Dallas Cowboys: Another year, another round of bloated expectations for the Dallas Cowboys. This is a team that always gets endless hype and is expected to do big things every year, but to be honest I don't expect any different results for this team this year. The same core roster that has blown it year in and year out is still in place this season. They certainly don't lack talent: Dez Bryant is emerging as one of the best receivers in the league, Jason Witten is one of the consistent and productive tight ends of all-time, Sean Lee is arguably the most underrated inside linebacker in the league and is only getting better by the season and DeMarcus Ware is one of the most feared pass-rushers in the game, the problem is the team can't put that talent together into a winning record and/or playoff berths. Tony Romo puts up good numbers, but he makes way too many mistakes (the amount of INT's he throws in the redzone is insane) and has continuously shown he can not perform in the clutch. Romo has the tools to be a elite quarterback, but the vast number of mistakes he makes and his inability to perform in key situations will keep continue to keep his team out of the playoffs unless he magically it turns it around (and at this stage of his career, that we nothing short of divine intervention.) On top of Romo's woes, the Cowboys can not run the ball for the life of them. DeMarco Murray is talented, but he is constantly injured and backups Phillip Tanner and Lance Dunbar lack experience and haven't been impressive during their brief stints on-the-field. Unless rookie Joesph Randle is a surprise stud or Murray magically remains healthy for the first time in his career, their woes in the running game will continue. There really isn't much to say about the Cowboys that hasn't been said a million times before: The team has all the talent in the world, they just fail to perform consistently and in big-game situations. Unless they break their annual mold, I don't see the Cowboys leaving the realm of disappointment anytime soon.
New York Giants: The Giants are coming off a disappointing 9-7 post Super Bowl campaign where their ever-fluctuating play that was evenly split between complete dominance and complete incompetence kept them out of the playoffs. I fully expect this team to come back and establish far more consistent play this season. Tom Coughlin is far too good of a coach and there is far too much talent on this roster for the woes of last season to rear their ugly head again. At least on paper, they appear to be in much better shape than last year. Eli Manning was up-and-down last year, but he should benefit from having a (presumably) healthy Hakeem Nicks back in the fold (who is also in a contract year and looking to get paid like the other top wideouts including teammate Victor Cruz did,) the emergence of Ruben Randle as a legit number 3 wideout and counteracting the loss of tight end Martellus Bennett with the equally, if not more reliable Brandon Myers. Not to mention, Victor Cruz should be hungry to prove himself worthy of all the money that was just thrown at him after inking a long-term contract in July. On the other side of the ball, this was a defensive unit that way underperformed in 2012 despite having a plethora of talent. Justin Tuck may have lost a step and is still battling a slew of injuries, but I fully expect the rest of the front 7 (especially Jason Pierre-Paul) to have a bounce back year. They further showed they don't want a repeat of last year's defensive struggles by adding lot of veteran depth this offseason. Defensive tackles Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson should help stablize the middle of the line, while inside linebacker Dan Connor gives them an improvement over the shaky Chase Blackburn and safety Ryan Mundy is easily the best defensive back they've had since Jason Sehorn. The Giants may be determined and appear to be in better shape than a year ago, but they still have some lingering questions. Most notably, their running back situation is a bit of mess. David Wilson has plenty of potential and showed flashes last year of absolute dominance, but he's also made his fair share of mistakes and could possibly have a hard-time being the feature back. The other option Andre Brown is a monster in the redzone, but lacks the explosiveness to be an every down back. The Giants will likely settle for split-time between the two of them until one of them breaks out. There's definitely room for both these guys to flourish, unfortunately there's also a lot of uncertainty surrounding them both. The Giants also have a very shaky secondary. The aforementioned pickup of safety Ryan Mundy was a good move and should improve their pass defense from last year, it's just that their cornerback situation is still pretty disastrous. Prince Amukamura has never really lived up to the hype since being drafted in the 1st round in 2011, Corey Webster is rapidly declining, newly re-signed Aaron Ross is just alright and Terrell Thomas is a decent nickel/dime corner, but lacks the skill set to be an everydown corner. Their play as a unit is going to come down if Amukaamura can finally become the top corner he was expected to be out of college and if either Ross or Webster returns to their play of a few years ago. The Giants aren't flawless by any means, but they have more than enough talent to become a threatening team in the league again.
Philadelphia Eagles: In my eyes, there is no team that is more intriguing or a bigger crapshoot going into the 2013 season than the Philadelphia Eagles. This mysterious aura and cause of all this excitement/worry is their new head coach Chip Kelly. Kelly was absolutely dominant in his tenure as the head coach at the University of Oregon. His up-tempo offense revolutionized the college game and caused a laundry-list of issues for every single opponent they faced. The big question is can this style of offense translate to the NFL? The players are certainly enthused about it and the glimpses we've gotten in the preseason have looked pretty promising. That being said, the jury is still very much out on whether or not this high-speed offense will work on the professional level. Aside from the whole Chip Kelly business, the Eagles can take solace in the fact that quarterback Michael Vick appears to be rejuvenated. Vick has struggled mightily the past two seasons after being dominant in 2010, but this year for whatever reason, the fire appears to be back. His performances throughout the entire off/pre-season process have been consistently impressive with the zip on his passes returning and his instincts appear to me back in prime form. This promising play helped beat out him second-year player Nick Foles (who played relatively well last year in relief of Vick) to get the starting quarterback job. If Vick can keep it up in the regular season, the Eagles could see themselves suddenly launched back into the thick of things for the NFC East battle. Adding to Vick and the rest of the offenses confidence, is the improvements made at the offensive line position. Last season, this is a team that seemingly couldn't block anyone: Vick and Foles were getting hit left and right when they tried to pass, LeSean McCoy had to improvise a lot to find rushing lanes and injuries plagued the whole unit causing the presence of continuity amongst the lineman to be all but nonexistent. This year, the unit could not be more different. All-pro tackle Jason Peters is back after missing all of last season with a ruptured Achilles, Rookie Lane Johnson is an absolute athletic freak who has the potential to be one of the most dominant tackles in the league right away and lone bright spot from last year Evan Mathis, should benefit big time from not being the only guy on the line who knows how to block. The Eagles biggest problems know appears to be on the defensive side of the ball. They brought in a LOT of new guys on defense this season (most notably nose tackle Issac Sopaga, outside linebacker/defensive end Connor Barwin and cornerback Cary Williams) so the growing pains are to be expected, but thus far the unit has looked pretty terrible. It's clearly early and the preseason isn't necessarily reflective of what is going to happen when the regular season starts, but the signs so far are not even remotely promising (especially for a unit that struggled throughout last year.) The Eagles are incredibly hard to peg going into this year, but it's hard to deny the amount of intrigue that surrounds them at the moment. Hands down the biggest boom-or-bust team in the league this season.
Washington Redskins: Wait did you hear that Robert Griffin III tore his ACL in the playoffs last year? In case you forgot, every major sports media outlet will remind you daily that it happened and that his status for Week 1 is in question. The whole buzz around RG3 and the question marks around his knee is humorous to me. This is a kid who is only 23 and had the same surgeon who was responsible for rebuilding Adrian Peterson's knee prior to last season (You may have heard he did pretty well last year coming just a mere 7 yards shy of breaking the all-time rushing record.) With his talent, diligence and positive feedback regarding his rehab from multiple medical sources, I don't expect RG3 to be held back by his knee in the slightest. Hell, I'd say he could be even better than before. The barrage of doubters should serve as motivation for him to go out and take the league by storm yet again. However RG3's success is largely going to come down to if his top target Pierre Garcon can stay healthy. As you can tell by the numbers from last year (1-5 when he was out of the lineup, 9-1 when he was in,) RG3 likes to throw to Garcon and this team is at the top of their game when he is on the field. Thankfully for RG3 and the Skins, Garcon hasn't had injury problems aside from last year and as long he is healthy, this team will succeed. Further cementing Griffin's confidence is the return of his second favorite target, tight end Fred Davis, who missed the second half of last season with an Achilles injury. Davis is still young (27) and could be in-line for the best year of his career if his chemistry with Griffin continues to grow. Of course another big asset (and I do stress big asset) is their bulldozer running back Alfred Morris. Morris shocked and awed last season with 1,613 yards on the ground. While I don't expect another 1,600 yard+ season, Morris should continue to be very effective in 2013 thanks to his smarts and powerful running style (as long as Mike Shanahan doesn't run him into the ground.) After a lackluster year last season, I fully expect the Redskins defense to come back with a vengeance this year. The return of outside linbacker Brian Orakpo is going to be huge for this entire defense. With Orakpo out of the lineup last year, this team lacked a consistently explosive presence. With the return of Orakpo, Adam Carriker and the emergence of Ryan Kerrigan last season, this defense should be much improved this year. Unless the injury bug plagues this team this year, I fully expect this young and talented team to build upon their success from a year ago.
Projected standings for the NFC East:
1.Washington Redskins (11-5)
2.New York Giants (9-7)
3.Philadelphia Eagles (8-8)
4.Dallas Cowboys (6-10)
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