NFC East

As always Red has a beef with the division that first caught his eye as a young Dallas Cowboys fan.  Those were the days my friend – back before  immortal Tom Landry was shown the door and Barry Switzer was allowed to claim a championship ring.   

Philadelphia  –  Coming off of what would otherwise be considered  a respectable 11-6 season and a playoff berth, the Eagles still have to explain the late season collapse resulting in an 1-6 finish.  The season opener in Sao Paulo, Brazil against the Packers is an early test.   Week 4 is on the road at Tampa Bay.  But after that the schedule lightens up.   The Eagles do not play another team that made the playoffs last season until a week 10 showdown in Dallas (make that Arlington).  They could easily be 8-1  or 7-2 at that point.  It’s tougher after that with games against the Rams, Ravens and a week 17 rematch with the Cowboys.  This appears to be one of the weaker schedules this season.  New offensive coordinator (and future head coach somewhere) Kellen Moore will create even more dynamism in an already loaded offense.  The Eagles have two of the best wideouts in the game in Brown and Smith, and if Saquon Barkley holds form, Mssrs Kellen and Hurts will have a lot to work with and be able to conserve Hurts’ legs for critical situations.  The defense has been shorn up by using their first 3 picks on defenders. Milton Williams and Jalen Carter anchor a solid defensive line.    Eagles win division with a 12-5 record. 

Dallass –  You read that right. Let’s go straight to the complaint booth.  The Cowboys are featured in the Sunday 3:25 pm game six times (Eagles twice, Giants, Lions, Ravens and Browns) none of which make geographic sense.  Then they also get three of the highly desirable Sunday night games (Bucs, 49ers and Stealers), plus two Monday night specials (Texans and Bengals) and of course the usual Thanksgiving Day spectacular against the Giants.  Red is a bit slow, but that adds up six games with national TV audience and six more that will likely be the nationally televised late game on Fox.  That’s a heaping helping of a team that has won all of 4 playoff games in the last 28 seasons and has never made it out of the second round during that span.  Not to mention getting trounced 48 to 32  by the decidedly mediocre Packers last season (16 garbage time points in the 4^th quarter disguised the doleful drubbing handed down by the Pack who led 48-16 with 10 minutes left in the game).  Okay, Red knows you are tired of his pedantic rants about the Cowboys and TV, so let’s move on.  The Cowboys will have a decent regular season, but if fans are thinking that Zeke E. is going to lead the team back to the promised land, you have the proverbial another think coming.  Maybe he is a little better playing for a real team this year but less than a 1000 total yards and 5 TDs isn’t going to get the Cowboys over the playoff hump. Running backs in their 9^th season usually are not difference makers.  Prove Red wrong Zeke!   And talk about a tough schedule.  Of course they have the Eagles twice, but they also play a bunch of other contenders including the Browns, Ravens, Stealers, Lions, 49ers, Texans, Bengals and Bucs.  That’s 10 losable games.  The Cowboys did not play many close games last season.  Only the wins over the Chargers,  Seahawks and Lions and the , losses to the Eagles and Dolphins were by less than 7 points.  That’s pretty unusual.  This season it will all come down to crunch time in close games.  Cowboys finish 10- 7 and are on the bubble.

New York –  The Giants are slightly improved, but only slightly.  The defense looks very solid.  New defensive coordinator Shane Bowen has one of the best front sevens to work with, if the secondary comes through at all not many teams are going to run up the score on the Giants.  That’s the good news.  The  Giants rather stupefying commitment to Daniel Jones and the lack of much offensive firepower is troublesome.  The schedule, however, is favorable with only 3 real road games (with an additional trip to Deutschland) in the last nine.  In fact, the Giants have eight of their home games in the last thirteen weeks.  That helps, but not enough.  Red is going long on the Giants and predicts a credible 8-9 season with an outside chance of a winning record.

Washington – Red’s grandmother always gave him the old “if you don’t have anything nice to say. . .” line more times than he would like to recall.  Maybe Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels is the answer to the long standing quarterback problem in DC.  He looks the part of a new age NFL quarterback with mobility and a strong arm.  Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has a chance to redeem himself with Daniels and show that he has not lost that savant touch he showed at Texas Tech before failing rather miserably in AZ.  Red also likes new head coach Dan Quinn – although he cannot say exactly why.  That’s all the good things that Red can muster up today.  Commanders will show some spark but 7-10 is probably the top end in 24.