3. Washington Redskins

A coaching change, an unproven quarterback, a good but wacky running back, and a good defense seem to be the Redskins in a nutshell.

One of the biggest questions is the coaching change and how the transition from Joe Gibbs to Jim Zorn will end.

If it turns out the way the Wade Phillips and Norv Turner hirings went, then the Skins should be okay. Conversely, if it ends up like the Bobby Petrino fiasco then Skins fans won't be sitting as easily.

4. Philadelphia Eagles

Despite being fourth in the division in 2007, the Eagles still managed an 8-8 record. The Eagles also lost a close game to the AFC Champion New England Patriots, and a tight game to the Green Bay Packers. If those games went the other way, the Eagles would have been 10-6 and in the playoffs instead of the Redskins.

Quarterback Donovan McNabb has been criticized the last few years in Philadelphia. McNabb is an excellent quarterback, and even if the Philly media is not always indicative about how the fans feel, I still think that McNabb is unfairly criticized.

It's my belief that this year McNabb will play back up to his normal Pro Bowl level and that Andy Reid's Eagles will make a push for the division championship.

The biggest question marks are whether the Eagles do get production out of the quarterback position, and how effective recently acquired cornerback Asante Samuel can be.

Samuel has proven himself to be a more than capable cornerback. The only reason I still hold doubts about just how well he will perform is because of the team he's coming from. The Patriots seem to have a great defense year in and year out and have the ability to plug in players and get production out of them.

The same thing happened with Ty Law. He was very productive with the Patriots, but his play dropped off in the years after he left the Patriots.

Predictions

Division Winner: Dallas Cowboys

The 'Boys have a talented roster and a great QB. Unless injuries hamper the Cowboys or the running game doesn't perform, I'm willing to bet the Cowboys win 12 games or more.

Second Place: New York Giants

I toyed with the idea of putting the Eagles here, but I just couldn't push myself to do it in the end. For me, I think that the Giants will be a slightly improved duplicate of last year's regular season team.

My predictions are 10-6 or 11-5 for their win-loss record and I expect the Giants to make an appearance in the playoffs. I'm sure Giants fans will disagree with me, and I understand where they're coming from, but the Giants just don't impress me that much.

Third Place: Philadelphia Eagles

I feel that McNabb and Reid can't be held down for that long, I see them rebounding and winning 10 games or so in the process and, making it into the playoffs as a wild card.

Fourth Place: Washington Redskins

Washington got into the playoffs on an emotional high and overcame several hardships, including the unfortunate passing of safety Sean Taylor.

A coaching change, the loss of a very good defensive back in Sean Taylor, and the question of how productive Jason Campbell can be lead me to think that the Redskins can't survive in such a competitive division.

Let me know how you think the division will turn out.

NFL Division Champion Predictions: NFC North

Devlan Sheahan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:33:14 -0400

It seems that on b/r the new trend is to make a series of articles. Being in a minor rut myself I came to the conclusion that this was the thing to do, after all it's hip.

I'll start off this 8 part mini-series with the only Division I feel comfortable talking about with any authority whatsoever. The NFC North. Ahh the black and blue division, how I do love you.

In recent years the NFC North has been one of the weaker divisions in the NFL. The 2008-2009 season runs the liability of having an even weaker NFC North though, and to that I attribute the retirement of Brett Favre.

The Packers with Favre would have been a huge favorite to win the division and be a Super Bowl contender next year. But now the Favre-less Packers, much like a decapitated chicken, leave you wondering how exactly things will turn out. This has left, in my opinion, all of the teams as contenders to win the division and I wouldn't be surprised to see any of them come out on top.

My Pick? The Green Bay Packers, now before you accuse me of just being a completely biased and delusional Cheesehead let me clarify that this pick wasn't based just on team loyalty.

When you break it down, "Da Bears Still Suck," the Vikings can't throw the ball, and the Lions are still just the Lions. The Packers on the other hand have: one of the youngest teams in the league, a solid defense ( I hate to say it, but our defense isn't as good as the media tends to think it is,) a potentially explosive running game, a young offensive line with 2 great offensive tackles, and enough talent at wide reciever and tight end to help a young Aaron Rodgers.

Being realistic I pick the Packers to be anywhere from 7-9 to 12-4. My guess is that Aaron Rodgers will be good enough to manage the game and make some plays when necessary. On the flip side though he will make some mistakes, but the Packers just might be talented enough to survive the growing pains and take the pressure off of their young QB. If so, then I predict the Packers go 9-7 or 10-6 and win the division (I don't think it'll actually take a better record than that to win the North.)

If the Packers end up being kaput though, my second choice would have to be the Minnesota Vikings (the team I hate the most...ever.) I base my reasoning on the Viking's 8-8 record last year, and the genuine push that they made for the playoffs at the end of last year. Having Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor doesn't exactly hurt your odds either. Despite my criticism that the Vikings can't pass the ball, I feel that Tavaris Jackson could turn out to be a decent NFL QB (then again I was wrong on Rex Grossman and Joey Harrington) and the recieving corps looks interesting with Berrian and Rice.

Rounding out the NFC NORTH I would put the Lions and then the Bears. The Lions looked stellar at the beginning of last year, starting off 6-2, and then sadly had to disappoint their fans by going 1-7 down the stretch. Jon Kitna is a very solid QB, and their is talent at WR but the biggest question mark is the Lions running game. If they Lions can run the ball and keep Kitna off his back, we could be looking at a top 10 offense. I don't know a whole lot about the Detroit defense, but if the Lions play like they did in the first half of 2007 they could definitely win the division.

Finally the Bears: if Rex Grossman plays like he did in the first half of 2006 (and doesn't suffer a Kerry Wood-esque injury,) and the defense gets back to form, and Devin Hester keeps being...well Devin Hester then the Bears may go back to being the team that made a run to the Super Bowl not too long ago. I don't mind Lovie Smith, but I really would like to see the Bears go back to their old losing form.

Well that's my take on it, if I'm a flagrant idiot I'm sure you'll all let me know.

Bleacher Report - Articles by Devlan Sheahan

NFC East Predictions

NFL Division Champion Predictions: NFC North