NFC & AFC EAST PREVIEWS
This is the second of four NFL season previews. Last week, we covered the western divisions. This week head east. We will follow on next week with a look at the northern divisions and then finish it up with the southern divisions two weeks from now.
NFC East
No team has repeated as NFC East champion since the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles won their fourth straight division title.
The Eagles, New York Giants and Washington Commanders will all try to catch the 2023 division-winning Dallas Cowboys and it looks like there is a clear favorite out of the three.
Dallas: the Cowboys have averaged 12 wins per season over the last three years under coach Mike McCarthy, but have only gone 1-3 in the playoffs in that period. Losing 48-32 in Dallas to the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round was particularly embarrassing last year. With an MVP candidate in QB Dak Prescott, a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Micah Parsons and many other talented players, this team should be almost a lock for another 12 wins, but things feel a little shaky.
It has not been a productive offseason for the Cowboys with their leading rusher, RB Tony Pollard, and two starting offensive linemen, C Tyler Biadasz and LT Tyron Smith, leaving in free agency while they signed zero players of significance. Defensively, Dallas has stars like DE DeMarcus Lawrence (50 Tackles/4 Sacks) and CB DaRon Bland (9 INT) to help Parsons, but the defense was “porous up the middle,” according to Athlon Sports. I guess owner Jerry Jones thinks adding new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer to the mix will fix any defensive issues.
With so few offseason additions and leading receiver CeeDee Lamb still not practicing, the Cowboys are stuck in neutral and not on a path to repeat as division champions, but too talented to miss out on a Wild Card spot.
New York: the Giants let leading rusher RB Saquon Barkley explore free agency and he landed in Philadelphia (Oooff!). Quarterback Daniel Jones is returning from injury, but the jury is still out on him. New York did add offensive talent when they drafted LSU WR Malik Nabors, but everything starts up front and their offensive line gave up 85 sacks last year – the second most ever since it became an official stat in 1982.
New York, like Dallas, is bringing in a new defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen, to a staff that has supposedly bristled under coach Brian Daboll’s leadership. The defense has talent in the front seven with OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux (11.5 Sacks) and ILB Bobby Okereke (149 Tackles), but they did lose two starting defensive backs, CB Adoree’ Jackson and S Xavier McKinney. Eric Edholm of NFL.com says there will be pressure on the young crop of returning defensive backs to fill the gap.
There are too many rumors about Daboll being a jackass and not enough talent around to make this team even a dark horse playoff candidate.
Philadelphia: following their 2022 season Super Bowl appearance, the Eagles regressed badly last year losing five of their last six regular season games and an unsightly 32-9 first-round playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The relationship between coach Nick Sirianni and QB Jalen Hurts last year was described as “fractured” and “unhealthy” in a report by Mike Chiari of Bleacher Report. Philadelphia has brought in Kellen Moore as the new offensive coordinator to help rebuild that relationship and the offense that is led by an excellent line and stacked with weapons like RB Barkley (247 ATT/962 YDS/6 TD), WR A.J. Brown (106 REC/1456 YDS/7 TD), and WR DeVonta Smith (81 REC/1066 YDS/7 TD).
The Philadelphia defense fell apart last year compiling only 43 sacks, after setting a franchise record in 2022 with 70, and giving up 35 passing touchdowns, second most in the league. General Manager Howie Roseman did bring in eight new defenders via free agency and used his top three drafts picks on defenders, highlighted by CB Quinyon Mitchell from Toledo. Most of the projected defensive starters are young and there is potential for growth, but most have underachieved to date.
The offense will probably be better, but Philly feels like a default division champion selection in a group of teams that are either bad or sliding backward.
Washington: the Commanders are enjoying a honeymoon period of sorts after bringing in new leadership during the offseason – general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn. They also drafted QB Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick and he seems to be “clicking nicely” with the skill players in camp, according to Dean Jones of the Riggo’s Rag blog. The offensive line was quite bad last year and it doesn’t look like they will be much better this year, but they might have found a solid anchor in T Brandon Coleman out of TCU in the third round of the draft.
While the Washington defense began the 2023 season with six first round draft picks in the starting lineup, they gave up the most points (518) and the most passing yards (4457) in the NFL. That could be an indictment on the previous regime’s drafting, coaching or both, but it doesn’t bode well for the 2024 season, regardless. They did bring in veteran LB Bobby Wagner to support the rebuild, but two of their recent draft picks, DT Johnny Newton of Illinois and OLB Jordan Magee from Temple, have been dealing with injuries in training camp.
This is a rebuild with too many deficiencies to overcome in one year – no playoffs here.
AFC East
The New England Patriots used to win this division and everything else, but that has changed dramatically.
The Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets can all do great things, but one or maybe all of them will disappoint as they often do.
Buffalo: With Sean McDermott coaching and Josh Allen quarterbacking, the Bills have won at least 10 games five straight years, gone to the playoffs in each of those seasons and have four consecutive AFC East titles, but true playoff success still eludes them. Buffalo traded their leading receiver, Stefon Diggs (107 REC/1183 YDS/8 TD), but still have RB James Cook (237 ATT/1122 YDS/2 TD), brought in WR Curtis Samuel (62 REC/613 YDS/4 TD) from Washington and drafted WR Keon Coleman from FSU. The offensive line is solid and rookie TE Dalton Kincaid (73 REC/673 YDS/2 TD) developed into a weapon last year.
There is concern on the defensive side of the ball since the cogs of their long-time safety duo of Micah Hyde (54 Tackles/2 INT) and Jordan Poyer (101 Tackles) are now gone. In a Sports Illustrated article, Kyle Silagyi highlighted that the Bills have consistently fielded high ranking defenses under McDermott and the importance of returning veterans OLB Matt Milano, DE Greg Rousseau and CB Taron Johnson to that continuing. One problem: Milano incurred a bicep tear in training camp this week and will now miss the entire season.
With the tandem of McDermott and Allen, Buffalo should win this division, but true playoff success – a conference championship – will require the best this tandem has ever mustered.
Miami: the Dolphins have four straight winning seasons, but just can’t get passed the Bills for the division title. Winning the division would allow them to host a playoff game in the warm, friendly confines of Hard Rock Stadium and they really could use that advantage. It is astonishing that the Dolphins have “the longest drought in the NFL without a playoff win at 23 seasons,” as reported by Scott Kacsmar of 365scores.com.
Miami probably overspent on resigning QB Tua Tagovailoa (4624 YDS/29 TD/14 INT), but he has performed well when healthy in coach Mike MacDaniel’s system and he is surrounded by talented receivers and running backs. The defense was an above average squad last year, but had to replace defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who left for Philadelphia, with Anthony Walker, formerly with the Baltimore Ravens. They did bring in S Jordan Poyer from Buffalo who could possibly leverage his knowledge of their rivals up north help them get passed the reigning division champs.
Miami is certainly good enough to make the playoffs, but not betting them winning the division or going deep in the playoffs until they prove they can do it…once in a quarter of a century.
New England: We all know the deal here. I’ve done some reading to find rays of hope or something of interest. Nope – nothing.
Brady has been gone. Belichick is now gone. The talent level is low.
This is like that Portland Trail game – most will die, some will live and be better for it. The future will depend on those survivors.
New York: the Jets are tied with the Buffalo Sabres with the longest playoff drought in professional sports at 13 years. We all know this is about QB Aaron Rodgers’ ability to return to form after an Achilles tendon injury, so New York went out and added three starter-caliber offensive linemen in free agency (T Morgan Moses, G John Simpson, T Tyron Smith) and also grabbed T Olu Fashanu from Penn State in the first round of the draft too keep him safe. Rodgers will be working with two legitimate offensive weapons in RB Breece Hall (22 ATT/994 YDS/5 TD) and WR Garrett Wilson (95 REC/1042 YDS/3 TD).
The Jets defense under coordinator Jeff Ulbrich ranked third in total yards and first in yards per play last year. Linebackers C.J. Mosely (152 Tackles) and Quincy Williams (139 Tackles) are absolute tacking machines and they combine well with young defensive ends Jermaine Johnson and Will McDonald who were the Jets first round picks in 2022 and 2023. The biggest highlight is in the secondary as New York has three (THREE!!!) cornerbacks – Sauce Garnder (#1), Michael Carter (#9), D.J. Reed (#14) – in the PFF Top 32 Cornerback rankings.
The Jets defense is top notch, but this is all about Rodgers – if he is healthy, this team can vault the Dolphins to gain a Wild Card slot or even challenge the Bill for the division.
Baseball Check-In
In our August 1 edition, we covered MLB trade deadline moves and mentioned the Cardinals and Royals as teams to be watched after making some significant moves at the deadline. Well the Reds just swept the Cardinals to kinda, sorta keep playoff hopes alive. They just dropped the first of three to the Royals Friday night 7-1, but a tiny glimmer of hope remains.
To stay current with our baseball coverage, the HOTPO staff recently "covered" a Milwaukee Brewers vs. Washington Nationals game at Nats Park. While the game was fairly non-competitive, we were able to discuss reporting with other media members and reward one loyal subscriber with some time with our staff. Taking the Metro to the Navy Yard with pre and post-game stops at The Bullpen usually leads to a fantastic evening.
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