The Not So Beastly NFC East

Let's start with the Cowboys getting dismantled, and I mean outplayed and outcoached by the Arizona Cardinals. Maybe people will no longer call me crazy when I say I'd rather have Matt Ryan (who doesn't turn the ball over) on my team than Tony Romo (who's turnover streak has reached 20 straight games and this was only his 5th career game w/o an interception).

The Cowboys officially have an awful defense. Outside of DeMarcus Ware, there really aren't any Pro Bowlers on that squad this year. The Offense, Owens was held in check by the 'Zona Defense. Jason Witten was the ever-consistent bright spot. Romo had about 6 fumbles that he turned over, one including an Arizona Cardinals TD. The real score of this game Ladies and Gentlemen (even if we count all but one of the turnovers taken away as field goals) the Cardinals win this game in regulation, 37-21. If that isn't a blowout, I don't know what is.

You can go ahead and say "well the refs made the right calls," come on, this is Ed Hochuli we're talking about. Whistle Blown? They took care of that a long time ago. Tuck Rule? Maybe, but it looked more like Romo had the ball knocked out of his hand.

Later on in the week I'll rank the NFC Quarterbacks... see where I put Romo, it won't be in the top 10. On another note, Marion the Barberian had a very lousy game outside of the meaningless touchdown, where most Cardinals fans will rightly say "They let him score to get the ball back". Dallas should be greatful, somewhere in an alternate universe they are 0-5... and forty years from that point they'll still be playoff winless, too. This year? Not happening.

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Out on the West Coast, most San Francisco fans sold their tickets to Eagles fans. The final count was that the stadium was packed but more than half were rooting for the visitor. Sounds a lot like last time, when there were next to no 9ers fans in the stadium at half time.

Correll Buckhalter, definitely the most all-around backup Runningback at least in the NFC. I mean think of it, who else is as good a receiver and runningback.... and if you even think Reggie Bush I will MIND CRUSH you, because he is a Receiver-Back (his own hybrid Wide Receiver position just to make the Saints fans happy). Then again, the last time the Eagles played the 9ers, Westbrook posted a 100/100, rushing just 17 times for 117 yards and 2 TDs, and catching 7 balls for over 100 and a TD. The score was different, San Fran scored a meaningless last second TD to soften the blowout of 38-24.

This was a season saving victory for the Eagles, who now have to face an Atlanta team after the bye week who is also coming off a bye week at that point. So for now we tell Matt Ryan "Only you can prevent yourself from being flat on your back the entire game"

Action Jackson was once again stellar, catching 4 3rd Down conversions and a couple of 25+ yard plays. Through 6 games he has 29 Receptions for 433 Yards and a TD. If he were to keep on pace with that production (Provided no one triple teams him like Pittsburgh did), he'll finish with 77 Receptions for 1154 yards and 4-6 TDs. While this likely won't happen, reaching the 1,000 yard mark would likely make him a shoo-in for R.O.Y.. Anyone who can literally run off Nate Clements' pants and run around with them all game and is a rookie, is a pretty darn good player.

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The Skins are one step closer to reverting to the old and deeply entrenched history of being awful without Joe Gibbs. I think we need to see where they are when they're playing good teams, that loss against the Giants makes the Giants look pretty good right now.

This team needed this win more than they knew it. Not only is the fact that they lost to what everyone acknowledges to be the worst team in football, bad enough. Their offense turned the ball over three times and was awful for almost the entire game. The two bright spots on their team today was the job the Defense did against Steven Jackson and Clinton Portis on the ground. This Redskins team didn't get outplayed at home, but they did get outcoached.

So for now we hold off the accolades and we hope that the Redskins don't start to play like this every week. In the end, they're back to what I thought they were, at worst 7-9, at best 10-6. It's just too bad for them that 10-6 doesn't make the playoffs this year... but then again Dallas might not go 8-8.

Dallas Cowboys

The game helped the Cowboys in many ways:
1. It helped T.O. be happier than he was, we still need him to be happier but he is getting better.
2. We do have a running game. After we played the Redskins I was afraid that we were loosing our running game but we had 198 yards on the ground this game. even though it is against cincy it is still good.
3. Felix Jones is looking better and better, he was definitly our best draft pick.

Things to watch:
1. our defence. i mean yes we held cincy to 2 touchdowns, but they had 3 field goals and a recovered onside kick. And we had our first interception....ouch. Come on this is cincy, not the best offence in the leauge, we need to stop teams from getting into field goal range.
2. Romo needs to stop giving the other team the ball, he did it twice in this game, he can't let that happen again

Week 4 Power Rankings... Big NFC East Letdowns

1. Tennessee Titans:

• They're like the 2000 Ravens with a lot more offensive firepower and a little bit less of a defense... but only a sliver.
  

2. Buffalo Bills:

• Young team, Young QB, Young RB, Young Defense, Young Everything... and they're 4-0. Their defense has the best players you've never heard of.

3. New York Giants:

• Bye Week, 3-0... Seahawks up next... they could be here until they face the Steelers.
  

4. Pittsburgh Steelers:

• Huge comeback win over a young, up and coming Ravens team.
  

5. Dallas Cowboys:

• They are who we thought they were. T.O. is still the team killer, Tony Romo is a turnover happy QB and Wade Philips is going to be in the same place in January, crying his eyeballs out at another playoff loss.
  

6. Washington Redskins:

• Skins are getting better every second on the game clock. Jason Campbell might be the best QB in the NFC East by the end of the year.
  

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

• Three Defensive Touchdowns in 3 weeks have put them over the edge in their last two games.
  

8. San Diego Chargers:

• They've won 13 of their last 16 including playoffs.
  

9. Philadelphia Eagles:

• Getting 5 Starters back next week is a big boost to a team that looked very mediocre without Shawn Andrews, L.J. Smith and most importantly, Brian Westbrook. Having Kevin Curtis and Victor Abiamiri just adds Ice Cream to the Cheesecake.
  

10. Carolina Panthers:

• With Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad they're probably the favorite to be the no. 2 seed in the NFC.... if they can keep Jake Delhomme upright.
  

11. Denver Broncos:

12. Jacksonville Jaguars:

13. Green Bay Packers

14. Chicago Bears

15. New York Jets:

16. New Orleans Saints:

17. Indianapolis Colts:

18. Arizona Cardinals:

19. Baltimore Ravens:

20. San Francisco 49ers:

21. Atlanta Falcons:

22. New England Patriots:

23. Minnesota Vikings:

24. Seattle Seahawks:

25. Miami Dolphins:

26. Kansas City Chiefs:

27. Cleveland Browns:

28. Oakland Raiders:

29. Cincinnati Bengals:

30. Houston Texans:

31. Detroit Lions:

32. St. Louis Rams:

Week 4 NFC East Predictions

Dallas @ Washington:
This is going to be a very hard fought game, Dallas' juggernaut Offense goes up against the Skins who are Solid in all three phases of the game. The three key matchups are:

• Dallas' D-Line vs. Washington O-Line
  
• Advantage --> Dallas
• Washington Offense vs. Dallas Defense
• Advantage --> Washington
• Tony Romo vs. Redskins Pass D
• Advantage Dallas

Final Verdict:
This is going to be a game that will be competitive until around half-time or the end of the 3rd Quarter. The Washington Defense without Jason Taylor is a HUGE hamper to their Pass Rush and this will put them back big time. The Skins have won in Dallas a grand total of 12 times in this long and storied rivalry... they've won just 1 time in the last 14 years, making them the 2nd easiest Home Game for the Cowboys outside of the Green Bay Packers, during that span. The Redskins will put up points but at the end of the day the final score is, Cowboys, 45-31.

Extra predictions:

• Romo continues his current streak of 3 straight games with a Red Zone INT, and throws at least 2 interceptions and loses a fumble.
• Marion Barber finally gets over 100 yards in a game
• Felix Jones gets another touchdown be it kickoff or rushing.
• Devin Thomas gets an Offensive Pass Interference call to push his streak up to 4 games.
• Bold Prediction - DeMarcus Ware gets 4 Sacks
  

Eagles @ Bears:
You know it's going to be a long day for the Bears when all the experts say that even if - and yes that is an unlikely IF - McNabb and Westbrook are out, the Eagles will still win easily. McNabb I would say would be more likely to play than Westbrook at this point (but Westbrook I would assume will play). Here are the key matchups:

• Brian Westbrook vs. Bears' Defense
• Advantage: Eagles
• Westbrook scored both of the Eagles' Touchdowns in their meeting last year, where the bears went 98 yards in under 2 minutes to clinch the victory with a game-winning TD.
  
• DeSean Jackson vs. Charles Tillman
• Advantage: Eagles
• Tillman has always struggled even with Safety help against the little speedy guys. See Steve Smith.
• Matt Forte and Kyle Orton vs. Eagles' Defense:
• Advantage: Eagles
• The Eagles lead the league in Sacks, Sacks per play and Run Defense. If they keep that up, their average place in Pass Defense (14th) will be a lot better. The Bears have no offensive weapons at any position that can't be shut down by the Eagles.. Fantasy Owners will want to sit Matt Forte at all costs, this week is not going to be pretty. The Bears just might never make it past the 50 yard line.
  

Final Verdict:
At the end of the day, this should be a game for the Eagles just like their game at home against the Rams was. Expect a similar stat line from the Eagles' Defense, somewhere from 7-10 Sacks, a couple of fumbles and 3-4 picks. If the game on paper were to be on paper, then the final score would be about 52-0, Eagles. But since I'm going to allow for human error from both teams, I'll go conservative and predict a final of Eagles - 41, Bears - 3.

Extra Predictions:

• Brian Westbrook gets the 50+ yards he needs to pass 5,000 rushing on his career.
• DeSean Jackson draws triple coverage for a second consecutive game.
  
• Asante Samuel gets at least 1 Interception
• The Eagles get at least 7 sacks.
• Forte rushes for under 25 yards on 10+ attempts.
• Bears offense gets 0 trips to the red zone
• Bold Prediction - Orton throws 5 Interceptions.

Redskins Take Care of Arizona, Look Ahead Towards Bitter Rival Dallas

Leaving home to go behind enemy lines always feels better when you have a two game win streak under your belt. The Redskins have continued to improve week to week, beating both New Orleans and Arizona after their loss to the Giants. Going into Dallas, the Redskins have 987 total offensive yards, 7 touchdowns, 6 sacks, 4 interceptions, and 2 forced fumbles.

However, a big part if the Redskin's win on Sunday, Jason Taylor, will be out for the game against the Cowboys. He was (unintentionally) kicked in the calf during the second quarter, and although he came out for a brief time, he finished the game on it. Said Taylor, "It was obviously more serious than I thought it was, I kind of blew it off as just a bruise and it ended up getting worse. I did finish the game with it, but I didn’t play very effectively. It was hurting." After the game, the injured calf swelled up, and early Monday morning, Taylor underwent a 20 minute long procedure to ensure that no nerve damage would occur further down the season.

Jim Zorn's comments about the situation were; "He’s going to be fine. Our problem is that he’ll miss the Dallas game. I can’t tell you beyond that." Taylor's backup, Demeteric Evans will most likely get the bulk of the playing time, but other players that could see action are Chris Wilson, Erasmus James and Rob Jackson. Taylors comments on the upcoming game were, "They have won before I was here, and they can win without me for sure. They can do it this week."

I Completely agree with him. This is usually very interesting, and usually close, and this year, the Redskins match up very well with the Cowboys. Shawn Springs is one of the only CB's that consistently matches up well with Terrell Owens, and our LB corps should do a good job on Witten, as they should be getting saftey help through out the game. I have quite a few keys to the game, so here they are.

1. Stop Marion Barber--- this guy is a beast. every NFL team he plays has trouble with him, and if the Redskins don't contain him, he could single handedly beat us. Short version: keep him under 100 yards rushing and don't let him rack up YAC (yards after contact).

2. Block for Portis--- Our O-Line has done a much better job of this our last two games. The result of that? Two wins. Keep this up and it will be three.

3. Disrupt Romo, Catch the Ball --- If he feels pressured, he WILL make mistakes. His mistakes are generally throwing it to the other team. Out secondary has to catch any of these easy ones.

4. DON'T KICK IT TO PACMAN!!!!!--- I realize not alot of teams are thinking about this when they go in to Dallas to face their high powered offense, but do not let Pacman Jones get a big punt return. Momentum is a killer.

Things that didn't make it on the list but should be considered:

-Jason Campbell has to take what the defense gives him, not make the mistake of forcing balls in to well covered recievers.
-Keep Romo from completing the deep ball. Make him take 5 yard passes.
-Get Cooley in the Endzone. You gotta get the ball to your playmakers, and they gotta get in the endzone. Only good things happen when Cooley gets the ball.

Final Prediction: Redskins win, 31-27

I am really looking forward to watching this game. It should be a good one.

Sources: nfl.com, redskins.com

Week Three NFC East Rankings. (Not to Be Confused with Standings)

Here are the rankings (non-record wise) of the NFC East.

1. Dallas Cowboys-- Wow, look at them. They beat a team in last year's NFC Championship. They appear to be the best, talent-wise, and although some of you try to make the argument for the Eagles having this top spot, you have to wait for Dallas to lose for Philadelphia to move up. Why? Because the Eagles lost to them! That was the deciding factor in my mind as to who got the top spot between the two of these teams.

2. Philadelphia Eagles-- I am very impressed with their win against Pittsburgh. What is keeping them from the top spot? Their loss to Dallas.

3. Washington Redskins-- These guys moved up significantly not only our power rankings, but in everyone else's too. They have improved week to week, and as I said before, they will be a team nobody wants to play in weeks 16 and 17. (Watch out Eagles and 49ers!)

4. New York Giants-- Who have they beaten? Washington in their first game played them dead even for most of the game. They blew out the worst team in the league (St. Louis), and had a close call with Cinci. So if the Giants are 3-0, why are they fourth in my ranking? Simple. They look like a team that can be beaten easily. Their first real test this season comes in week eight when they take on the Steelers. Until then, they stay here (unless something drastic happens). If the win that game, they move up.

Week 4 Power Rankings: Chargers have life!

1. Dallas Cowboys:

• 3-0, it's just like last year, except no elite teams for them to face in the AFC. For now at least, they're the top team to beat in the NFL. If it weren't for Derek Anderson, Tyler Thigpen and Big Ben, I'd have said that Romo was the worst QB in week 3. Has Jason Pfannschmidt gone nuts, you ask? No, I'm just pointing out that Romo threw yet ANOTHER red zone interception and turned the ball over twice, fumbling deep inside his own territory. Miles Austin looked very good against Al Harris. Oh wait that's right, every big receiver looks good against Al Harris.
  

2. Philadelphia Eagles:

• At 2-1, we have number one 'b' in the power rankings. The defense completely devoured the Pittsburgh offense... looks like they've got a chip on their shoulder after that poor defensive showing in Dallas. Brian Westbrook's day to day status is extremely good news. Kevin Curtis makes the first step in his return this week as he begins practicing with the scout team. The Eagles hope to get him back after their week 7 bye. Jim Johnson is by far the best defensive co-ordinator in the league.
  

3. Tennessee Titans:

• With Vince Young, they're a 7-9 or 8-8 team, with Kerry Collins they could go 14-2. I don't see them relinquishing their 2 game lead in the division at all. The Titans are for real.

4. Denver Broncos:

• Coming in at number five we have the Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall show. Let's hope this show doesn't get cancelled, because Marshall is on pace to set records. The defense needs to get better, for one week, Reggie Bush doesn't look like a total bust at the running aspect of Runningback. Look at it this way, they're a missed call and a missed field goal away from being 1-2.
  

5. New York Giants:

• The Champs are here to stay, they're not anywhere near capable of repeating, but it's nice for NY fans to know that while the Yankees suck their G-Men will be making the playoffs as the 6th Seed in the NFC.

6. Buffalo Bills:

• Three weeks in, it is time to crown the Bills the AFC East Champs, because no matter how bad they play the rest of the year, a 6-10 record would win this division... kinda like the AFC West last year. But mark my words, they're a 3rd or 4th seed.

7. Green Bay Packers:

• If Al Harris is gone for the season that's a huge hit to their defense. The game was over when Ryan Grant fumbled.

8. Arizona Cardinals:

• They lost to a good home team, but they got cheated by 2 calls that created a 14 point swing for the Redskins. A missed call concerning the play clock and a missed call concerning pass interference.
  

9. San Diego Chargers:

• They are a missed call and a play on defense away from 3-0. They always start out bad, but they had a huge day offensively and their turnover happy defense got their mojo back. Antonio Cromartie now has 5 INTs in 2 career MNF Starts. L.T. is now 3rd all-time on the Rushing TD list with 117, behind Marcus Allen (123) and Emmitt Smith (164). It's funny how he's played half of the seasons they played though. On the bright side of things, they've only lost one game to the AFC and the other loss was to the NFC so that doesn't put them behind by much in the grand scheme of things.

10. Pittsburgh Steelers:

• Big Ben probably went back to the Locker Room post-game and yelled at his O-Line for their awful job across the board. And if a QB ever were to have the right to let his big guys up front know how he feels, it's after he gets pressured on every pass play, gets knocked down 11 times, gets hit 21 times and sacked 9 times.

11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

• If they can get their running game going they've got the best chance of anyone in the NFC South to win the division.

12. Jacksonville Jaguars:

• They pulled out a huge clutch win against Indy, this not only saved their season, it might be the beginning of their ticket to the playoffs

13. Indianapolis Colts:

• Their defense let them down at the very end.... are we really at the point where it's 1 and done for Indy?

14. Washington Redskins:

• They know what it's like to be the Broncos.... in the sense that they'll gladly take a free game given to them by poor refereeing. Their season ends in 2 weeks if they don't win 1 of the next 2.

15. Carolina Panthers:

• Their Offensive Line is looking more and more like a liability in the passing game. Stick to what you're good at, lobbing the ball to Steve Smith, running the ball with Jonathan Stewart. If they can stick to that game plan they'll win the NFC South.

16. New Orleans Saints:

• They missed a great chance to beat an elite team.... not much is going for them right now... I think I smell 2007.

17. Baltimore Ravens:

• They've gone in the complete other direction than anyone would've thought, rookie coach, rookie QB, aging defense.... a win against the steelers would make them 3-0 and 3-0 against the divsion.

18. New England Patriots:

• This might be their last week in the top 20, they looked awful against the Dolphins.

19. San Francisco 49ers:

• Mike Martz has their offense rolling again........ oh wait that was against the Seahawks and Lions.

20. Chicago Bears:

• They will have to play the perfect game to beat the Eagles next week at home. Fantasy Owners of the Eagles' Defense will want to play them over anyone... this could be a game where the bears turn the ball over 5 times.

21. Minnesota Vikings:

• The Gus Frerotte experiment worked... for at least 1 week.

22. New York Jets:

• NY Fans, fear not... Anyone who has their head in their hands can look up to the bright future of Brett Favre getting comfortable with the offense at or around week 6.

23. Atlanta Falcons:

• Michael Vick, who? This team has one of the easiest schedules in the NFL, they've got as good a chance as anyone in the NFC South to win the division. We're finding out that it was the Quarterback, not Roddy White and Michael Jenkins, who were the problem. Matt Ryan is a fixture there for the next 10-12 years.

24. Seattle Seahawks:

• I have a tryout scheduled for this Friday @ 3:15 to play their Flanker position at Wide Receiver... that's how desperate they are... It's only week 3, but it looks like they'll be picking in the top 10. Congratulations Percy Harvin, you're going to be drafted by this team.

25. Miami Ronnie Browns:

• They beat the Pats 35-13... the Miami Dolphins scored 3 points... the only things separating them from the Browns of Cleveland are a win and about 500+ miles
  

26. Oakland Raiders:

• The Raiders lost last second to a team that is probably going deep into the playoffs.. in the mind of a Raiders fan, that is like winning a playoff game. Why? Because when they actually win a game, it's like winning the super bowl for them.

27. Houston Texans:

• It's beginning to look like last year was indeed a fluke. If you look on the bright side, they've only lost to the 2 teams that will be in the top 4 seeds in the playoffs this January, in the Steelers and Titans.

28. Cleveland Browns:

• If we take the positive side of things, the teams they've lost to, are a combined 7-1.

29. Cincinnati Bengals:

• They've improved a lot on Offense, and with a young defense, they're a rebuilding project on their Defensive and Offensive lines, away from being a good, solid team again.

30. Detroit Lions:

• This might just be the worst Lions team I've seen in a long time... yes worse than 2006.

31. Kansas City Chiefs:

• Operation Tyler Thigpen was a disaster... I think that might be the worst stats of a Quarterback in his first start.... 1/11 for -1 yards, OUCH!

32. St. Louis Rams:

• This is one of the last few times they will be the St. Louis Rams. There's a good chance that they'll change ownership by the end of the season... Just picture 2010 opening day when they are once again the Los Angeles Rams.... or for that matter they could upgrade the name of the team... It's going to work for the Oklahoma City Thunder... at least have a smashing awesome team name while your team sucks... they won't be moving from this spot all year.. because they won't win a game this year.