Sunrise in the NFC East: The Division's Top Links on August 21, 2012

In today's top NFC East links, we look at injured receivers in Dallas and New York. We conclude that nearly everything that took place last night in New England meant nothing, and we rule on the Robert Griffin-Andrew Luck rivalry.

Dallas Cowboys

Another day, another injured wide receiver. Two of them, in fact. ESPNDallas.com's Todd Archer has details on injuries suffered in practice by Dez Bryant and Andre Holmes:

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According to a source, Bryant has a case of patella tendinitis but it is too early to determine whether he will play again this preseason.

Bryant had an MRI on Monday after leaving practice against San Diego during one-on-one drills after he stumbled, coming out of a route. Bryant limped off the field and headed inside the Chargers' locker room for further examination.

As Bryant left the practice field he was asked if he was fine: "Yeah," he said in a serious tone.

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Serious or not, it looks like the Cowboys will spend the rest of the preseason without their top three receivers from last year (counting Jason Witten). As a result, Kevin Ogletree and Cole Beasley will have opportunities of a lifetime. 

Asked in a chat Monday when Austin's hamstring problems begin to outweigh his benefits and if his salary becomes a problem, here's what Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Mornings News had to say:

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We're already at that point. He hasn't been the same receiver since he signed that big contract. He needs to get back on the field and prove his 2009 season wasn't a fluke. No one likes to give receivers big money like Jerry -- Joey Galloway, Roy Williams, Miles Austin. Austin needs to start living up to his part of the contract. The Cowboys are forced to wait on him because they don't have any depth at the position. They desperately need him to step up.

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So maybe it's a make-or-break year for both Bryant and Austin in Big D.

New York Giants

Meanwhile, the Giants are getting healthier at wideout. Hakeem Nicks looked good in his first full practice with the team after missing all of training camp with a broken bone in his foot. 

Details from Mike Garafolo of the Newark Star-Ledger:

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"He seemed to be pretty good, seemed to feel good," coach Tom Coughlin said. "He moved around well and did a good job with it."

Nicks participated in about 50 percent of the first-team reps, as he'd expected.

In one session, after he ran two plays, he was replaced by Domenik Hixon while the rest of the starters stayed out there.

But Nicks made the most of his limited opportunities. He made an adjustment to catch a back-shoulder throw from Eli Manning and then caught a fade for a touchdown over Prince Amukamara.

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Oh, Prince. Maybe we should temper our enthusiasm a little, though, because Ebenezer Samuel and Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News point out that there's still no clear return date for Nicks.

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"I still don't know," Nicks said. "They'll see how it goes this week in practice, and then let me go out this Friday. But I think it's going to be based on team doctors and a coach's decision, and I'm all for whatever they decide. I know they'll decide whatever is best for me."

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Philadelphia Eagles

Philly.com's Joan Roach doesn't like what he's seen thus far from new middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans:

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Ryans is one of those Eagles that fans would love to get behind. By all accounts he's a good guy, considerate to the fans, polite to the media, and a two-time Pro Bowler. But can he hit? Through two preseason games, Ryans doesn't look like the marquee signee that fans hoped for.

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I've been saying this all offseason: Ryans is a classically overrated player who got by on inflated tackle totals early in his career, failed to stay healthy, failed to adjust to the 3-4 in Houston and isn't versatile enough to contribute on passing downs.

Just because a guy makes a lot of tackles doesn't make him a good tackler. I was actually OK with his performance Monday night, but I'm still keeping my expectations low.

Oh, and a quick thought on Monday's game from Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

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That doesn't mean that everything the Eagles did right should be discounted. It just means they weren't really playing against the New England Patriots. It means that looking for deep insights from the game was probably pointless.

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Unfortunately, I couldn't agree more.

The fact that New England essentially benched its entire starting roster for the game really hurt. I'm actually surprised Bill Belichick and Andy Reid wouldn't have discussed this, even though such conversations are technically against the rules. Now Reid will enter the regular season with a very limited sample of his first-teamers against other first-teamers.

Washington Redskins

Based mainly on the fact that Robert Griffin III decided to watch a movie rather than the Colts game Sunday night, Dan Hanzus of NFL.com has decided that RG3 and Andrew Luck aren't "Magic and Bird":

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"We tell each other good luck in our careers and moved on from there. He's trying to lead his team, I'm trying to lead my team," he said. "I will never truly get to face Andy because he doesn't play defense so that's the one thing I've always said and that's the one thing I'll continue to say so I look forward to playing the Colts' defense."

Technically speaking, Griffin is right. But Tom Brady and Peyton Manning never directly faced off either, and their rivalry was regarded as the best of the last decade. Griffin and Luck can be tied together the same way, but these things take time.

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Rivalries might be initiated at the draft, but they require actual games to take off. And Saturday's preseason matchup between the two hardly counts.

It's impossible to know right now what kind of rivalry this will be, but it's also far too early to decide that it's not going to become Magic and Bird-like.