NFC East Blog: The Young Get Younger?

By Bill Young

The Philadelphia Eagles have been dominating the headlines of late. After releasing Brian Westbrook, the team now looks to trade its franchise QB, Donovan McNabb. The latest news indicates that the Raiders are the frontrunners to land McNabb by giving up a top 42 pick in the upcoming draft.

The Eagles seem to be attempting to solve their problems by getting younger. Unfortunately for the Eagles, this appears to be an example of putting out a fire by using gasoline. The problem for the Eagles never has been McNabb. The real issue is the coach, Andy Reid. While many have questioned McNabb's leadership time and time again, the fact remains that he has always been able to lead his team into the latter stages of the playoffs.

Andy Reid, on the other hand, has adopted systems that have lacked a 3rd or 4th down running back for years. The inability to run the ball when it matters most is a staple of every Andy Reid team. While the NFL is a QB driven league, a team can't win by being one dimensional. In addition, the late Jim Johnson was the best defensive coordinator in the league for many years. This made up for a fair amount of Reid's shortcomings earlier in his career. However, with a new defensive coordinator now at the reins, the team will only get worse. Last season's back to back blowout losses to the Cowboys show just how far the Eagles have fallen.

Speaking of young defensive coordinators, the New York Giants are trying to find a solution for the problem that is their defense. Not too long ago the Giants were Super Bowl champs with a stout run defense. Last year the Giants gave up a staggering 111 rushing yards per game. Obviously the problems facing the Giants were most evident during the 44-7 loss to the Vikings at the end of last season. Last season's decline is a sign of bad things to come. At this point, the Giants could be last in the NFC East next year and it wouldn't be a shock to anyone.

The Washington Redskins would benefit the most from the decline of the Giants and Eagles. With Zorn fired and Shanahan hired, the Redskins have a fresh start and a chance to upgrade their atrocious offensive line. One can only hope that the Redskins don't have to call people off the street and off of their couches to get lineman this season. Redskins fans had to declare their season over early last year after losing to the Lions. While Shanahan is hardly the savior that Parcells or Cowher might have been, he does bring credibility to an organization who previously panicked by hiring Jim Zorn.

While the Redskins, Giants, and Eagles all have a realistic chance to improve, their chances are next to impossible of beating the Dallas Cowboys for the division title. The only reason that they have a chance is because Wade Phillips is the coach. The Cowboys possess so much talent on defense that only the most deficient of defensive coordinators would find a way to mess it up. On offense, Jason Garrett and Wade Phillips among others can't agree on the identity of the team. Run first or pass first? How do we get Roy Williams involved? How do we use Barber and Felix Jones? The coaches have so much talent they don't know what to do with it all. I think everyone in the division is thankful that Jerry Jones brought back Wade Phillips. Until Phillips is gone, I don't see the Cowboys doing any real damage in the playoffs.