Teams are listed in expected order of finish and team names are preceded by Rank within Conference / Rank within NFL.

NFC East

1/1. Eagles:

On paper, this is the team to beat in the NFC.

T.O. is a huge addition, as is Kearse IF HE CAN STAY HEALTHY. It doesn’t hurt to have have two quality RBs (Westbrook and Buckhalter) as well.

Their big question mark is the defensive secondary, where they lost two high quality players and did not replace them.

Their overall ‘03 defensive ranking of 20th isn’t as much of a problem as you might think, because they were 7th in points allowed (17.9 per game).

4/7. Redskins:

It isn’t just Joe Gibbs, it’s a great FA period, it’s Bugel as O line coach and an abbreviated but quality draft. They’ve added quality and depth on both sides of the ball, picked up elite RB Clinton Portis, and have thoroughly bought into Joe Gibbs philosophy and system.

The only place they’ve gotten weaker is at CB, but did a fair job in patching that hole, too (brought in CB Shawn Springs).

The other important question area is blocking for Portis. Washington’s O line is not nearly as good as Denver’s, and Gibbs won’t use a FB. Could make it a very hard and possibly injury shortened year for the man they seem to be hanging so much of their hopes on for the upcoming season.

9/17. Cowpatties:

The big change is dumping RB Troy Hambrick and signing RB Eddie George. Their pure rushing numbers may not be very different, but George can be an important contributor both in the passing game and in the locker room. If rookie RB Julius Jones is as talented as is believed, he could be the starting back by midseason.

What they have to worry about is Keyshawn’s selfishness and knack for causing trouble, dragging down the rest of the team. Hopefully the presence of Eddie George will help to at least balance that.

15/28. NJ Giants:

They’ve had an active, even productive off season. They’ve gotten rid of some trash and brought in some players who will, if nothing else, bring a new attitude while adding depth. Their draft doesn’t inspire any “Ooooooooo”s or “Ahhhhhhhhh”s, though.

Tom Coughlin is a very good coach and maybe the prefect choice to replace Jim Fassel. The problem is that the collection of mediocre talent already residing within the Giants’ locker room doesn’t like to be pushed intellectually or physically. So they aren’t buying into his system or his way of doing things. They had it kind of easy under Fassel, and they don’t want that life of relative ease to change.

Add to this a crybaby rookie star QB in Eli Manning and a down and out loser as his mentor in QB Kurt Warner, and this will be a very long year for the G Men.

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