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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
