I see the Giants winning 11, Cowboys winning 10, and Eagles 9 (yes, I know I’m in the minority on that thinking; no, my name has nothing to do with my opinion). Redskins I see winning 8 or 9.

Mainly because I think they’re better than Philly/Wash and I’d want to hedge my happiness. If Dallas takes the division, awesome, and if not at least I made a little money in the process.

Yes, a part of me wants to scream “Dallas is gonna take it all!!!” but y’know, that’s probably not going to happen…sigh I think the Giants are still the NFC East’s best team.

The only way in hell I’m picking any other team to win the division besides Dallas is if we flat out suck, and I know it. However, I don’t know it, so to me they have as good a shot as anyone else in the division. I’ll take Dallas, and with confidence!

It won’t be the ’Skins.

We go. If he can put together a solid injury-free season then I think we’ll beat out the Giants and Eagles. If he switches into his wild throwing mode then lets hope we don’t end up last in the division.

based on all the input we have available, on paper, the Giants look to be the best bet. However, being the favorite is it’s own burden. More scrutiny, more pressure, more fingerpointing and scapegoating when things don’t go as expected – and they rarely do.

Eagles have the best chance of winning the division; I assume Jim Johnson will make a recovery. They’ve been playing at a high level for years, weeding out the under talented players, and McNabb has been functioning without a #1 for years now. However, losing Brian Dawkins could ruin their season, like losing Darren Woodson ruined Dallas’s 4 years back. The whole at safety is something to watch.

The Giants are unpredictable because they have only played at a high level when they had a #1 WR, and they lost their D-coord who seemed essential. I’m sure they’ll be good but I don’t buy Canty as an upgrade for them.

Those two are the competition for Dallas. The Redskins are going to struggle to win 8 games, but I hope they do because I’d like to see the NFC East streak kept alive.

They have lost some pretty significant contributors lately. With the loss of their top 3 pass catchers over the last two years (Shockey first and now Burress and Toomer) the Giants head into the 09 season without a single receiver (either RB, TE or WR) that has ever had a season over 60 catches, or 600 yards, or 6 Td’s. And people are worried about our Offense!!

To add to that chaos they also lost one of their two 1000 yard rushers in Derrick Ward. To add more trouble to their passing game Ward was also by far their leading pass catcher out of the backfield with 41 catches and 384 yards (Jacobs had 6, Bradshaw had 5).

Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer and Derrick Ward. This is a lot of Offense to lose in one offseason; 124 catches for 1418 yards and 8Td’s, plus 182 carries for 1025 yards and 2 Td’s. The two of the main players responsible for regaining those 2400+ yards will be two rookies, WR Hakeem Nicks and RB Andre Brown.

And then they also lost their Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Giants miss the playoffs.

I just want manuel johnson to pan out as a shifty, reliable receiver.

I am a homer and will continue to be a homer until the day I die.

Philthy will feel the pain of losing their defensive leader and DC.

Giants—no plax, no spags

Skins—can’t get out of their own way

We had the weakest unit in the NFC last year in Special Teams. We fixed that with coaching and the draft. We are hostage no more to ST and safety play.

Bring on the NFC championship!!!

Or lack there of.

1) Eagles – One of only 4 teams in the NFC to total over 4,000 receiving in ‘08. They were behind only Warner’s Cards and the Saints for total receiving yards in the NFC. Thing about the Eagles is they really spread the ball around. They had 10 players catch for 250 yards or more (Cowboys had 6, Giants 6, Skins 3). That includes Westbrook and Buckhalter, but they are receiving weapons also. There’s a drop-off in performance when you get past DeSean Jackson, but a hell of a lot of role playing receivers that move the chains. But that’s to be expected with Reid’s West Coast Offense. Now enter Eagles 1st round draft pick Jeremy Maclin. He has the requisite skills to shine in the team’s West Coast offense, and he’s a threat to score from anywhere on the field. With DeSean Jackson and Maclin on the field at the same time, the Eagles have the ability to unveil an explosive passing attack that mixes a short passing game with a vertical attack.

2) Dallas – Cowboys lose T.O. Miles Austin is due for a breakout season. This is part of the reason Dallas felt comfortable releasing ME O, and why the Jets entertained (for 2 weeks) the notion of compensating Dallas with a 2nd round draft pick to snatch up the restricted free-agent. Between Austin’s injury, and T.O demanding the ball, Austin saw only 13 catches. Still 3 were good for a TD and he totaled an amazing 278 yards on those catches for a 21.4 yards per catch average. 2nd year Tight End Martellus Bennett is the wild card for Dallas. A solid starter-worthy tight end. It’s not going to be as easy as some people think to double team Jason Witten. Not with a 2 tight end set, Roy Williams, Miles Austin and Patrick Crayton on the field. It’s a copy-cat league and I think Dallas will, and should, mimic what the Giants and Steelers did so well in ’07 and ’08, respectively. Pound the damn ball. Run when you can, and pass when you have to. Look for a steady dose of the 3 headed monster – Bash Dash & Tash.

3) Giants – who lose their #1 & #2 receivers,Toomer and Burress. Another thing many people aren’t noticing, yet, is that the loss of 1,000 yard plus running back Derrick Ward will affect the Giants passing game. He was the “hands” RB on 3rd down with 41 catches for 384 yards. Neither Bradshaw nor Jacobs had over 6 catches all season. 1st round draft pick Hakeem Nicks, as well as last year’s 3rd rounder Mario Manningham will be given every opportunity this training camp and preseason to step up and break out.

You can make speculations about potential sleeper draft picks on all 4 team’s rosters. But there’s not a production stat sheet for speculations. And I almost forgot:

4) Redskins

Check it out here.

In summary, they have the Giants as favorites for the division, with key concerns being the health of the O-Line (sound familiar, anyone?), a highly suspect secondary and questions about Manning ’s accuracy.

Interestingly, they predict that the ‘departure’ of both Burress and Ward will have little to no impact on the offense.

The Redskins were just one game shy of Dallas’ record last season and they have a better team (on paper) than they did last year. It was also Zorn’s rookie season as the head coach and I find it reasonable to expect that he will only improve in 2009. Campbell for the first time in his life will get a chance to run the same offense for a second consecutive year.

The Cowboys haven’t swept the series with them since 2004 which makes it reasonable to believe that the Skins will win at least one of the 2009 matchups (And the Cowboys usually split with the rest of the division as well). I still believe (until I see otherwise) that the Cowboys have got the worst coaching staff in the division which will put them at a great disadvantage (it does seem however as if Wade is taking a different approach this year which is good).

It makes me throw up a little bit just to admit it. But i will always root for the Cowboys. Born and raised in Dallas, baby!

i am a homer, but i see it coming down to the birds and the boys… hopefully, if our o line stays healthy, i see a lot of running, screens, swing passes, shorts passes to rb’s and our te’s tearing it up… i see romo still racking up yards, but not the usual deep passes, more short passes and possession routes to roy and crayton and witten and bennett (and our rb’s)