Phil Sheridan gives an interesting synapses of our division rivals headed into next year.
Dallas went 13-3 and won the division title. You'd think that put the Cowboys in a strong position going into next season. You'd be wrong. After Sunday's shocking upset by the Giants, there are a million little cracks in Jerry Jones' franchise. Terrell Owens' deeply moving, totally sincere crying jag is just one sign of impending collapse in the Metroplex.
...The Giants melted down, or so it appeared, the last two years and they're doing just fine. But there's a whiff of the fluky about this team. The younger Manning is doing it more with smoke than mirrors, and Coughlin's evil twin is almost certain to reemerge in time.
Dallas faces an offseason where they are likely to get picked clean with the departures of draft guru Jeff Ireland in the front office headed to Miami, offensive line coach and play caller a year ago Tony Sparano likely heading to Miami, and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett heading to Baltimore for a second interview with the Ravens. That would leave them with Wade Phillips who still has never won a playoff game in charge of the team and Jerry Jones(click the link!) without a real contrary voice in charge of personnel.
Of course, this is not even mentioning that Dallas doesn't look nearly as solid roster wise as they thought they did earlier this year.
Washington is a team, like Sheridan said, that will have questions around it going into next year. QB Jason Campbell still has a lot to prove and he missed an opportunity to gain valuable postseason experience this year. It also remains to be seen what happens coaching wise there now that Joe Gibbs has left. Plus, there's the unenviable task of replacing a great player in Sean Taylor.
The Giants are a team on a great run at the moment, but are they looking like they'll be dominant next year? We've seen the Giants all year, do they scare you? Although, if they go to Green Bay and beat the Pack I may re-think how I feel about the Giants going forward...
Point is that the NFC East is very much wide open. No team finished under .500 in 2007 which tells me that the talent gap isn't all big. Any one of these 4 teams can step up and take it next year, but it isn't going to happen by standing pat. Someone needs to make a bold move.
We know Dallas will make bold moves. We know the Skins will. Will the Eagles? It's been almost 4 years now before we saw the Eagles make what I'd call a "bold" move.