THE NFC EAST 2010
AN OFFSEASON HIGH STAKES GAMBLE (AGAIN)
The story in the NFC East, this offseason, is the same as it usually is, Redskins owner Dan Synder making one high stakes gamble after another. He’s consistently piling his money on the shoulders of a glitzy free and like an aggressive poker player wannabee, he is chasing the potential of straights and flushes with new coaches, new co-coordinators and new free agents. Yet, is he putting too much money in the pot to justify the return. There has been so much rebuilding it’s hard to see when the Redskins ever do any building at all. Like many poker players that chase draws more often than not in Texas Hold’em they don’t get there and the question now lingers… will they ever get there.
Synder has a new head coach and though it seems like he’s collected one for every year he’s been there, it isn’t quite that rate of attrition (but it’s not too far from it). This time it’s Mike Shannahan who is a bit of an enigma. In Denver on the talented shoulders of John Elway, a running-back making offensive line, and a stingy defense Shannahan found glory. Without Elway he hasn’t done much. He certainly hasn’t proven he can do anything more than build a competitive team, yet he’s the Redskin’s man.
Donovan McNabb is another guy that was at the top of the mountaintop, though he lacks Shannahan’s superbowl rings. McNabb is coming to Washington with something to prove. Synder took a gamble on his division’s former best quarterback and thinks he could be Shannahan’s new Elway. If you take a step back, Elway won at the tail end of his career when he sublimated himself for the team, and the more you look at the physicality of McNabb the more similarities you see with Elway. Perhaps, the formula’s got a chance to work again. What about this year?
Well, the Dallas Cowboys are going to win the division. The NFC East is one of the strongest divisions in football on paper but the Cowboys are also the strongest team in football on paper. Back when the NFC East was winning the Superbowl every year in the 90s it had this kind of parity which bodes well for Dallas in January.
Dez Bryant looks like he’ll bring even more sizzle to a Dallas offense that has plenty of it. The question at running back is who will be the man, but that doesn’t need answering because their depth provides the security that as long as only one of Felix Jones or Marion Barber gets hurt there will be the man on the field. The defense, already good, has improved and even if it didn’t the Cowboys may just pull off a Saints and outscore enough of their opponents to win it all.
The Washington Redskins despite the ongoing Albert Haynesworth drama and distraction are going to be very good this year. Shannahan wins games. Donovan McNabb wins games. The Redskins will contend for a wildcard spot and should get there if the toughness of the division doesn’t cost them too many games. For once, the offseason Super Bowl champions will be contenders and Dan Synder might finally catch the Texas Hold’em draws he’s been chasing.
The New York Giants won a Super Bowl most recently and have many players from that team still on the roster but they are a shell of their former selves. Their receiving core, while talented, doesn’t have a star like Miles Austin in Dallas, and unless Hakeem Nicks or Mario Manningham makes that next step Eli Manning is going to need more help. He won’t find much of it in the running game either as physical back Brandon Jacobs has shouldered too many hits and loads already. They’ll be third or fourth in this tough division.
The Philadelphia Eagles will likely bring up the rear. Neither Kevin Kolb or Michael Vick is Donovan McNabb. Kolb might get there one day and if Vick gets enough reps he might shed the rust to return to that level but there are too many holes in the Eagles lineup. Jim Johnson is gone as defensive coordinator and with him might have left that aura of impregnability the Eagles once had. They’ll be in a lot of games but besides Desean Jackson don’t have as many difference makers as their rivals.
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