manofaiki
08-25-2007, 04:31 PM
As this latest offseason has unfolded, what I'm seeing gives me reason to strongly suspect the NFC East is a 2 team race this year.
The Skins bizarre refusal to build a core foundation through the draft and instead trying to win now by trading for aging veterans for which they give up draft picks, and signing older players to huge FA contracts should all come to a head this year.
In just the last 3 weeks they signed Todd Pinkston (he of the infamous 'I'll give up on the ball if you're going to hit me' plays), cut LeMar Marshall (teams starting MLB the last 2 years plus 2nd on the team in tackles) and replaced him with Randall Godfrey (who was sitting at home, not in anybody's training camp in week 2 of the preseason, getting ready for life after football when the Skins called), and now traded with the Jets for disgruntled aging vet OG Pete Kendall, who depending on how many snaps he plays, will cost the Skins either their 5th round pick in 2008 or their 4th rounder in 2009.
This years draft the Skins had no 2nd, 3rd, or 4th round pick. They already don't have a 4th rounder for next year, and have just given up yet another pick.
Gibbs is desperate to get a winner NOW since he's not planning on hanging around for more than another year. He took the job 2 years ago planning on a fast turn around using veteran FA's and it hasn't worked. Snyder wants to win now also, and this has been a bad combination for that franchise. They are desperate hoping for a deep playoff run this year since they know with all the old guys in key spots on the team the window of opportunity is closing.
Like Parcells, Gibbs is viewed as a short term 3-4 year guy coming in to fix it and then riding off once again into the sunset. While Parcells drafted pretty well and built a pretty darn good team for the future in his 4 years with the 'Boys, mostly using the draft with just a few trades and FA's brought in, Gibbs and Snyder went in the opposite direction, following a strategy that said the future is NOW.
The result is a team with too few younger guys being developed and too many older guys that won't be here in 3 more years or less. This year the Skins are starting Jason Campbell at QB, and he has looked awful thus far, not being able to pick up blitzes and getting sacked numerous times. Clinton Portis has yet to demonstrate he can finish an entire 16 game season, and he's already being limited by injuries this pre-season.
This team finished 5-11 last year, with one of those wins being decided by a dumb penalty with no time on the clock that had 15 extra yards tacked onto it that shouldn't have been, thus allowing the Skins to kick a FG and take the win over the Cowboys. Without that fluke it was a 4-12 team.
The Giants are likewise in turmoil. Oh, sure they are trying to put a happy face on it, but the fact is their best offensive player quit the sport rather than play for Coughlin another year, and this year their defensive team leader is holding out of training camp after suddenly deciding that maybe he doesn't want to play football anymore either.
5 years ago what were the Giants? A team with some talent on it that was a soft, under-acheiving group of football players. The last smart thing Ernie Accorsi did for them was bring in Coughlin. He was exactly what that soft group of underacheivers needed. Only the soft group of underachievers decided they LIKED underacheiving, so Coughlin's very first training camp his own players reported him to the NFLPA for having a camp that was TOO HARD.
They have done nothing but whine and bitch about him ever since he's been there. Now a key offensive team leader left over Couglin, and this present training camp has turned into a circus as their defensive team leader holds out for more money and the chance of forcing a trade to some other city where he doesn't have to play for Coughlin anymore. Don' think seeing that won't have a psychological effect on the team because it will.
Even without Eli's inconsistent play, and the injuries that have plagued the Giants this preseason, this team lacks leadership and it won't be but a few games into the season before players start whining about their coach in the media.
That leaves Philly. McNabb is back, and he's not happy the team took a QB in the 2nd round of the draft without giving him a heads up first. They just cut Trotter, a defensive team leader, and McNabb is hearing footsteps. The Eagles will be tough because they always are. No matter how skinflinthish the Front Office gets in not bringing in any FA's and not rewarding guys on the team with better contracts, Reid always seems to make it work.
If Dallas does lose a divisional game this year, it will be to the Eagles. I fully expect Dallas to go 6-0 in the division this year, 5-1 at worst.
The Skins bizarre refusal to build a core foundation through the draft and instead trying to win now by trading for aging veterans for which they give up draft picks, and signing older players to huge FA contracts should all come to a head this year.
In just the last 3 weeks they signed Todd Pinkston (he of the infamous 'I'll give up on the ball if you're going to hit me' plays), cut LeMar Marshall (teams starting MLB the last 2 years plus 2nd on the team in tackles) and replaced him with Randall Godfrey (who was sitting at home, not in anybody's training camp in week 2 of the preseason, getting ready for life after football when the Skins called), and now traded with the Jets for disgruntled aging vet OG Pete Kendall, who depending on how many snaps he plays, will cost the Skins either their 5th round pick in 2008 or their 4th rounder in 2009.
This years draft the Skins had no 2nd, 3rd, or 4th round pick. They already don't have a 4th rounder for next year, and have just given up yet another pick.
Gibbs is desperate to get a winner NOW since he's not planning on hanging around for more than another year. He took the job 2 years ago planning on a fast turn around using veteran FA's and it hasn't worked. Snyder wants to win now also, and this has been a bad combination for that franchise. They are desperate hoping for a deep playoff run this year since they know with all the old guys in key spots on the team the window of opportunity is closing.
Like Parcells, Gibbs is viewed as a short term 3-4 year guy coming in to fix it and then riding off once again into the sunset. While Parcells drafted pretty well and built a pretty darn good team for the future in his 4 years with the 'Boys, mostly using the draft with just a few trades and FA's brought in, Gibbs and Snyder went in the opposite direction, following a strategy that said the future is NOW.
The result is a team with too few younger guys being developed and too many older guys that won't be here in 3 more years or less. This year the Skins are starting Jason Campbell at QB, and he has looked awful thus far, not being able to pick up blitzes and getting sacked numerous times. Clinton Portis has yet to demonstrate he can finish an entire 16 game season, and he's already being limited by injuries this pre-season.
This team finished 5-11 last year, with one of those wins being decided by a dumb penalty with no time on the clock that had 15 extra yards tacked onto it that shouldn't have been, thus allowing the Skins to kick a FG and take the win over the Cowboys. Without that fluke it was a 4-12 team.
The Giants are likewise in turmoil. Oh, sure they are trying to put a happy face on it, but the fact is their best offensive player quit the sport rather than play for Coughlin another year, and this year their defensive team leader is holding out of training camp after suddenly deciding that maybe he doesn't want to play football anymore either.
5 years ago what were the Giants? A team with some talent on it that was a soft, under-acheiving group of football players. The last smart thing Ernie Accorsi did for them was bring in Coughlin. He was exactly what that soft group of underacheivers needed. Only the soft group of underachievers decided they LIKED underacheiving, so Coughlin's very first training camp his own players reported him to the NFLPA for having a camp that was TOO HARD.
They have done nothing but whine and bitch about him ever since he's been there. Now a key offensive team leader left over Couglin, and this present training camp has turned into a circus as their defensive team leader holds out for more money and the chance of forcing a trade to some other city where he doesn't have to play for Coughlin anymore. Don' think seeing that won't have a psychological effect on the team because it will.
Even without Eli's inconsistent play, and the injuries that have plagued the Giants this preseason, this team lacks leadership and it won't be but a few games into the season before players start whining about their coach in the media.
That leaves Philly. McNabb is back, and he's not happy the team took a QB in the 2nd round of the draft without giving him a heads up first. They just cut Trotter, a defensive team leader, and McNabb is hearing footsteps. The Eagles will be tough because they always are. No matter how skinflinthish the Front Office gets in not bringing in any FA's and not rewarding guys on the team with better contracts, Reid always seems to make it work.
If Dallas does lose a divisional game this year, it will be to the Eagles. I fully expect Dallas to go 6-0 in the division this year, 5-1 at worst.