🦅🤠 NFC East 🤷‍♂️🆘 | Celebrating the Cowboys' 28 Years of Sadness

[HTTRDynasty]

1 minute ago, EagleBlueDon said:

Yeah and that's fine. We're a high variance team this year imo. Could win 5 games, could win 11. Most depends on Hurts. But when the longest shot of the division is 5/1 and they're not even gonna mention us? Like at all? Just absolutely ridiculous. This roster was widely regarded as a 10-6 team heading into 2020. Now all of a sudden it's the worst in the league? Sounds like a lot of sheep to me. Once a negative Philadelphia narrative gets out, it's impossible to stop. I think this division is possibly the only one where every team has a legitimate shot. And we play a last place schedule and got an added bonus of NYJ as game 17.

The schedule argument makes sense, but I'm still not seeing how you can win 11 games...

Most people that had Philly as a 10-6 team heading into 2020 were also high on Wentz.  I don't think anyone is high enough on Hurts to justify the Eagles having one of the best records in the league.  And your defense isn't really good enough to carry him.

[EagleBlueDon]

2 hours ago, HTTRDynasty said:

The schedule argument makes sense, but I'm still not seeing how you can win 11 games...

Most people that had Philly as a 10-6 team heading into 2020 were also high on Wentz.  I don't think anyone is high enough on Hurts to justify the Eagles having one of the best records in the league.  And your defense isn't really good enough to carry him.

I'm not crazy about the division competition. You guys, Dallas and NYG are all bottom 12 teams who can certainly be swept. Or can go 4-2 against. Then you factor in the easiest schedule in the league. Hurts is the wildcard. If the OL/DL stay healthy I think it's certainly the best combo of trenches in the division by a sizeable margin.

[AZ_Eaglesfan]

This team isn't anywhere close to an 11 win team. Not even remotely close. Our offense is being led by Hurts who is a complete unknown and our Defense is bottom 5-10 in the league on paper.

The only way this team competes for the playoffs is if Hurts is a legit QB and has a really good season. I personally just don't see that happening, but I would love to be surprised.

[HTTRDynasty]

3 hours ago, EagleBlueDon said:

I'm not crazy about the division competition. You guys, Dallas and NYG are all bottom 12 teams who can certainly be swept. Or can go 4-2 against. Then you factor in the easiest schedule in the league. Hurts is the wildcard. If the OL/DL stay healthy I think it's certainly the best combo of trenches in the division by a sizeable margin.

Not sure how WFT or Dallas are bottom 12 teams.  Also not sure how you can say your OL/DL is the best combo of trenches in the division "by a sizeable margin".  It's not 2019 anymore.

[EagleBlueDon]

58 minutes ago, HTTRDynasty said:

Not sure how WFT or Dallas are bottom 12 teams.  Also not sure how you can say your OL/DL is the best combo of trenches in the division "by a sizeable margin".  It's not 2019 anymore.

I think you both are in that 20/21 range yes. Y'all were 7-9 last year and barely that. Ppl are putting too much stock into WTF winning arguably the worst division in league history. At the end of the day it's a mediocre team that's gonna play a first place schedule. Dallas was 0-5 if not for a colossal choke by the best choke artists of them all in ATL.  Everybody who says "Dak is coming back, they gotta be the favorites" apparently didn't watch any of last season. They were horrible and put up a bunch of gaudy stats from being down all the time. And it's the best OL and 2nd best DL in the division. That composite would make them the best combo.

[Gmen]

I see the annual summer fun is starting in the NFCE thread lol

[HTTRDynasty]

2 minutes ago, EagleBlueDon said:

I think you both are in that 20/21 range yes. Y'all were 7-9 last year and barely that. Ppl are putting too much stock into WTF winning arguably the worst division in league history. At the end of the day it's a mediocre team that's gonna play a first place schedule. Dallas was 0-5 if not for a colossal choke by the best choke artists of them all in ATL.  Everybody who says "Dak is coming back, they gotta be the favorites" apparently didn't watch any of last season. They were horrible and put up a bunch of gaudy stats from being down all the time. And it's the best OL and 2nd best DL in the division. That composite would make them the best combo.

I'm looking at rosters though, not 2020 record.

Washington has a top 3 defense.  They were 3rd in defensive DVOA last year and upgraded this offseason with William Jackson III in place of Darby as CB1, Jamin Davis in place of one of the bums we had starting last year, possibly Landon Collins at WLB, and year 2 and 3 for Young and Sweat. 

But the most massive upgrade for Washington was to their offense, which ranked 32nd in DVOA last season.  If you think they're ranking that low again this season with Fitzpatrick in place of the bums they had at QB last year, I don't know what to tell you.  Not to mention the massive upgrade to the WR corps. 

By the way, Washington's OL graded out as the 6th best OL in the league last year, per PFF (Philly ranked 19th). They also had one of the top composites of pass and run block win rates in the league. Obviously Philly had a ton of injuries, but let's not assume Brooks and Dillard are coming back 100% right away either, and there is still an open question of whether Dillard is even average, let alone good.  I'm not saying Washington's OL will be better than the Eagles, but their OL is good enough (when added to arguably the best DL in the NFL) to make it clear that Philly doesn't have the best trenches in the division by "a sizeable margin".

I don't have the energy to argue about the Cowboys roster, but suffice to say, they have the best QB in the division by a mile and their offense may be good enough to prop up that defense throughout the season.

[AZ_Eaglesfan]

I don't think Dallas or Washington significantly improved this offseason. Fitzpatrick is better than Alex Smith, but I don't think its some massive upgrade. In many ways Fitz's style of slinging the ball around and turning it over in some games might literally be worse. He is a boom/bust QB who takes chances which I am not sure is good for a team that wants to let their defense win them games. 

Dallas struggled mostly on defense cause they couldn't stop the pass and I don't see that changing. They may have slightly upgraded their DBs and LBs, but they are putting a lot of pressure on their rookies to make plays, and their pass rush is far from something to fear. They will rely on putting up tons of points again, which they will do, but I would not be surprised to see them lose lots of close games this year.

Dallas is the favorite to win the East because they have the best QB in the division. That said I think they are still like a 10 win team. Washington is similar and is likely a 9-10 win team. I think New York has the best chance at making a jump with good QB play, but I just really don't see Jones being able to do that. The Eagles clearly have the worst roster in the division atm, and certainly have a bottom 10 roster in the NFL. They will need big contributions from rookies and a massive step forward from Hurts to compete.

Overall, the division still sucks but is trending in the right direction.

[HTTRDynasty]

4 minutes ago, AZ_Eaglesfan said:

 Fitzpatrick is better than Alex Smith, but I don't think its some massive upgrade

Not a massive upgrade over KC/1st year in Washington Alex Smith, but yes, a massive upgrade over the 2020 Alex Smith who was playing on 1 leg and had the 2nd lowest QBR in the league and one of the lowest PFF grades.

I agree with pretty much everything else in your post though.

[EagleBlueDon]

17 minutes ago, HTTRDynasty said:

I'm looking at rosters though, not 2020 record.

Washington has a top 3 defense.  They were 3rd in defensive DVOA last year and upgraded this offseason with William Jackson III in place of Darby as CB1, Jamin Davis in place of one of the bums we had starting last year, possibly Landon Collins at WLB, and year 2 and 3 for Young and Sweat. 

But the most massive upgrade for Washington was to their offense, which ranked 32nd in DVOA last season.  If you think they're ranking that low again this season with Fitzpatrick in place of the bums they had at QB last year, I don't know what to tell you.  Not to mention the massive upgrade to the WR corps. 

By the way, Washington's OL graded out as the 6th best OL in the league last year, per PFF (Philly ranked 19th). They also had one of the top composites of pass and run block win rates in the league. Obviously Philly had a ton of injuries, but let's not assume Brooks and Dillard are coming back 100% right away either, and there is still an open question of whether Dillard is even average, let alone good.  I'm not saying Washington's OL will be better than the Eagles, but their OL is good enough (when added to arguably the best DL in the NFL) to make it clear that Philly doesn't have the best trenches in the division by "a sizeable margin".

I don't have the energy to argue about the Cowboys roster, but suffice to say, they have the best QB in the division by a mile and their offense may be good enough to prop up that defense throughout the season.

I think your defense is def legit, but I also feel like elite defense is hard to replicate more than elite offense. That defense like maximized it's potential last year, I don't know if it'll reach that again. Fitz is the wildcard for sure, I don't think we can assume anything with him. Just not crazy about ppl factoring in you guys winning the division last year as part of any argument applied to 2021. It's ludicrous. Philly being written off as this talentless team with no chance to win this particular division is insane. Not saying you said that, but it feels like the masses are. I don't think any of these teams have a shot in hell of doing anything in the post season, so I'm looking at the NFC East crown as the super bowl lol.

[EagleBlueDon]

13 minutes ago, AZ_Eaglesfan said:

I don't think Dallas or Washington significantly improved this offseason. Fitzpatrick is better than Alex Smith, but I don't think its some massive upgrade. In many ways Fitz's style of slinging the ball around and turning it over in some games might literally be worse. He is a boom/bust QB who takes chances which I am not sure is good for a team that wants to let their defense win them games. 

Dallas struggled mostly on defense cause they couldn't stop the pass and I don't see that changing. They may have slightly upgraded their DBs and LBs, but they are putting a lot of pressure on their rookies to make plays, and their pass rush is far from something to fear. They will rely on putting up tons of points again, which they will do, but I would not be surprised to see them lose lots of close games this year.

Dallas is the favorite to win the East because they have the best QB in the division. That said I think they are still like a 10 win team. Washington is similar and is likely a 9-10 win team. I think New York has the best chance at making a jump with good QB play, but I just really don't see Jones being able to do that. The Eagles clearly have the worst roster in the division atm, and certainly have a bottom 10 roster in the NFL. They will need big contributions from rookies and a massive step forward from Hurts to compete.

Overall, the division still sucks but is trending in the right direction.

Gotta factor in Dallas losing its #1 pass rusher from last season as well in Aldon Smith. The secondary got worse from losing Awuzie, who wasn't really any good to begin with but still a veteran guy you can count on more than some rookie. Idk who else they lost but I think it's a worse unit on paper overall. They threw their most valuable resources at LB, the one position they had young talented players at.

[Danger]

2023 will be the year we are likely ready to be back trying to compete for something real again in my honest opinion. I think we could be unfortunately frustratingly mediocre if we overachieve in the mean time.

[EagleBlueDon]

7 hours ago, Danger said:

2023 will be the year we are likely ready to be back trying to compete for something real again in my honest opinion. I think we could be unfortunately frustratingly mediocre if we overachieve in the mean time.

I think Hurts has a very high bar to clear this year. They want an answer at QB. If he doesn't ball out in a convincing fashion, they will go get a franchise QB. I don't think they like not knowing for sure if they have their guy or not. Hurts either proves he's the guy in a major way, or they acquire Watson if he's cleared, Wilson and Rodgers are even possibilities. Then you have the top draft prospects as well. This will be the only year where there's an unknown at QB. I promise you that. Likely 3 FRP guarantees that security.

[Daimonas]

If you think an eagles roster fresh off a 4-11-1 season with a completely overhauled basically rookie coaching staff, no back end of defense, nothing more than dice rolls at WR (despite how high i am on devonta), and a complete unknown starting at QB has a chance of winning 11 games IDK what to tell you. I think 7 wins would be a great showing from this team in 2021 honestly.

 

Washington's defense will win them games on its own. I don't really see any other team in the least competing with them this year. They only need to be mediocre on offense to win the division at 8-10 wins.

 

2022 I'm significantly more confident in the Eagles. Either hurts is the guy or they have enough picks to find the guy. That coupled with a full season of getting used to the new playbooks on offense and defense. 2022 is going to be exciting.

[Kiltman]

12 minutes ago, Daimonas said:

If you think an eagles roster fresh off a 4-11-1 season with a completely overhauled basically rookie coaching staff, no back end of defense, nothing more than dice rolls at WR (despite how high i am on devonta), and a complete unknown starting at QB has a chance of winning 11 games IDK what to tell you. I think 7 wins would be a great showing from this team in 2021 honestly.

 

Washington's defense will win them games on its own. I don't really see any other team in the least competing with them this year. They only need to be mediocre on offense to win the division at 8-10 wins.

 

2022 I'm significantly more confident in the Eagles. Either hurts is the guy or they have enough picks to find the guy. That coupled with a full season of getting used to the new playbooks on offense and defense. 2022 is going to be exciting.

yeah I think 7 wins is a good mark, that might make things murkier in terms of the QB decision.
But if they are like a scrappy team that is close in a lot of games, it'll be good groundwork.

I think Dallas and Washington have equal shots at it. And normally I'd say whoever eeks out the division will get clapped in the first round. But the NFC isn't necessarily a powerhouse. Still a good chance of a clapping, but not a guarantee.

I don't think either has it in them to go the distance.