NFC East: Mid-Season Report

by Bill Young

For the NFC East, every news story has appeared to be about the turmoil and constant troubles surrounding the Dallas Cowboys. However, for all of their perceived flaws, the organization appears to be moving in the right direction. While firing Wade Phillips sooner might have enabled the Cowboys to salvage their season, this has become an ideal situation for Jason Garrett to assume the head coaching duty. He has no pressure on him since few expect him to be the coach next year as ESPN analysts are continuously associating former Super Bowl winning coaches like Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher to the job. On the other hand, the Cowboys' coaching job is high profile and will give Garrett a chance to be a head coach of another NFL team at the beginning of next season. Football-wise, Jon Kitna has provided veteran leadership that the offense has rallied around. This leadership along with the emergence of the explosive Dez Bryant has led to the recent upset of the New York Giants. This win despite only having two healthy cornerbacks on their roster is a sign of positive things to come, possibly propelling the Cowboys past the Redskins to third in the NFC East.
While the Cowboys future is improving, the New York Giants have a lot of concerns to address. Last year's second half losing streak needs to be avoided. Unfortunately, a loss to the cellar-dwelling Cowboys was not a good start. The fact that the Giants looked unprepared for Dez Bryant who has been the Cowboys only consistent offensive threat this year is simply inexcusable. While the Giants do have 7 games to right themselves, they showed many signs of a team that could fade down the stretch. Examples of these signs were most evident when WR Hakeem Nix quit on a route leading to an interception and the inability to run the ball against Dallas. Since the Giants do not have the most explosive receivers, the receivers need to commit to their routes and the run game MUST be effective for the Giants to make the playoffs this year. Otherwise, they might as well end their season here and begin planning for the future.
One team thats fading fast is the Washington Redskins. The Redskins are the league's worst team at converting third down. In most cases, this would lead to benching the quarterback. Unfortunately for the Redskins, McNabb is now an 80 million dollar man who is backed up by the turnover waiting to happen--Rex Grossman. An even greater concern is the play of the defense. After getting shredded by the Eagles last week ( a team the Redskins held to 14 pts earlier this year), one has to wonder if the Redskins defense has anything left for the rest of the season. Linebacker London Fletcher has been a warrior but even he will get tired at some point if the offense continues to fail to sustain drives. Brian Orakpo has also been slowed by injuries, highlighting the lack of passrushing depth the Redskins exhibit every week. Losses to the Lions and Rams combined with the latest thrashing by the Eagles do not bode well for the Redskins as they face the Giants in two of their last 7 games.
The hottest team in the NFC East is the Philadelphia Eagles. QB Michael Vick has worked harder at film study and it shows. The Redskins had no way to defend him last week and most teams will not fare much better. As long as Vick avoids hits like the one the Redskins inflicted on him earlier in the season, the Eagles can go far in the playoffs. Super Bowl potential--maybe not. The running game is still weak and the defense can look average at times, but with Michael Vick leading the offense, all of those problems are largely overshadowed by the scoreboard.