I did pretty badly with this last year, predicting that the Giants and Eagles would go into the post-season as winners and wildcard respectively. In the end, the Cowboys surprised and the Giants disappointed to swap places from my predictions. Unfortunately the ‘Skins did no better than I thought they would and were propping up the division.

Let’s see what’s happening for 2010…

New York Giants

The Giants started so promisingly last season, but then it all went wrong as the compiled an 3-8 record in the final 11 weeks. Although they scored good victories against the Redskins and Cowboys, after three easy games (Bucs, Chiefs and Raiders) it was a slippery slope that saw them unable to compete with any serious competition. On the bright side, they did sweep the Cowboys.

The off-season and draft saw the Giants make some steady, augmenting steps. This was not a rebuilding process, but plenty of attention – including 6 of the 7 Draft picks – being spent on the defence. DE Jason Pierre-Paul has great potential, but will need to be coached carefully to get the best out of him. Other picks included linebackers Phillip Dillard and Adrian Tracy that will look to replace the departing Antonio Pierce. Antrel Rolle came in as a free agent, becoming the most expensive Safety in history in in the process. Jim Sorgi also came in from the Colts, continuing his fine career of backing up a Manning.

With only a ‘tweaking’ of the offence, this is a team that feels they can compete on that side of the ball and with the new players coming in on the D, they’ll hope to improve of their middling 13th rating.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys surprised us all last year by turning up and playing when it mattered, and by getting the proverbial monkey of their backs in crunch games. They closed out the regular season with consecutive divisional shut-outs. Beating Washington and then Philadelphia to take the NFC East title. A rematch with the Eagles in the wildcard round saw them finish a three-game sweep against the divisional rivals and set up a game in Minnesota. This win was the first Cowboys’ playoff victory since 1996 and there was a real feeling that the tide had turned. Of course, it wasn’t to be but this is a team that’s looking strong for 2010.

Dez Bryant has come in, and he looks good so far. He’s certainly a rookie to watch. Roy Williams is making the right noises and the D has been deepened with the rest of the draft. They need to improve on takeaways, but it was overall a solid unit last year.
Tony Romo skipped golf for voluntary OTAs! You can’t say much more than that from a guy who looks more and more like a real leader of the team. For me, at the moment… and I hate saying it… the ‘Boys are the team to watch in this division next year.

Philadelphia Eagles

For too many years to remember the offence in Philli has been lead by Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook. Not any more. Westbrook hit that age, and also suffered with injuries a lot last year. Rather amusingly, his official page hasn’t had its stats updated since the 2007 season. McNabb is of course in Washington now.

Last season the Eagles ranked 11th in offence and 12th in defence overall, which is not bad really but this team was all over the place for the first half of the season before making real strides in the second half before it wall went wrong against Dallas.

9 of the Eagles’ whopping 13 draft selections were on defence and the offence is being put in the hands of Kevin Kolb. Kolb was drafted behind Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell back in 2007, and he’s been steady if unspectacular so far. All the right talk is coming out of the Eagles’ camp, but it remains to be seen if can lead a young team onwards.

Washington Redskins

I’ve spoken a lot already about some of the changes that the Redskins needed to make, and those that they have made. I won’t dwell too much on this team, as I’m sure I’ll be talking more about them soon enough, but there’s a real sense of optimism coming out of the team. Lots has changed, and that might take a while to bed in but there’s not one player who thinks that the changes aren’t a good thing. OK, there is one player who thinks that and I hope Big Albert gets back on side soon.
Could they take the division? Who knows at this point, but I guess you’re here to find out my opinion. I would say no, but think we’ll be competing up until the final week… Best case is a play-off spot coming the way of Burgandy and Gold.

Predictions (made 20th May 2010)

Thumbnail Credit: lil robs

Nate Burleson to the Lions. This is either a stroke of genius or a real stretch, but Stafford needs receiving options. They’ve also added Kyle Vanden Bosch to their defensive line.

Karlos Dansby is now a Dolphin. Miami have made several changes already on the defensive side but Dansby would be a good addition in any case. They’ve also signed Chad Pennington for another year who is a good option as a backup.

In New York, the Jets and Giants have both improved their secondaries with Antrel Rolle joining the Giants and Antonio Cromartie heading to the Jets. Rolle becomes the highest paid safety in NFL history in the process.

The Ravens have signed Anquan Boldin, adding much needed depth to their passing game.

But Off-Season Champions so far (the ‘Skins haven’t got going yet ) are the Bears, who are making waves like they did last year. As well as snagging Julius Peppers to a monster contract, they’ve picked up Chester Taylor and Brandon Manumaleuna.

A number of teams have resigned players and made tenders, and we’ll be watching what happens with a lot of those. A good number have also been released and we’ll be talking about them seperately later on.