Mid-term Grades for NFC East Teams

We've move to a new spot www.realclearsports.com/blognetwork


By Chris Murray
For the NFC' Easter

Now that we are at the half point of the season, the race in the NFC East is still the most compelling in the NFC even if the teams aren't as good against competition outside the division.

Dallas Cowboys (6-2) B

Even though the Dallas Cowboys (6-2) have taken the lead in the division thanks to Sunday's win over the Philadelphia Eagles, the question for Dallas is can they keep it going into December where they have struggle over the last four years.
As it stands now, the Cowboys are playing well offensively. Dallas has the NFL's third ranked offense in the NFL (sixth in passing and eighth in rushing). Romo after struggling earlier in the season has found a rhythm with young wide receiver Miles Austin, the main reason for the Cowboys recent resurgence.
During the Cowboys current four-game winning streak, Austin has scored at least one touchdown. He scored two-game winning touchdowns in Dallas wins over the Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.Austin has definitely been the difference maker for the team.
The Cowboys three-headed monster rushing attack of Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice are averaging 138 yards per game. Barber has been Dallas's version of New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera with his ability to get in between the tackles and run out the clock.
In Sunday's win at Philadelphia, Barber kept the chains and the clock moving by gaining 23 yards on three carries in the game's final four minutes. That along with a five-yard pass from Romo to tight end Jason Witten and the Eagles never saw ball again.
The Cowboys defense, which struggled to get interceptions and sacks back in September, has been playing much better. Against the Eagles, the defense pressured Donovan McNabb into four sacks and two interceptions. They also stopped the Birds on two critical, but controversial driving-end plays that were reviewed by the replay booth.
In both instances-a reception by Eagles running back LeSean McCoy on third down and a quarterback sneak by McNabb-were ruled in favor of the Cowboy. The defense apparently created enough doubt for the replay officials to not overturn the calls. As a result, the Eagles were forced to lose two crucial timeouts that ultimately sealed their fate.
With December still on the horizon, the Cowboys overall grade for the first half of the season is a “B” mainly because of how they've played in the last four weeks.

Philadelphia Eagles- (5-3) C

If there has to be a question that Philadelphia Eagles fans have about their team from week to week, is who are the real Eagles?
Most Birds fans would like to think that it was the team that rolled to a 40-17 victory over the New York Giants as opposed to the inconsistency the team has shown in their last two losses to an awful Oakland Raiders and in last week's loss to Dallas.
The only unwinnable loss the Eagles have had this season was a 48-22 loss at the hand of the undefeated New Orleans Saints that might be one of the best teams in the NFL at this juncture of the season.
With all the weapons on the Eagles offense such as DeSean Jackson and Brian Westbrook when he's healthy, the Birds are hurting on the offensive line where Shawn Andrews has not played all season and guard Todd Herremans has missed games due to injury. The Birds free agent pickup left tackle Jason Peters has been a disappointment and has allowed opposing defensive ends to sack McNabb.
The injuries to the offensive line have made it difficult for them to come up with more consistent performance. In the last two losses, McNabb has been sacked 10 times.
Speaking of injuries, running back Brian Westbrook hasn't been in the Eagles lineup for the last two games because of a concussion and a sore ankle. The Eagles need Westbrook back in their lineup to help younger weapons like DeSean Jackson, who caught just two passes in the loss to Dallas.
In the loss to the Cowboys, McNabb had a difficult time establishing any kind of flow in the passing game. With the pressure of the Cowboys defense bearing down on him through out the game, McNabb tossed a pair of interceptions, overthrew receivers and was sacked four times.
The game ultimately came down to a couple of replay challenges that not only went against the Eagles, but sucked up all their timeouts. With four-minutes-33 seconds left in the game and facing a fourth and 11 at the Cowboys 34, the Eagles inexplicably kicked a 52-yard field goal to cut a seven-point deficit to four.
Dallas ran the clock out and won the game, leaving Eagles fans to flood the local talk show circuit with another example of how McNabb and head coach Andy Reid do a poor job of managing games in the fourth quarter—the Eagles are 1-8-1 in their last 10 games decided in the fourth quarter.
Though the Eagles are 5-3 at this point of the season, four of their wins have come sub-500 records. The only team contending they've beaten this season has been the free-falling New York. The Eagles dropped from about what would have been a B (had they beat Dallas) to a straight up “C” because of their inconsistent play and a very bad loss to Oakland.

New York Giants (5-4) C-/D+

For the first five weeks of the 2009 season, the New York Giants looked like they returning to the form that helped them win the Super Bowl in 2007.
But after four devastating losses in a row, the Giants are searching for their collective mojo, not to mention answers for their current free-fall.
In their four losses, you name it, the G-Men have blown off the field on the defensive end—133 points in their last four games—including two games in which they've given up more than 40 points, they've had bad games by Eli Manning, who has thrown six interceptions during this current losing streak and they've lost games in the final seconds—last week's loss to the San Diego Chargers.
The odd thing about the Giants offense is that the receiving corps has managed the fill the void left by departure of Plaxico Burgess. Steve Smith has 53 receptions for 662 yards and four touchdowns. Rookie Hakeem Nicks is making a bid for NFL Rookie of the Year with 20 catches for 368 yards and four touchdowns. Former Michigan star Mario Manningham has caught 48 passes for 439 yards and four touchdowns.
And yet, the Giants are 28th in the NFL in red zone efficiency, scoring 15 touchdowns on 36 trips inside the 20. The pundits who follow the Giants on a regular basis believe that's where New York misses a tall receiver like Burress who can just go up and get the ball because of his height.
Here's an idea for head coach Tom Coughlin—you have Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw give it to one of those guys. With a pair of running backs who can bust through the line and offensive line that can blast open holes, moving the ball on the ground rather than trying to passs on goal line situations would help New York to score a few more touchdowns.
Defensively, the Giants are not the same team that dominated teams with a fierce defensive line and a solid linebacking corps. For one thing, the Giants aren't getting the same kind of push in the pass rush they once had. Osi Umenyiora is not exploding off the ball like he did before his injury, but he does have four sacks.
Strangely enough, the Giants are the NFL's top ranked defense in yards allowed and third in pass defense. But in the last four games, New York has allowed teams compile 349 yards per game—just under 100 yards more than their average.
The Giants injury-riddle secondary which has been without cornerback Aaron Ross and safety Ken Phillips has allowed opposing qjuarterbacks to pick them apart.Although they played better against the Chargers, the defense still allowed San Diego to drive to the final touchdown.
In the last four weeks, the Giants went from an A- to C-/D+.

The Washington Redskins (2-6) F

The only good thing you can say about the Washington Redskins at this point of the season is that they have eight more games left to play and their season will be over.
Despite having one of the NFL's best defenses, the Redskins have been awful as a team, but it's not the fault of the player on the team. It's the head coach—Jim Zorn and an absolutely clueless front office, most notably owner Daniel Snyder, that have put the Redskins into their current state of chaos.
On the offensive end, the Redskins are 24th in the league in total offense-20th in passing and 23rd in rushing even with Clinton Portis in the back field. Not even the recent hiring of Sherm Lewis as the offensive coordinator (while taking Zorn's playcalling duties away from him) has helped a Redskins team that has yet to score over 17 points in a game.
The team has an injury-riddle offensive line. Quarterback Jason Campbell, if he's not harassed by the opposing defenses, he has been an erratic quarterback so far this season. He has nine touchdown passes and eight interceptions.
While the Redskins have the best defense in the league, the inability of their offense to keep chains moving is the thing that's making life hard before the defense because they're staying on the field so long.
The bottom-line is that the Redskins are at the bottom and they're not getting up soon. Therefore , the Skins will get an F until further notice.

Romo has a lot to prove against Eagles

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
The last time Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys visited Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia, they were given a good old-fashioned Philly beat down of biblical proportions in a 44-6 shellacking in the regular-season finale.

That loss put the Cowboys out of the playoffs while adding to what has become their annual late season swoon of playing poorly in December and January.

This Sunday Dallas will come back to the Linc for another meaningful game against the surging Eagles, who are fresh off of a 40-17 whuppin' of the New York Giants. Both teams are 5-2 and tied for first-place in the NFC East.

The Cowboys have won three straight and the Eagles have won their last two. Romo said he is not thinking about what happened to him and his squad at the end of last season.

“That was last year,” Romo said of last year's loss to Philadelphia. “ We had to deal with that all off-season and we had to grind it out to get better, to improve and not let that happen again. We've taken a lot of steps to be the ball club that we're hopefully gaining to be. For us, it's about improvement and getting better.”

Both teams are feeling like that they've got the swagger back and are ready to make a move in the division. Obviously, something has to give here and somebody's going to win while the other squad will go through a week of agonizing re-appraisal and self-reflection.

That's something that Romo knows all about. He had an entire off-season to figure out what went wrong with himself and the Cowboys. Every one thought that the solution was to get rid of the always volatile Terrell Owens, which the Cowboys did at the end of last season. But the reality really and he even admitted it, was that Romo's half-hearted approach to game preparation was definitely apart of the death knell to the team's playoff aspirations.

And so everything will again bounce back to Romo, who has yet to win a meaningful game as the quarterback of “America's Team.” In some big games against divisional competition over the last couple of years, Romo has come up short.

The most glaring example was the Cowboys 33-31 loss to the New York Giants where Romo threw three interceptions led to three Giants touchdowns. One of those ;picks was returned for a touchdown. In a loss to the Denver Broncos, Romo was 11-of-24 for 201 yards, no touchdowns and one interception that he threw right to cornerback Champ Bailey near the end zone. Romo's inconsistent play throughout that game kept the Cowboys from taking what should have been a winnable game.

Sunday's game against the Eagles will be another opportunity for Romo to perform well in a big game. At this point of the season, Romo has finally found a go-to receiver in Miles Austin and his offense team has played with some semblance of consistency in their last three games. The Cowboys running game has been among the league's best.

The good part of that equation from Romo's perspective is that the burden is not all on him—he has weapons like Austin and tight end Jason Witten in the passing game and he has running backs like Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice.

“Anytime you play the position you have to do certain things well,” Romo said. “That's part of playing the position.when you have good personnel around you, it definitely helps that you can trust other people to know when they're going to be so you can look off longer. Obviously,when a guy can make people miss are things that separate themselves and that goes a long way.”

The only decent team Dallas played during that stretch of games was the Atlanta Falcons, a playoff team from last year. The Cowboys struggled in an overtime win over the 1-6 Kansas City Chiefs and they had an easy time with a 2-5 Seattle Seahawks. Those teams they aren't necessarily world beaters.

Romo has to prove that he can stand up to the Eagles variety of blitz packages. The word on Romo for the last couple of years is to put pressure on him and he will crumble or have a bad game throwing the football. He has not proven that theory wrong in big games during his career.

Sunday's game against the surging Eagles will be one of many times (December is one month away) that Romo will have to prove that he can lead his team to a big win.

Jackson legit deep threat for Eagles

By Chris Murray
For the NFC' Easter

Throughout the Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb era in Philadelphia, the biggest complaint in Philadelphia is the lack of a game-breaker at the wide receiver position. With the exception of the 2004 season when the Eagles had volatile wideout Terrell Owen, the Eagles haven't had a game-breaking wide receiver. The Birds went to the Super Bowl that season with Owens as their starting receiver.

So far in the 2009 season all the noise about McNabb not having that big-time go-to receiver has been muted by the performance of players like second-year wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who has become one of the most dangerous weapons in the Birds offense.

Statistically, none of the Eagles receivers are in the top 10 among the NFL's best, but McNabb does have receivers who are capable of making that game-breaking play at anytime.

After an outstanding rookie season in 2008, Jackson is following it up with a sophomore season that teams have to account for him as a force in the Eagles passing game. This season, Jackson, who was last week named the NFC's Offensive Player of the Week , has caught 24 passes for 501 yards for four touchdowns and is averaging 20.1 yards per catch—the second highest in the league for receivers with 20 or more receptions. All four of his touchdown receptions have been more than 50 yards.

In fact, all of Jackson's touchdowns-whether they are punt returns or on runs from scrimmage like his 67-yard touchdown on an end-around against the Washington Redskins—have been beyond 50 yards.

In the Birds 40-17 shellacking of the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Jackson caught three passes for 78 yards including a 64-yard touchdown pass from McNabb late in the second quarter.

“I am just being put in some great positions to go out there and get long touchdowns. Whatever it is we have to do to make it work, that is what we are going to do,” Jackson said after Sunday's win over New York.

But Jackson is not the only Eagles wide receiver. With the injury to Kevin Curtis, rookie Jeremy Maclin is starting to get some looks from McNabb. Against the Giants, Maclin caught four passes for 47 yards and a touchdown. McNabb said he is starting to become more comfortable with the rookie out of Missouri.

“I am. You know, we worked a little bit in the off season. In the first game he didn't play much while I was in there, while I was healthy,” McNabb said. “And then you know from Tampa on, we've been able to work together, and (WR) DeSean (Jackson) as well, just working on our timing. We've had some ups and downs, but we are also kind of comfortable of what we're seeing and being on the same page.”

The problem with past Eagles teams, with the exception of 2004, is that they had players who were decent possesion receivers that might make a big play every now and then. So far in his brief time with the Eagles, Jackson has consistenly displayed an ability to be a deep threat in the Eagles offense.

In last year's NFC Championship game against the Arizona Cardinals, Jackson caught six passes for 92 yards including a big 62-yard touchdown pass from McNabb that the Eagles their only lead in the game before the Cardinals eventually won it.

With Jackson's speed, the Eagles can use him in a variety of situations from the Wildcat formation to handing the ball off to him on end arounds. As one of the league's most dangerous punt returners, Jackson has managed to put some fear in the heart of opposing special teams coach as well. Jackson likes how the team is versatility as a football player.

“The biggest thing I can say is they put me in great positions to expose the defenses,” Jackson said. “Anytime you have the coaches and the other 10 players helping you and doing everything they can to go out their and have success. Just keep putting it together.”

The only question about a small receiver like Jackson, who is listed at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, is his durability. Last season, Jackson played in all 16 regular season games and three playoff games. He caught 62 passes for 912 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson has yet to be kept out of a game because of an injury.

Jackson's ability to stretch defenses makes it possible for possesion receivers like Jason Avant and tight end Brent Celek, who leads the team in receptions, to work the middle of the field on third down situations to keep the chains moving.

While it still remains to be seen if Jackson can be as good as Owens was in 2004 on a more consistent basis, but at the rate he's going right he may not be that far from being at that level.

Giants, Eagles looking for rhythm and first place in NFC East

by Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter

The question for the New York Giants (5-2) as they come into this week's NFC East showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field is whether the offense and the defense are going to show up at the same stadium?

After the defense was shelled for 48 points by the New Orleans Saints the previous week, the offense couldn't get out of its own way in the Giants 24-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The New York offense committed four turnovers—including three interceptions by quarterback Eli Manning.

Against the unbeaten Saints, the Giants defense gave up 493 yards of total offense while the offense piled up 325 yards of offense, but the Giants offense could only muster 84 yards on the ground with the tandom of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. But then again, the Saints put the Giants in such a big hole that the running game couldn't help theG-men.

And of course, the New York media is in a major tizzy over the first-place G-men who are tied with the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys in the loss column. One Big Apple scribe is comparing the Giants recent swoon to late last season when they lost three out of their last four before being eliminated in the divisional playoffs.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said his team is not losing confidence and saw some good things from his team in the loss to the Cardinals.

“I think you take the game itself and try to take it apart for them. Cite some examples of the team we played last night. They go into Philadelphia on Thanksgiving (last year) and get crushed. Yet they beat Philadelphia in the playoffs and are the NFC rep in the Super Bowl,” Coughlin said.

“It is a long season now and a lot of things are going to happen. I think it is important to realize and to go do something about it. We did make progress to a certain extent, although not all the way. We made progress in our coverage and the pressure was better and therefore the coverage was better and the players were better within it.”

Even in the midst of their two-game losing streak, the Giants aren't panicking coming into Sunday's game against an Eagles team that eliminated them in last year's playoffs.

“We're not concerned. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, we have a long season left,” said Giants quarterback Eli Manning. “We are 5-2, we're not in a bad spot, we are going to get back to playing better football. We have a big game vs. Philly at Philly, it's a huge game. We know it's going to be a tough battle, but we have to go out there, play well and eliminate the mistakes.”

The Eagles (4-2) come into their second straight game against an NFC East opponent not playing exactly like a Super Bowl contender themselves. Even in Monday Night's 27-17 win over the hapless, chaotic Washington Redskins, the Eagles offense was inconsistent.

Oddly enough, that was an improvement over not showing up at all as they did in a shocking loss to a very bad Oakland Raiders team the previous week. Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said there were some plays he'd like to have back, but the offense is not as bad people think.

“I wouldn't say that there's that much inconsistency. I would say, after the Oakland game, there were a couple of miscues and some things that we can obviously clean up. I thought last week that the offense played well, they played hard,” McNabb said.

“There were some throws that I would like to have back, but you have to give respect to them. They (Washington) are a top-five defense and haven't allowed a lot of points and for us to put points on the board against them is still a challenge. But still, just over the weeks I've thought we've gotten better, and minus the Oakland game, I thought we played hard and we played effective. We have to play really well this weekend.”

Outside of the offense's two big plays—a 67-yard touchdown on an end-around by DeSean Jackson and a 57-yard touchdown pass from McNabb to Jackson late in the second quarter-the Eagles offense didn't do much. The Redskins actually outgained the Eagles 308 to 262. McNabb was sacked three times. The Birds completed just 4-of-15 third down conversions.

“We could do some things better at times. We weren't always crisp like we needed to be, but that happens,” Jackson said after Monday's win over Washington. “It is football, sometimes the defense is going to win and sometimes the offense is going to win. We will go back into practice, work hard and hopefully next week we will put it together a little better.”

Meanwhile, Eagles head coach Andy Reid wasn't quite happy with the media immediately following Monday night's win suggesting that his offense wasn't consistent.

“Twenty-seven points – I don't think that's bad. I don't think that's a bad night. Should we have scored a few more in the second half? Absolutely,” Reid said. “Can we improve on things? Absolutely. We need to keep doing that. I'm going to enjoy this one though.”

Reid didn't budge on that position when he spoke to the media on Wednesday and said his offense did well against the Redskins defense, which ranks 5th in the NFL.

You guys would probably know the stats better than I, but there haven't been a lot of teams probably in the last 28 games or so that have scored 27 points on that team that we just played,” Reid said. “I know one of them was from a defensive standpoint, I understand that. We take [the points] as team. I know the other teams that played against them also played defense.”

Miles to Go, but Cowboys receiver is getting there.

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
Maybe it's way too early to start breaking out the annointing oil for Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin—who is beginning to emerge as Tony Romo's favorite go-to receiver.

He may not be on the same level as a Terrell Owens just yet, but the numbers that he's put up in the last two weeks for the Cowboys says a lot about his potential as that game-breaking receiver that the team was hoping to find in Roy Williams.

In the Cowboys 37-21 victory over the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday, Austin caught six passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. The Falcons could do nothing to stop the speedy, 6-foot-3, 214-pound receiver out of Monmouth. Whether it was a comeback pattern or a crossing route, Austin had a penchant for turning big gains into big plays.

“Miles Austin had another great game,” said Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips. “I think one more makes you consistent. It's looking good with him. Tony's connected with him well. He's such a big threat once he catches the ball. He's a force right now out there for us and teams are going to pay attention to him.”

That was the case on the 59-yard touchdown pass from Romo that board the Cowboys up for good in the second quarter. Austin easily sped past Atlanta free safety Thomas DeCoud for the score. He also added another score in the third quarter. That score was the thing that got Dallas going.

“I think it was pretty much a spark, I think the guys got pretty fired up,” Austin said. “The defense responded afterward and we got a little roll going.”

Austin's exploits against the Falcons comes two weeks after a record-setting performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in which he set single-game team record with 10 receptions for 250 yards and two touchdowns-including the game-winner in overtime. Austin said he wasn't trying to make any statements or prove any points. It was all about striving for consistency.

“I just went out and tried to play to the best of my ability and I'm going to try to do that everytime I go out,” Austin said. “I'm going to play as hard as I can and that's all I can do.”

Indeed, Austin is a long way from the great receiver that Owens has been throughout his career, but he's out to a pretty good start. If anything else, he is developing a solid rapport with Romo and is making the plays to keep the Cowboys offense moving.

“Miles has been doing good things, He's been working hard for a long time waiting for his opporunity and now that he has it, he's doing well,” Romo said. “He's definitely a big part of this offense. I'm glad to see all the time and effort, hard work he's put in is paying off. He's a good guy who deserves what he gets.”

Coming into the '09 season, Austin had a caught just 14 passes and played on special teams as a kick returner. Last season was the first year he had any sigifnicant time at the wide receiver spot. He caught just 13 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns. In the last two weeks, Austin has caught 16 passes for 421 yards and four touchdowns.

Austin didn't necessarily come out of a powerhouse program for wide receiver at Monmouth College, but he made the Cowboys in 2006 as a rookie free agent and plied his trade while working as a member of the Cowboys kick-return team.

Cowboys receivers coach Ray Sherman said he knew Austin had the ability to play at the wide receiver slot because of his size, speed and raw ability. He said once Austin got a solid grasp of the pro game, he knew that he had the potential to be something special.

“Once he understood how to run routes, read coverages and do those things and I've been saying that once the light comes on with this guy, watch out because he's going to be something special,” Sherman said. “He's a physical guy. When I first worked him out he was 235 pounds, he got that weight off him. He's just an explosive guy and he's strong, very strong.”

Even with all the sudden success that he has experienced in the last couple of weeks, Austin realizes that he and his teammates have a long way to go during the course of this season. With teams like the Eagles, Giants and Redskins on the horizon, Austin still has a lot to prove.

“I'm sure that when we see the film, they'll be a lot of things we want to change,” Austin said. “There's a lot of plays that I probably messed up on and lot of other guys have messed up on.”

Snyder Needs to Get Out the Way and Let Football People do their Thing

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
The removal of Redskins head coach Jim Zorn's playcalling duties and bringing in longtime NFL assistant Sherman Lewis as a consultant to call plays for the struggling Skins is the latest episode in the daily soap opera of an owner who runs the team like he's playing in the Yahoo fantasy football league.

While it's not news that the Redskins owner is woefully deficient in his football I.Q., you have to wonder why he didn't just go all the way and fire Zorn and get it over with rather than cutting off his gonads and allowing him to twist in the wind.

But as my significant other often tells me it's like bringing logic to a situation that steadfastly resists it. The Redskins during Snyder's tenure have been a classic example of a bizarre situation trying to figure out which way is up, something they have yet to figure out.

After all, this is an ownership that brought you Steve Spurrier with former Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel leading the offense until they found out that Vanderbilt and Kentucky don't play in the NFC East.

If the Redskins lose and the offense stinks to the point of being rancid again, will Snyder bring in a spiritual medium to conduct a séance so he can consult with Sid Gillman and Bill Walsh from the great beyond? Hey, he might get his spiritual guru to contact the late Jack Kent Cooke who might give young Daniel a piece of his mind on how the young man is running his once proud franchise into the ground.

Bringing in Lewis, who should have been a NFL head coach a long, long, time ago, means that Zorn is basically a dead-man walking. He wields as much power in the governing of the Redskins as Prince Charles does in the governing of Great Britain. All hail to King Zorn—the figure-head leader of the Redskins.

Zorn's situation reminds me of the Republican Congress in 1994 appointing the D.C. Control Board to run the affairs of the city after Marion Barry was re-elected Mayor of Washington. The Control Board reduced Barry to a figure-head mayor with no power. That's the plight of Zorn.

There were various reports that Zorn had to accept Lewis' role as the team's play caller or resign. Even with over $6 million left over the last two years of his contract, Zorn probably should have walked away based on principle alone. But since he's probably going to get fired at the end of the year, I guess he's going to grin and bear it. That is lot of money.

Granted, Zorn hasn't really done a good job with calling the offense, which ranks 23rd in the NFL in yards per game, 29th in scoring, 20th in passing and 23rd in rushing. Zorn simply lacked the experience when the Redskins hired him.

That brings us back to Snyder. It's one of thing to blame the head coach for being in over his head, Jason Campbell, who has seen a merry-go round of offensive coordinators or an injury depleted offensive line for the Redskins woes on offense, but the owner has to be held accountable because he put it all together.

For all of Snyder's wheeling and dealing, Jerry Jones-like behavior, the Redskins are 78-88 under his watch as owner with just two playoff wins. If he wants to emulate his role model—Jones (whose own Dallas Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since 1996) he has to humble himself and get out of his own way and let football people do their jobs. Jones has a bunch of Super Bowl rings to halfway justify his micro-management.

The evidence is overwhelming, Snyder's micromanagement hasn't helped this team win on a consistent basis. Vinnie Cerrato, the team's vice president of football operations, is another guy who is a mere figure head. The team needs a general manager, who knows the league. You mean to tell me with all of Snyder's millions, he couldn't pull in a legitimate general manager who knows something about the league?

Even a constant meddler like New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner realized after constantly bumping his head up against the ceiling because of his own meddling realized that you have to let people who know the game do their thing. Yankee general managers like former GM Bob Watson and current GM Brian Cashman have won championships for that team because Steinbrenner realized he needed people who had a better grasp of the game than himself.

Snyder needs to realize that his way has not worked and that his time to do something different. If he's a true business man, he'll find people good enough to manage his team.

If he keeps going the way that he's going, Snyder and his franchise will be the living definition of insanity which means doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Romo, Defense come up short against G-Men

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
You can't blame Terrell Owens for this one.

The Cowboys 33-31 loss to the New York Giants in what was a very winnable game came down to a couple of malingering problems from the last couple of seasons—Tony Romo's penchant for mistakes and having one of the worst secondaries in football.

For starters, I don't want hear from any Cowboys fans who say Romo is a better quarterback without the melodramatics of Owens. All three of Romo's interceptions against the Giants led to 24 points. What should really bother Cowboys fans about Romo's miscues was that it wasn't like the Giants were bringing a whole lot of pressure on the quarterback.

New York had zero sacks, but held Romo to 13-of-29 passing for 127 yards, one touchdown and three picks-including one that went for a touchdown. He completed just four passes to a wide receiver. In front over 100,000 fans at the new state-of-the art Cowboys Stadium in the glare of a national television audience, Romo was simply awful. He stank on toast against a Giants defense that was without two of its starters.


This was the Cowboys squad that hasn't a won a playoff game in over decade and has struggled in December. Once again, Dallas comes up a small in a big game. The only bright spot in this loss was that the Cowboys rushing attack rolled up 251 yards on the ground. Marion Barber, who left with a leg injury, gained 124 yards rushing while Felix Jones ran 96 yards.


I'm thinking the Cowboys should resort to a three-pronged rushing attack similar to what both the Eagles and the Giants have had in recent years to take the
pressure off Romo.

But given some of the silly mistakes that Romo made, you have to wonder if that will even if that will help him from making that game-killing throw.


There's no Owens crying and moaning about not getting catches—he's taken that act to Buffalo. There's no one to blame in this situation but Romo himself. The good news for Cowboys fans is that it's still early in the season and Romo and erstwhile offensive coordinator Jason Garrett have some time to get it together. But they better do it quick.

Just as bad as Romo's performance was the Dallas defense—most notably the secondary. When Romo wasn't giving the Giants a score or a short field with which to work, the Cowboys defensive backs could not guard anybody. G-men receivers—Mario Manningham and Steve Smith combined for 20 receptions and 284 of Eli Manning's 330 yards passing.


Meanwhile, the Cowboys front seven, which includes All-Pro defensive end DeMarcus Ware barely laid a glove on Manning and let him have all the time in the world to pick apart a weak secondary.

And so it wasn't surprising to see Manning do a reenactment of his Super Bowl-winning drive against the Patriots on the Giants final drive against the Cowboys, who had taken a one-point lead with 3: 46 left in the game. On the 11-play, 56 yard drive, the Cowboys didn't even come close to knocking Manning down and the secondary allowed Giants receivers to run right by them.

So far this season, the Cowboys have no sacks and no turnovers in their first two weeks of the season. The Boys are ranked 30th in total yards allowed and they are allowing 303 yards passing per game, which also ranks 30th in a 32-team league. Excuse me, but Super Bowl teams don't get torched like the Cowboys have in the first two weeks of the season. Last week, the Cowboys defense allowed a not-so good Buccaneers squad to run the ball for 174 yards.

This week, Dallas stopped Brandon Jacobs and company on the ground, but the Cowboys lack of a pass rush and coverage made it all too easy for the Giants to say to heck with the running game.

But again, it's early in the season, maybe head coach Wade Phillips and Garrett can fix the issues that bother this team on both sides of the ball.

Folks like to talk about the Cowboys falling flat on their faces in December. If they don't get their act together right here in September, December could be a moot point.

Going Nowhere Fast: Redskins struggle to find answers for anemic offense

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter

If you witnessed the Washington Redskins 9-7 victory over the hapless St. Louis Rams squad at Fed Ex. Field in Landover, Md., you would have probably would have thought you were in South Philadelphia with all the booing that went on along the Beltway this past Sunday.

Even though fans are no doubt happy about seeing their Skins get their first win of the season, they are frustrated with an offense that rolled up 362 yards offense, but only managed to come away with just three field goals.

While it's never good discount any victory in the National Football League, I think Redskins fans are looking down the road when they have to run across teams the high-powered offenses in their own division like the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles—that have all put more than 20 points on the board so far this season. The team has not scored 30 points during head coach Jim Zorn's tenure in Washington.

What is really making Redskins fans want to holla and throw up their collective hands about Sunday 's performance against the Rams was that the Washington offense could only muster field goals against a defense that gave up over 400 yards of total and 28 points to a mediocre Seattle Seahawks team.

Trying to figure out Redskins offense is struggling is like trying to interview a dozen witnesses at an accidents—everybody has a different story. Is it quarterback Jason Campbell, who passed for 242 yards on while completing 23-of-35 of his passes? He also led the Skins on three drives of more than 60 yards.

What about the Redskins rushing attack? You have a bruising running back in Clinton Portis, who is averaging over four yards per carry. He gained 79 yards on 19 carries. Portis gained 62 yards on 16 carries against the Giants in week one. Shouldn't Portis be the work horse of this offense? You would think a back of Portis' caliber would get more carries and be the center piece of this offense. Hmmm.

Then you have the Redskins receiving corps. The only deep threat that the Redskins have is Santana Moss, but when everybody knows that then you can double team him. What about Malcolm Kelly or even Antwan Randle-El or Devin Thomas? When will one of those guys be a player that defenses have to pay attention to during the course of their game planning. Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley has been an outstanding safety valve for Campbell.

I think ultimately this falls back on Zorn and his play-calling. What's really driving Redskins fans crazy is that you have a power back in Portis who has the ability to dominate a game in a way that some guy named John Riggins could back in the 1980s and they don't give him the ball enough.

Yet, the Skins don't run the ball as consistently as they should and that's because Zorn appears to be hell bent on enforcing his idea of the West Coast offense or he's in the (Eagles head coach ) Andy Reid school of pass, pass and more pass.

With Zorn's version of the West Coast offense is that the passing part of it is more dink and dunk rather than taking advantage of Campbell's arm and throw the ball down field. It would appear as if the Redskins offense is playing not to lose. If you want to be a contender in this league, you have to have the ability to put the fear of God into an opposing secondary by chucking it deep.

At this point, this are definitely not getting better for the Redskins offense. The Redskins could be without starting right guard Randy Thomas for the rest of season because of a torn bicep. On an offensive line that lacks depth, Thomas' loss could be a devastating blow to an offense that is searching for a rhythm of any kind.

Something has to give for the Redskins if they're going to be a contender in the NFC East. Luckily, their schedule gives them some time to figure a way to right their ship. This week they play the Detroit Lions, losers of their last 19 straight. Maybe the Skins can find their offensive mojo in the Motor City.

If the Skins offense can't muster up points against a sorry Lions squad, the clock will start ticking on Zorn's future in the nation's capital.

Eagles look to rebound after loss to Saints

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
PHILADELPHIA—The one thing that Eagles fans learned Sunday in their 48-22 loss to the high-powered New Orleans Saints is that their team has a long way to go before it can really consider itself among the elite teams in the NFC.

“It wasn't right today in any phase of it,” said Eagles head coach Andy Reid. “It was an absolutely horrendous performance.”

Granted, the Birds were without injured starting quarterback Donovan McNabb, but even with his presence would not have been enough to stop a juggernaut of a Saints offense that simply had its way with the Eagles defense, who gave up the most points at home since 1962.

On a day where the Birds were starting second-string quarterback Kevin Kolb, the Birds needed to play well on all sides of the football. In the first half, the Eagles offense managed to keep up with Drew Brees and company and trailed by four points at the intermission.

The Birds sealed their own fate by turning the ball over the first two times they touched the ball in the second half. The first came on a fumbled kickoff by Ellis Hobbs and a Kolb interception that put the Saints in Eagles territory on both occasions.

The powerful Saints offense took advantage of the Birds miscues by scoring touchdowns and pretty much ended the competitive portion of the game. The Eagles got no closer than 14 points.

It might be easy for Eagles fans and observers to give the Birds defense a pass just because the Saints are just that good on offense. It's also easy to blame the poor play of the special teams,which committed a turnover and several penalties and put the defense in positions where they had to defend a short field.

But the bottomline is that the Saints simply had their way with a confused Eagles defense in both the rushing game and the passing game. They torched the Birds for 423 yards of total offense. Wide receiver Marques Colston torched the Eagles secondary for two touchdowns. He caught eight passes for 98 yards. Brees, though he was sacked twice, burned the Birds for 311 yards while completing 25-of-34 passes.

If the Eagles are the Super Bowl contenders that all the experts say they're going to be, they have to play much better on defense against some of the conferences best offenses. The effort they displayed today will not cut it against the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys or even the San Diego Chargers.

Luckily for the Eagles, they won't be playing prolific offenses like the Saints for the next couple of weeks. Kansas City, whom the Birds play next week at Lincoln Financial Field. After that, they play Buccaneers, Raiders and Redskins. None of these teams scare me with their offensive prowess.

“We're the team that we had last week (against Carolina),” said Quintin Mikell. “We have to watch the film, learn from it and move on. We were on our heels and we weren't aggressive and you can't do that against good teams.”

And that's why the Eagles have time to right the ship on the defensive end in the next couple of weeks. The standard the Birds are looking to get back to is what they did to the Carolina Panthers in Week 1 when they forced turnovers and got after the quarterback. But they have to do that against the some of the better offenses in the league.

Maybe it's safe to conclude that the Eagles lackluster effort against New Orleans was just an aberration, but if they let a team Kansas City run through their defense with that kind of impunity the way the Saints did, then you may have a reason to panic if you're an Eagles fan.

Same as It ever was: Eagles Defense Unleashes Hell on Carolina Offense

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter

If there has been one constant or one thing that Eagles fans have depended upon during the Andy Reid era in Philadelphia is that they will attack and force turnovers on defense.

Even though they were the third best defense in the NFL last season, folks were wondering how good would the Birds be on the defensive side ball, especially considering the season-ending injury to middle linebacker Stewart Bradley and they have a rookie in Macho Harris playing at the free safety spot.

In the their 38-10 rout of the Carolina Panthers, the Eagles defense set the tone of the game by forcing seven turnovers and scoring a touchdown. The Birds intercepted Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme five times and forced two fumbles. They held the Panthers to just 169 yards of total offense and stymied their highly-regarded rushing attack and limited them to a mere 86 yards. It was the most turnovers the team has forced in the last nine years.

“We just went out and executed. We didn't know exactly what they would do. We had an idea, but the first game of the season you don't know what a team will do so you want to go out there and play hard football and we did that today,” said defensive end Victor Abiamiri, who scored on a two-yard fumble return for a touchdown that was set up by a Trent Cole sack of Delhomme in the second quarter.

The only thing that casts a cloud over the Eagles win is the rib injury to quarterback Donovan McNabb, who is listed as doubtful for next week's home-opener against the New Orleans Saints at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. McNabb's injury came in the third quarter when he scored on a three-yard run.

Coming off a five-interception performance in a NFC Divisional Playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Delhomme had another difficult outing at the hands of the Birds defense. New Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, who learned his lessons well from the late Jim Johnson, unleashed hell on Delhomme and held him to just 7-of-17 passing for 73 yards and four interceptions and sacked him five times.

“I thought he had a good game plan. I thought the defensive staff did a nice job. I thought the players played like crazy. I was proud of that group,” Reid said.

With all the noise that came from him wanting to renegotiate his contract, cornerback Sheldon Brown came up with a pair of interceptions including one that led to an Eagles touchdown. He said it was important to jump on Delhomme and the Panthers offense early.

“I think we had some things going early. I can remember some of the years where we were able to create turnovers, like Trent Cole, hit the quarterback,” Brown said. “Where in the past on opening day the other team would recover it. Today, we happened to be able to recover fumbles and catch the football in the back of the end zone.”

The Eagles defense, for now, answered all the questions that was hovering them at the outset of the season. The next big test for the Birds will be a New Orleans Saints squad that can put the points on the board.

“We understand we haven't accomplished anything. This is a long season. If we win this one and lose the rest then it's not going to mean anything. We have a veteran group in the locker room and we're going to continue to work,” Brown said.

No T.O. No Problem: Romo Spreads the Wealth in Win over Tampa

By Chris Murray
For the NFC' Easter

All the questions about how the Cowboys passing game would fare without Terrell Owens were answered, at least for one week, by their receiving corps in Sunday's 34-21 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Quarterback Tony Romo passed for a career-high 353 yards and three touchdowns while completing 16 of his 27 passes. He completed passes to six different receivers Three of his touchdown passes went for more than 40 yards.

"They are playmakers, and we knew that going in," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said. "But until you do it, the naysayers are going to say: 'Hey. You don't have this or that.' But I think we do."

The Cowboys offense proved that it can score quickly, something all the experts and pundits said the team couldn't with the departure of Owens. Dallas also showed that it has a pretty decent group of receivers as well.

"Career-high passing yards? Without T.O.?,” said Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams, laughing before turning serious. "No, it's good. It's good for him. It's good for this team," Owens' replacement added. "It was a team effort. Everybody contributed."

The much-maligned Williams caught three passes for 86 yards and one touchdown—a 66-yard strike on its first drive of the second half that gave Dallas its first double-digit lead of the game. For Williams it was a small measure of redemption for the criticism that he took at the end of last season. He said he wants to do it on a regular basis.

“No, because it's all about consistency, not about one game,” Williams said on Cowboys.com. “I have to back and show out against the Giants next week.”

Perhaps the biggest play of the game for Dallas came near the end of the first half. With the Cowboys trailing 7-6, Romo hit Miles Austin for a 42-yard touchdown pass with 46 seconds left in what was a lethargic first half for Dallas. The play seemed to energize the Cowboys, who needed a spark after settling for field goals on their first two trips to the redzone.

While it's always nice to have a superstar like and Owens, it's a always good to have a couple of players who capable of stretching the defense. Even Patrick Crayton, a player not known for his ability to blow his way past defenders, came away with an 80-yard touchdown pass on a fly pattern that extended the Cowboys league to 13 after the Bucs cut the lead to 20-14 with 12:56 left.

Romo was able to pick apart the Buccaneers secondary because the offensive line gave him plenty of time and allowed just one sack for the entire game. Romo did a good job of finding open receivers and used his legs to buy time in the pocket. His mobility allowed his receivers to find time to exploit holes in the Tampa defense.

On the 80-yard touchdown pass to Crayton, Romo rolled to his right and drew in Buccaneers safety Sabby Piscatelli who was thinking the quarterback was going to run. At that point, Crayton streaked past Piscatelli and Romo hit him in stride for the touchdown that gave Dallas a two-score lead.

"You don't think about yards. You're not judged off of yards," said Romo, who has a franchise-best 17 300-yard games. "You're judged off of winning and losing at this position."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Second Thoughts? Uncertainty on both sides of the ball cast doubt on Eagles

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter

After being a listed as an odds-on favorite to win the NFC East based on their free agent acquisitions and the draft, the clouds of doubt are starting to gather around the City of Brotherly Love.

And those who picked the Birds are now having second thoughts.

Perhaps the biggest concern is their patchwork offensive line. Guard Todd Herremans is out with a foot injury and Shawn Andrews, who didn't play at all during the pre-season, is still nursing that bad back that kept him out of last season.

So that means a pair relatively inexperienced lineman—Winston Justice (right tackle) and Nick Cole (left guard) will open the season on the road against the Carolina Panthers, who have an All-Pro defensive end named Julius Peppers.

The big worry for Birds fans is how will Justice fare against Peppers who likely line up on his side. Still fresh in the minds of Eagles fans everywhere is Justice's experience against New York Giants Osi Umenyiora, who burned him for six sacks in a game back in 2007. In that game, the Giants tied a league record with 12 sacks of quarterback Donovan McNabb.

But Eagles head coach Andy Reid is confident that Justice will be up to the challenge of handling the onslaught of Peppers and the Carolina defense. Hopefully for the Eagles, Justice will come out with something to prove.

“I thought one of the real positives coming out of camp was Winston Justice and how he played. I thought it was valuable, valuable experience that he got in there. He will have an opportunity Sunday to play against two good football players and I just look forward to seeing him out there competing,” Reid said on Friday.

In any event, Justice will no doubt be motivated to prove fans wrong and what better way to battle the demons of his last start by slowing down a player of Pepper's caliber.

How Justice will handle the pressure of the Panthers defense is only one part of the story with the offensive line. With all the injuries in the offensive line, the real issue is whether they can establish enough chemistry to go up against a tough Carolina defense.

If they can protect McNabb, guys like Brian Westbrook, bum knee and all, and DeSean Jackson could have a big day against the Panthers defense.

And speaking of defense, the Eagles definitely have some uncertainty there, especially at the middle linebacker spot. Omar Gaither will anchor the middle for the Birds in place of Stewart Bradley who suffered a season-ending injury at the beginning of training camp.

It was just two years ago that Gaither replaced Jeremiah Trotter at the middle linebacker spot only to replaced by Bradley later in 2007. Gaither also played at the outside linebacker spot last season and eventually lost his job to Akeem Jordan.

Gaither hasn't necessarily wowed the Eagles coaching staff because of his inability to be a force against the run. His demotions over the last two years gives you a reason to worry.

Another thing for the Eagles to worry about on Sunday is the Carolina Panthers running game that was among the best in the NFL in 2008. The tandem of DeAngelo Williams (1,515 yards) and Jonathan Stewart (818 yards) combined to gain 2,333 yards. Both runners averaged over 4.5 yards per carry. As a team, the Panthers ranked third in the NFL in rushing.

In the Eagles secondary, you have to wonder how rookie and former Virginia Tech star Victor “Macho” Harris will do at the free safety position in place of the legendary Brian Dawkins. Harris' new teammates are saying the right things in public, but deep down inside there has to be a little bit of angst.

“It's a different territory; usually I'm the new guy. It's going to be a little different but I think what Macho showed, he came in, he was very mature and he learned the defense and took the starting job to task,” said Eagles strong safety Quintin Mikell. “He really wanted it. He was out there making plays, doing what he was suppose to do; being ready to play. And I'm not saying anything about anybody else, but he had the hot hand and he really showed up.”

Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme could have a field day playing pitch and catch with Steve Smith, especially if the Panthers can run the ball effectively. If Carolina is averaging four and five yards per carry, look for Delhomme to have a field day against the Birds defense when they go to play-action passes.

If the Eagles can come away with a tough road win Sunday, all their doubters and naysayers will be back on the Bandwagon. If not, well, listen to Philadelphia sports talk radio immediately after the game to hear the doom and gloom.

For McNabb, it's Super Bowl or Bust

By Chris Murray

For the NFC'Easter

PHILADELPHIA—Shortly after the Eagles lost to the Arizona Cardinals in last year's NFC Championship game, the radio sports talk shows in this town were full of fans and media pundits wanting to run quarterback Donovan McNabb out of town on a rail.

To McNabb's detractors, it was another case of him choking in an NFC title game. After all, McNabb is 1-4 in conference championship games. Never mind that McNabb had brought the Birds back from a 24-6 halftime deficit to a 25-24 lead with under 10 minutes left in the game or that the Eagles defense allowed the Cardinals to march down the field to score the go-ahead touchdown while chewing up the clock, it was all McNabb's fault.

Even when wide receiver Kevin Curtis dropped a fourth-down pass he should have caught to seal the Eagles fate, fans and sports talk show hosts moaned about the pass McNabb threw behind Hank Baskett on a crossing route on the previous play and his bad first half. I guess the defense's poor performance in the first half was also McNabb's fault, too.

For the game, McNabb was 28-of-47 for 375 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. But it meant nothing because he didn't win.

The reaction to McNabb's NFC title game performance is par for the course in his 10 years of wearing an Eagles uniform. Ever since they booed him on Draft Day, McNabb has never quite won the hearts of Eagles fans in spite of the fact that he is considered to be one of the best signal callers in the game and the winningest quarterback in team history.

From this point forward and for the final two years on his contract with the Eagles, McNabb, who is probably a future Hall-of-Famer, has to lead his Eagles to the Super Bowl and win it. That's the only way he can silence his naysayers. Otherwise, he will go down as one of the most under-appreciated quarterbacks in team history.

Whether McNabb wins a Super Bowl title this season will depend upon those around him. If right tackle Shawn Andrews and the rest of the offensive line are as good as their press clippings or if rookie wideout Jeremy Maclin or quarterback Michael Vick can learn the Eagles system and become a threat in the Birds offense, McNabb's dreams for a Super Bowl title could come true.

The reason it hasn't happened by now isn't all of his fault.

And whether his critics want to hear this or not, the reason McNabb hasn't reached the game's highest pinnacle of success is because the Eagles never had the personnel on both sides of the ball to support him.

With the exception of Terrell Owens during their Super Bowl run in 2004, McNabb has managed to win and make five Pro Bowls without a game-breaking wide receiver and a consistent running game. During the 2004 playoffs when Owens was sidelined with a leg injury, McNabb still managed to lead the team to the Super Bowl.

McNabb has managed to survive injuries and hints from current and former teammates that he's not the leader that he should be on the field, especially when Owens was throwing him under the bus in the media back in 2005.

Coming into this season, McNabb has the third highest winning percentage among active quarterbacks (82-45-1) behind Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. And for those who have criticized his accuracy over the years, McNabb has the third best touchdown to interception ratio behind Steve Young and Tom Brady. He has also completed close to 60 percent of his passes for his career.

It doesn't help that McNabb himself has sometimes given his critics fodder for their vitriol. There have been times in his career where McNabb has needed to be more assertive in his career in terms of taking over games. In at least three games in his career including the Super Bowl, McNabb has thrown up on the field, something that does not engender confidence from your teammates. There have been times when McNabb has missed open receivers.

But when you as his career in its totality, McNabb has done everything he could to bring a Super Bowl to Philly. Some football observers have said McNabb still has work to do to secure his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Really? McNabb has led his team to more conference title games and has one more Super Bowl appearance than Hall-of -Famer Dan Fouts. He has won more playoff games and has a better winning percentage than Dan Marino (8-10).

With all of McNabb's wins, the five NFC Championships in 19 years along with the Pro Bowl appearances, his legacy in Philadelphia will ultimately be determined by him bringing home a Super Bowl ring.

If he does that, people, even those who jeered him on draft day back in 1999, will forget all of his flaws and see him as one of the all-time greats.

Facing East: The Road to the Super Bowl comes through the NFC East

By Chris Murray

For TheNFC-Easter

To say that anybody can win the NFC East is a gross understatement. In the last three years, at least two teams from the division made the playoffs. In the last two years, a representative from the NFC East has played for a conference championship. In 2009, the road to the Super Bowl will definitely come through the NFC East.

The hard part is trying to figure out which one. You can certainly make an argument for all four teams. It's not too hard to go out on a limb and say that three teams from the East will make the playoffs. All four teams have upgraded their talent and are capable of winning it.

After they finished beating each other up during the regular season, this is how it's going to end up come January. Three of these teams will be in the playoffs.

1. Philadelphia Eagles (11-5)

2. New York Giants (10-6)

3. Dallas Cowboys (10-6)

4. Washington Redskins (9-7)

The Philadelphia Eagles (2008: 9-6-1)

Coming into training camp, almost every major publication had the Philadelphia Eagles penciled in as the winner of the NFC East and a leading contender to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

After all, the Eagles, who saw their season in the NFC title game against the Arizona Cardinals, had the best off-season of the four teams in the division in both the draft—most notably wide receiver Jeremy Maclin-- and in off-season acquisitions with left tackle Jason Peters. The Birds made headlines during the course of their first pre-season game with the controversial signing of Michael Vick, who was recently released from a federal penitentiary after serving time for dogfighting.

Even during the midst of fans protesting and threatening to sell their season tickets on Ebay, fans and the Eagles offensive brass—Andy Reid, Marty Mornhinweg, and quarterback Donovan McNabb are excited about Vick's athleticism and what it can do for the Birds on offense.

But before we punch the Eagles ticket to Super Bowl or even the division title, the Birds have some chinks in their armor that are worth noting and if they don't figure out a way to fix it before the regular season, they could have a tough time.

The big worry for the Birds on offense is their injury-riddled offensive line. During their last pre-season game against the Indianapolis Colts, four out of five their offensive lineman did not make the trip to Indianapolis because of injury. Guard Todd Herremans is out with a foot injury and could miss the first two games of the season, Stacey Andrews has an injured knee. Meanwhile, right tackle Shawn Andrews, who has yet to practice with the team or play any preseason game, didn't play because of a bad back and left tackle Jason Peters, who was acquired in the off-season has struggled in the preseason.

Eagles fans got a very grim glimpse at their backups on the offensive line against the Colts and it wasn't good. Second-year tackle King Dunlap (6-foot-8, 310 pounds) was taken to school by veteran defensive end Dwight Freeney, who spun his way past the former Auburn star into the grill of McNabb, who fumbled on the play.

Because it is still the preseason, the Birds are banking on the speedy recovery of their O-line in time for the regular season. But they have a small window of time to establish chemistry.

Seemingly lost in all the hoopla surrounding Vick and the offensive line, running back Brian Westbrook is still the catalyst of this offense and his health will determine how far this team will go.

On defense, the Eagles have some serious questions in their linebacking corps and in their secondary. With the season-ending injury to middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, the Eagles are struggling to find an adequate replacement. The Birds coaching staff are looking to Joe Mays (5-11, 246) to fill the void for Bradley's loss. But he doesn't have Bradley's size or ferocity to be a force in the middle. Neither does Omar Gaither, who played the Mike linebacker position in 2007 when he replaced Jeremiah Trotter.

In the secondary, free safety Quintin Demps has the monumental task of filling Brian Dawkins shoes, but he's being pushed by rookie Macho Harris. At that position, he has to be an enforcer in the running game while being able to stay with a team's best receiver on deep routes. In their pre-season game against Indianapolis, Peyton Manning carved up the Eagles first-team secondary with a pair of touchdown passes.

If the Birds can heal from their injuries on the offensive line and if they establish a personality on defense, they could be that team to beat in the East.

The New York Giants (2008: 12-4)

When former Giants wide receiver left the team late last season because of his legal problems, the G-men lost three out of their last four games Not having a game-breaking receiver made Eli Manning and the Giants a one dimensional offense and it ultimately bit them in their loss to the Eagles in the divisional playoffs.

If the New York Giants can find a receiver who can A—stretch the defense and B—a receiver who can be a good possession receiver to keep the chains moving, they could win their second straight NFC East title.

Hoping to fill that voids at the receiver spot for the Giants are Domenik Hixon, who caught 43 passes for 596 yards and two touchdowns and former USC wideout Steve Smith (57 receptions, 574 yards and two touchdowns. Both players are looking to fill shoes left by the departures of Burress and Amani Toomer. At this point of the season, they are listed as the starters, but they're going to have competition from a couple of rookies.

First-round draft choice Hakeem Nicks (6-1, 215 pounds) and third-round pick Ramses Barden (6-6, 227) are going have to learn the Giants offense and the NFL game quickly before they can make an impact.

The emergence of the receivers will make an already formidable New York's Giants running game even better. The G-men, now minus Derrick Ward, will certainly run the football with the tandem of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw.

With all the talk about the receivers needing to lift their game, the pressure will still be on Eli Manning, who signed a six-year, $97-million contract extension. After completing 60 percent of his passes and throwing for 21 touchdown passes against 10 interceptions during the regular season, he came up small in the Giants playoff loss to the Eagle with a pair of interceptions.

Manning is going to have to show he can make the players around him better in the way that Tom Brady, who won Super Bowls with a group of average receivers before the arrival of Randy Moss and Wes Welker.

On defense, the Giants, who were fifth in the NFL in total defense last season, will return defensive end Osi Umenyiora who missed the entire 2008 season with a knee injury. If he can be the player he was back in 2007 when he had 13 sacks, the Giants defense will be even better in 2009. That's a scary prospect for the rest of the division. Additionally, the Giants added even more depth to the line with the free-agent signing of former Cowboy Chris Canty.

The Dallas Cowboys (2008: 9-7)

Even with a much ballyhooed $1 billion, state-of-the art new stadium in Arlington, the 2009 version of the Dallas Cowboys have managed to fly under the radar. With their volatile former wide receiver Terrell Owens up in Buffalo playing with the Bills while doing his VH-1 reality show, things have been relatively quiet in Cowboys camp.

This year all eyes will be on quarterback Tony Romo and folks want to know whether or not he can lead this team on the field now that the distraction that apparently was Owens is gone. Another question along that same line is whether he and Roy Williams can be as dangerous a combination as Romo to Owens and Romo to Jason Witten.

For all the drama that TO supposedly caused in the Cowboys locker room, he did have 69 receptions and 10 touchdowns. He was always a threat to go deep for the Cowboys . Dallas is hoping to get the same from the Romo-to-Williams combination. Over the last two years , W illiams has n not average d over 13 yards per catch . O nly four of his last 100 catches , have been over 40 yards.

Now that might be a function of playing with a Detroit Lions squad that had nobody else but him and an offensive line that couldn't protect anybody. Last season, Williams came to the Cowboys in the middle of last season and didn't have enough time to develop any chemistry with Romo.

With mini-camps , organized team activities and training camp behind them, the Cowboys are hoping that Romo-to -Williams can at the very least keep the chains moving. Dallas is hoping speedster Miles Austin, who averaged 21.4 yard per catch on 13 receptions, can be to the Cowboys in the deep passing game that Alvin Harper was back during the Super Bowl run of the 1990s .

Meanwhile, the Cowboys should be solid in the running game with the return of Felix Jones, Marion Barber and Tashard Choice . If the offensive line can stay intact and avoid injury—easier said than done, the Cowboys can be what the New York Giants had when they had a three -headed monster at running back with Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw.

Keeping the offensive line healthy is going to be a big challenge for the Cowboys this season. Last season, when left guard Kyle Kosier missed 13 games last season, it definitely showed. While the team is comfortable with its s tarting five, they 're going to be hard pressed to find somebody to come and do well if the Cowboys are bit with the injury bug on the offensive line

Offensive line coach Hudson Houck has said he likes the depth on his offensive line with players like Montrae Holland and Corey Proctor ready to step in case something happens to one of his starters. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are looking for a better year from 34-year-old veteran Flozell Adams, who reportedly slimmed down to about 335 pounds. If he has a good year and cut down on his penalties, Adams will help to make the Boys a serious contender for the conference title.

On defense, head coach Wade Phillips is going to call the defensive signals to go along with his duties as a head coach. The Cowboys ranked eighth in the NFL in total defense last season, but had a monumental collapse in the season's final two regular games against the Baltimore Ravens and the Philadelphia Eagles.

The good news is that the Cowboys have outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware, who led the NFL was 20 sacks last season. Dallas is also expecting good years out of linebacker Bradie James and the newly acquired veteran linebacker Keith Brooking.

Last season, the Cowboys gave up a lot of plays in the secondary primarily because Terrence Newman missed several games last season. With the departure of safety Roy Williams, Dallas is looking veteran safety Ken Hamlin to fill the void of Williams loss. That translates into better pass coverage something Williams often struggled with during his time in Big D.

The Cowboys got a solid effort from second-year corner Orlando Scandrick and rookie Mike Jenkins. Cowboys defensive coaches are becoming more and more comfortable with Scandrick opposite Newman. This season those players have to cutback on the number of Big Plays that they give up.

Dallas certainly has the talent, but do they have the mental toughness to avoid the December swoons of the last three years? That will ultimately falls on the shoulders of Phillips and Romo. We'll see.

The Washington Redskins (2008: 8-8)

If you're Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, you should probably come into the season with a big chip on your shoulder.

Not only did the team lose six of its last eight games, Redskins brass talked about finding a quarterback to replace Campbell. There was even talk that the Redskins would try to move up to draft former USC star Mark Sanchez. It was also rumored that Campbell would traded to Denver for Jay Cutler, who ultimately moved on to the Chicago Bears.

When the Redskins take on the New York Giants at the Meadowlands in the season-opener on Sept. 13, Campbell, the guy nobody apparently wanted, will be under center.

This could and should be a breakout year for Campbell, who completed 62.3 percent of his passes but threw just 13 touchdown passes against six interceptions last season. He passed for 3,245 yards and had a 84.3 quarterback rating. Campbell's mediocre stats was probably the reason his team was trying to shop him around.

But it wasn't all Campbell's fault in the passing game. Outside of Santana Moss and Chris Cooley, Campbell didn't have a good go-to possession wide receiver. Wide receivers Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly didn't contribute to the Redskins during their rookie in the way the franchise was hoping they would.

Injuries in the Redskins offensive line, coupled with the fact that Campbell was learning his fifth offensive system in five years made things a bit difficult last season. Injuries also slowed down Clinton Portis as well.

According to all accounts, Kelly and Thomas have been improving their play at the wideout spot for the Redskins. Some observers say Thomas reportedly has the edge in that battle for the No. 2 receiver spot while others are saying Kelly has the inside track for that spot. Head coach Jim Zorn recently told the Washington Post that both players are even. The Redskins will have Antoine Randle-El in the slot along with All-Pro tight end Chris Cooley.

The Redskins will run the ball with Portis and Ladell Betts, but the thing that will put this team over the top will be their ability of the offensive line to protect Campbell and give him time to find his receivers downfield. To improve the pass blocking, the Skins brought in Derrick Dockery from the Buffalo Bills to play at the left guard spot. Thirty-two-year-old left tackle Chris Samuels has to stay healthy. When he wasn't last season, the Redskins offense struggled and it hurt them in the second half of the season.

Meanwhile, the Redskins, who had the NFL's No. 4 defense, improved themselves with the acquisition of defensive end Albert Haynesworth and first-round draft pick linebacker /defensive end Brian Orakpo.

What the Redskins like about Orakpo is his speed to the ball. Some of teammates like Samuels said Orakpo reminds him of Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware with his ability to come hard off the edge. If he plays up to all the endorsements of his teammates and the media hype, the Redskins defense will be even better.

Even with the loss of veteran cornerback Shawn Springs, the Redskins secondary will be a solid group with players like second-year safety LaRon Landry, who is fast becoming an intimidating presence in the Redskins secondary. DeAngelo Hall and Carlos Rogers are a solid set of corners for Washington.

The Redskins road to the playoffs will depend on the performance of their offense. If the offensive line stays healthy and if Jason Campbell has a break out year, Washington has a good shot to be one of three teams from this division that will be in the playoffs this season.