YOU’VE read the reviews. Nothing left to do but hand out the hardware.
Strongest Offense:
Dallas has a green light at every position on offense
Weakest Offense:
New York will probably turn over half its O-Line.
Strongest Defense:
Philadelphia. Washington is more dominant up front, but Philly has better balance throughout.
Weakest Defense:
Dallas has a red light at every position on the defense.
Strongest Special Teams:
Dallas
Weakest Special Teams:
Washington
Dallas should be an offensive monster this year, but not being able to stop anybody means they’d have to win shootouts every week. I won’t say they can’t, but it’s uphill all 17 weeks that way. That makes it unlikely.
New York lacks the toughness to run the ball, the personnel to run the ball, and now may lack an Offensive Coordinator who’s committed to running the ball. On top of that they likely will suck on defense. All signs point to an early demise for Big Blue.
Washington is the wildcard. If they can get their O-Line on the same page early, they WILL be a nightmare. There is however no back-end to their defense. It’s an Achilles Heel that could disappear during the Draft but as of today it’s something to keep in mind.
Philadelphia gave away the advantage in the divisional arms race, but still has enough weapons to hurt opponents. Defensively 10 of 11 players return to the scheme they played well enough to win 10 games last year.
Bottom Line:
All bias aside, I have to go with the Philadelphia to win the East in 2014. It’s the only team in the division without a gaping hole on Offense or Defense, and/or isn’t going through a coaching shake-up, and/or isn’t dependent on any big “if” to improve a .500 or below record into something substantial. While the QB position is a (-) not a (+), that is solely due to the change of offensive focus, and the fact that Nick Foles will not be able to study and get a jump on it prior to OTA’s.
Word of Caution: If Washington can get their act together early on, they could carjack the Eagles for the NFC East.
Rookies don’t usually shake up this division, so there’s a pretty good chance that what you see here will be how it shakes out for the year.
That said, this just my take on it. If you think I missed something, or that you know something I don’t, by all means let’s see it.
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