New York Giants: 10-6; 1st place
The Giants finished last season disgracefully, losing three of their last four, surrendering a combined 134 points in the three losses. An inconsistent season in which the G-Men were ranked 1st in defense to start the season ended with embarrassment, and being ranked near the bottom. With Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora on the front line and Mathias Kiwanuka and Jason Pierre-Paul as their second string defensive ends, the G-Men have plenty to prove after last season's debacle. The front line will need to excel given their questionable secondary.
On offense, Eli Manning is maturing into an elite QB, but will still play second fiddle to the better Manning, Peyton. That should be all of the motivation he needs to push this team to greatness. Throwing to Hakeem Nicks, the other Steve Smith, and Kevin Boss will produce some pretty big numbers and will hopefully help deflect focus off of the ground game, which is filled with drama right now. Essentially, Brandon Jacobs needs to accept his role as number two, where he excelled in 2008, for this team to win. And win, they shall.
Dallas Cowboys: 10-6; 2nd place
America's Team seems like a favorite of many to be Super Bowl contenders this season, as it seems they have been for a few seasons now. They do have an excellent team, and they finally got rid of Flozell Adams. This offense can prove to be unstoppable, with Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice running the ball and Tony Romo throwing to Roy Williams, Miles Austin, Dez Bryant, and Jason Witten. I don't know how teams can prepare to cover that many weapons.
Their defense will simply have to keep up, and having DeMarcus Ware bolstering their squad, will certainly offenses out of the endzone. So why aren't they winning more games? The expectations are set sky-high. Like I said, many are slating them to be in the Super Bowl, especially their owner, Jerry Jones, who wants to see them win the big game in his big stadium. Too bad it won't happen.
Washington Redskins: 8-8; 4th place
Donovan McNabb. He is going to thrive under Mike Shanahan. The pressue is off and now he can let the running game dominate the offense, which is what Clinton Portis and Larry Johnson will do. With the pressure off, McNabb can loft ones to Joey Galloway or Santana Moss, or drop underneath to Chris Cooley. This team lost seven games last year by less than a touchdown, and were shut out once. Those seven games could turn into victories with McNabb at the helm.
Their only question mark lies in Albert Haynesworth. And that is a big question mark. Both in size of gut and in magnitude of importance to the team. As McNabb said this week, the Skins can not win without Haynesworth stomping QB's faces. The Skins can only hope Haynesworth plays to his contractual potential to see this team succeed.
Flip, Flip, Flipadelphia Eagles: 4-12; 4th place
Sorry Eagles fans but this is a rebuilding year. I have not been impressed by Kevin Kolb in the least, even though Philly fans have nothing but faith in him. Most fans rejoiced at the McNabb trade, not fully realizing the grass isn't always greener. Kolb may be a good QB someday, but not this year. He's got a great receiver, DeSean Jackson, to throw to but he will struggle through his first year as the team's primary starter.
The Eagles have obviously done a good job at retooling their defense, dropping fan favorites, yet still dominate. Unfortunately, this year they will be without the legendary defensive coach Jim Johnson. Fans better hope he taught his replacement enough before passing away. ESPN seems to think so, ranking them 2nd among defenses for their fantasy pre-draft rankings. Because of Kolb, and the offense, the defense will be on the field too often and thus causing them to struggle. This is a rebuilding year, but next year could hold a lot of promise depending on how Kolb matures this season
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