What are the biggest issues still facing the four teams in the NFC East?
As of now, the NFL will kick off its 101st season on the night of Thursday, Sept. 10 when the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans. Of course, the offseason has been anything but normal up to this point.
Ways of life across the world, the United States included have shifted precipitously. Yet, the NFL has been undaunted in making sure their season moves forward. Free agency proceeded largely as normal while the draft was held virtually and went off without a hitch. Now training camp is edging closer.
This is the second of an eight-part series dealing with each NFL division and what are the top questions facing each club. It started with the AFC East and now it’s onto the NFC East, which features the reigning division champion Philadelphia Eagles and three clubs all with new head coaches in 2020.
One-time Green Bay Packers’ sideline leader Mike McCarthy is now in charge (maybe) of the Dallas Cowboys, longtime New England Patriots’ assistant Joe Judge heads the New York Giants and former Carolina Panthers’ boss Ron Rivera takes over the Washington Redskins.
So what are the biggest issues for each of these four clubs? Only the Eagles finished with a winning record in 2019 and none of these clubs won at least 10 games a season ago. Are there any possible solutions on the horizon? There’s less than three months before the start of NFL 2020.
NOTE: Teams are listed in order of finish in 2019.
Philadelphia Eagles: Does the team have enough talent and depth at wide receiver?
Down the stretch this past season, Doug Pederson’s club managed to string together four consecutive victories (following a three-game losing streak) on the way to winning the NFC East with 9-7 record. They did on offense primarily on the arm of quarterback Carson Wentz, who was forced to rely on a pass-catching corps that had very few faces remaining from the club that kicked off the season at home against the Washington Redskins.
For instance, in the team’s 17-9 playoff setback to the Seattle Seahawks, a game in which the four-year pro would leave with a concussion in the middle of the first quarter, the Eagles’ starting wide receivers were Robert Davis and Greg Ward. There was no Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor or DeSean Jackson.
This offseason, general manager Howie Roseman addressed this department in numerous ways. In the draft, the club used three of its 10 picks on wideouts Jalen Reagor (1-TCU), John Hightower (5-Boise State) and Quez Watkins (6b-So. Mississippi).
The Birds also swung a trade with the 49ers for Marquise Goodwin. They all join Jeffery, Jackson (who missed nearly all of 2019) and promising J.J. Arcega-Whiteside to give Wentz and head coach Doug Pederson a lot of options. And hopefully, health won’t be an issue in 2020.
Dallas Cowboys Will Mike McCarthy rely more on the running game with the Cowboys?
The elephant in the room these days is obviously the Cowboys’ failure to get their starting signal-caller under contract – be it agreeing to the franchise tender or signing a long term deal (the deadline for the latter is July 15).
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But perhaps the real issue when it comes to the Dallas’ offense is less about quarterback Dak Prescott and more on whether new head coach Mike McCarthy will rely on the running game more than he did — especially in the later years — when he was at the helm of the Green Bay Packers.
Actually, the Cowboys eventually got away from it a little this past season. Although the final numbers may indicate otherwise. But a closer look shows that after totaling at least 30 running plays in six of their eight games, the team reached that figure just twice in their final eight outings and were limited to fewer than 100 yards in four of those contests.
Prescott put up career numbers in terms of passing yards (4,902) and scores through the air (30). And despite 1,357 yards and 12 scores on the ground via Ezekiel Elliott (who has made news recently off the field via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News), he was held below the century mark in six of the club’s final eight contests.
And for the first time in four NFL seasons, he did not average at least 20 carries. Food for thought?
New York Giants: Did Dave Gettleman adequately address the defense this offseason?
Back in 2016, the New York Giants ended a four-year postseason drought by finishing 11-5 and earning a wild card berth. That team was carried primarily by a defensive unit that was rebuilt via free agency as Big Blue and then-general manager Jerry Reese opened up the checkbook in a big way.
In the past three seasons, the Giants’ defense hasn’t come close to resembling that unit. The club has struggled in every facet on this side of the football. And it’s a major reason that the team owns a dismal 12-36 combined record the past three seasons and comes off a 4-12 campaign in 2019.
In 2016, the team allowed 284 points and just 25 offensive touchdowns. One year later, New York surrendered 388 points and 42 offensive touchdowns. The club allowed 412 points and 42 more offensive touchdowns in 2018 and now comes off a year in which the squad allowed 451 points and 49 opponent visits to the end zone.
The veteran additions include cornerback James Bradberry (Panthers) as well as former Packers’ linebackers Blake Martinez and Kyler Fackrell. General manager Dave Gettleman used seven of the team’s 10 draft choices on defensive help, including second-round safety Xavier McKinney (Alabama).
So do head coach Joe Judge and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham have enough to work with?
Washington Redskins Is QB Dwayne Haskins prepared to seize the starting job?
Late last season, 2019 first-round quarterback Dwayne Haskins got a chance to show what he can do over a sustained period of time. There were seven consecutive starts from Week 9-16.
He threw for a combined 1,225 yards, seven scores and five turnovers, including just three interceptions. This offseason, there’s been a different overall approach under new head coach Ron Rivera.
"“I just wanted to be a man about my business and that’s on and off the field,” said the young signal-caller to John Keim of ESPN. “Not that I wasn’t prior, but now turning 23, still being young and growing, whenever there were questions about immaturity or lack of whatever it was, I was going to change that (perception) whether it was true or not. I needed to do that for me. I applied pressure with everything I did this offseason, with my body and how I studied, and it’s making a big difference.”"
Haskins appears headed in right direction and that’s nothing but good news for a team that has been unsettled at quarterback since veteran Alex Smith went down with a broken leg in Week 11 of 2018. Including a loss to the Texans that day, the Redskins are a combined 4-19 in their last 23 contests.