My Preseason Predictions:
1.Philadelphia Eagles (11-5)
2.New York Giants (9-7)
3.Washington Redskins (7-9)
4.Dallas Cowboys (6-10)
Actual Standings:
1.Dallas Cowboys (12-4)
2.Philadelphia Eagles (10-6)
3.New York Giants (6-10)
4.Washington Redskins (4-12)
Dallas Cowboys: Saying this year's Dallas Cowboys season was a surprise would be a severe understatement, If you saw this one coming, you are either a psychic or the most loyal, optimistic Cowboys fan on the planet. Analysts and fans around the league (myself included) thought the Cowboys were doomed headed into 2014. The Cowboys had been stuck in the bowels of mediocrity for years and on paper, this year's roster appeared to be the most talent barren it's been in quite some time, especially on defense. But against all the odds, the Cowboys ended up being one of the best teams in the league this season. It can not be stressed enough how good of a job the coaching staff did this season. Scott Linehan and Rod Marinelli were able to get every ounce of potential production out of all their players this season. Linehan, who technically shared offensive coordinator duties with Bill Callahan even though he called all the plays, went against his typical pass-heavy tendencies and implemented a rush-first attack in his first year with the Cowboys. The emphasis on the rushing game reduced the pressure put on quarterback Tony Romo- who was coming off a major offseason back surgery, and made this offense much more consistent than they have been in the past few years. While Linehan was undeniably great, the work he did with the offense pales in comparison to what Marilnelli was able to do with the defense. Marinelli took a depleted, talent-deprived defense that was reeling from the departure of defensive end DeMarcus Ware and the loss of inside linebacker Sean Lee, their undisputed best defensive player to a torn ACL before the season started, and made them a legitimately formidable unit Their front seven was actually quite solid thanks to a highly unlikely breakout season from oft-troubled inside linebacker Rolando McClain and a very strong rookie season from Anthony Hitchens. While the secondary outside of cornerback Orlando Scandrick wasn't nearly as impressive as their front seven, they still played much better than anticipated. If there was an award for coordinator of the year, Marinelli would get it. About the only thing unsurprising about the Cowboys this season was the production of their three superstars, Romo, running back DeMarco Murray and wide receiver Dez Bryant. Aided by phenomenal protection from an offensive line that is easily the best in the league, Romo had one of the best seasons of his career completing almost 70% of his passes and 34 TD's, which ranks behind the 36 he threw for in 2007 for the highest of his career. Murray and Bryant made the most of their contract years by stepping their game up to an even higher level than usual. Murray endured the biggest workload of his career without getting injured and was absolutely dominant throughout the year rushing for a league-high 1,845 yards, which was nearly 500 yards more than the league's number two rusher, Le'Veon Bell. Bryant was not quite as dominant as Murray, but he still had a phenomenal season, pulling in a league-high 16 TD's and getting over 1,000 yards receiving for a third straight season. If the Cowboys don't sign both Murray and Bryant to huge deals, I'd be very surprised. The Cowboys were the most surprising team in the NFL this season and I'm very interested to see if the momentum they built up this season will carry over to 2015.
New York Giants: The New York Giants can't seem to break out out of the same pattern. In each of the years after their last Super Bowl win in 2011, The Giants have spent the season consistently alternating between losing close games in heartbreaking fashion, getting blown out in the most embarrassing ways possible, and laying down epic beatdowns on their opponents. In other words, they're a woefully inconsistent team who can be elite, downright terrible or somewhere in between depending on the week. This season was an especially erratic ride as they managed to lose seven games in a row at one point yet won by a margin of at least 10 points in every single one of their victories. Despite being the whipping boy for a lot of the Giants problems past and present, Eli Manning can't really shoulder the brunt of the blame for the Giants' issues this season. Manning wasn't exactly perfect this season, but he did a pretty good job adjusting to a new offensive system and did a much better job of protecting the ball than he did a year ago, throwing 14 INT's this year compared to the 27 he threw a year ago. Where the Giants issues were primarily rooted was on the defensive side of the ball. They couldn't stop the run in the slighest all season long and once cornerback Prince Amukamara- who was in the midst of a career season- went down for the year in Week 9, their pass defense become relatively vulnerable as well. They certainly aren't without their standout players, but they're going to need to sure up their front seven if they want to stabilize this team. As for the positives of this Giants teams this year, they pretty much all center around rookie phenom wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. After missing the first four games of the year with a hamstring injury and not making too much noise in his first three games, Beckham Jr. went on a string of dominance that would be unprecedented for a veteran wideout, let alone a rookie. Beckham Jr. got at least 90 yards receiving in the last nine games of the season and became the first person in the NFL to ever finish with a 90+ receptions and 10+ TD's in their rookie season. Beckham Jr. did all of this while facing constant double and triple coverage as he was pretty much the only option in the Giants offense after Victor Cruz was lost for the year after suffering a devastating knee injury in Week 8 against the Eagles. I've seen a lot of great receivers enter the league over the past several years, but none have been as polished, athletic or downright explosive in their first season in the league as Beckham Jr. As long as he can stay healthy and doesn't suddenly undergo a rapid regression in his game, Beckham Jr. is going to be one of the best receivers in the league for a long time. The Giants have the coaching and enough top-level talent to be a playoff team, they just need to play with much more consistency to live up to their massive potential.
Philadelphia Eagles: The 2014 Eagles might be the best team in recent history to miss the playoffs. They may have turned the ball over more and not had the exact same level of offensive dominance, but they were undoubtedly more complete than the 2013 team that won the NFC East. I firmly believe that if Nick Foles hadn't gotten injured, this team would've been in the playoffs. The three-game losing streak in December that caused them to miss the playoffs was largely due to backupquarterback Mark Sanchez's inability to make plays. To Sanchez's credit, he was much better than I thought he would be, but he was still far from great. His questionable pocket presence and constant poor decision-making that led to turnovers played a large role in the Eagles late-season collapse. Outside of the poor play from Sanchez, the only real problem with the Eagles in 2014 was once again their secondary. Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher were the worst corner tandem in the NFL this season, repeatedly getting torched whenever the opposing quarterback had a clean pocket. Safety Malcolm Jenkins, who was brought in via free agency last offseason, was pretty much the only reason this secondary wasn't quite as bad as they were in 2013. The Eagles really need to put all their offseason resources into improving the secondary because their current personnel just isn't cutting it. The late-season collapse that led to them missing the playoffs may be the story of the Eagles season, but all of the good they did before then can't be swept under the rug. The Eagles once again managed to have one of the best offenses in the league this year. Jeremy Maclin flawlessly filled the void left by DeSean Jackson as the number one wideout on this team by putting up over 1,300 yards and 10 TD's just a year removed from a torn ACL, LeSean McCoy had yet another great season with over 1,300 yards on the ground, and rookie Jordan Matthews showed some serious big play potential later in the year and looks like he has the skills to be a quality starter in this league for a long time. Even though the secondary was terrible, the rest of the Eagles defense was much improved this season. The team's stout pass-rush led by All-Pro Connor Barwin tied for second in the league in sacks with 49 and defensive end Fletcher Cox suddenly emerged as one of the best pure run-stuffers in the league. With a bright head coach in Chip Kelly and a lot of talent on offense and the front seven of the defense, The Eagles should be able to get back on track on 2015.
Washington Redskins: There may have been a new head coach for the Redskins in 2014, but they were held back by the same old problems. They can't seem to lock down a quarterback and their defense just flat-out stinks for the most part. The quarterback crisis reached a new level this year as Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy all picked up multiple starts and played with varying levels of ineffectiveness. Griffin III's confidence is completely shot since his torn ACL in 2012 and it's honestly painful to watch him play due to how noticeably uncomfortable he is under center, Cousins started off with a ton of promise in his first two games against the Jaguars and Eagles before quickly turning into a turnover-over prone gunslinger who had trouble moving the ball and while McCoy, played better than RG3 and Cousins, he's not a guy you can rely onto win a lot of games in the NFL. The future of Jay Gruden as a head coach and this franchise in general is going to come down to whether or not they can find a steady starting quarterback. None of the guys they currently have on the roster have proven they be can be trusted, but the brass gave way too much away to acquire Griffin III to throw the towel in on him now. It's a hell of a predicament for the Redskins and it's going to be extremely intriguing to see what route they decide to take with it. While the inept offense was certainly the primary failure of the Redskins this year, their defense didn't fare much better. Aside from outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan's typical pass-rushing dominance and defensive tackle Jason Hatcher's contributions against the run, there was not a whole lot to get excited about watching this unit play this year. The team's inexplicable decision to retain Jim Haslett as defensive coordinator came back to haunt them as he once again failed to get this defense to stop anyone with any sort of consistency. Their secondary outside of promising rookie Bashaud Breeland was pretty bad and showed their age as they consistently got gassed by quick, young wideouts. Their pass-rush was strong even without star outside linebacker Brian Orakpo for most of the season and run defense was pretty good up until the last month of the season, they just couldn't keep points off the board because of their porous secondary. The Redskins finally have some draft picks this year, so they can begin the rebuilding process they've had to put on hold for the past three years with all the high picks they gave up in the trade to get Griffin III in 2012. But given how many problems they have, I don't expect them to have any true, sustained success anytime soon.
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