NY GIANTS

Today the Giants lost MLB Jonathan Goff to a torn ACL. Reportedly, he bumped knees with a teammate in practice. This hurts. Rookie Greg Jones is listed as the backup MLB. It will be interesting to see if the Giants stick with him or look for a veteran.

The Giants have now lost 2 of their top 4 tacklers from last year to ACL tears (CB Terrell Thomas and Goff). Osi Umenyiora is dealing with nagging injuries. Rookie DT Marvin Austin went on IR with an upper body injury. LB Clint Sintim is out for the year. Backup CB Brian Witherspoon is also out for the year. That’s a tremendous amount of season ending injuries before the first game.

The team is still loaded with pass rushers (Tuck, JPP, Kiwanuka), but has an odd group of DTs. Chris Canty, Rocky Bernard, Jimmy Kennedy, and Linval Joseph combined for 4 sacks and 5 TFLs last year. The Giants let Barry Cofield and his 4 sacks walk in free agency. That group is big and has some potential, but also could prove to be a weaker area than expected.

The Giants have a strong set of skill players, with one exception. With slot receiver Steve Smith and TE Kevin Boss gone, you wonder who Eli will get the ball to in the middle of the field. Nicks and Manningham are the outside guys. Either guy can move to the slot, but that leaves the Giants weaker on the outside. They need Domenik Hixon or one of the young receivers to step their game up.

The OL has some issues. The right side is good, but there is change beyond that. David Baas comes over from the Niners to be the C. David Diehl moves from LT to LG, his more natural position. William Beatty is the new LT. He was up and down in the preseason. Beatty can be a good run blocker, but his pass protection is less than ideal.

The Giants have some big time pieces still in place, but their degree of difficulty on being a playoff team has gone substantially up due to all the injuries. Interesting note about the Giants. They won the SB in 2007. They won the NFC East in 2008 and looked like the best team in the NFL for a while. They began 2009 5-0 and looked like the best team in the league after demolishing the Raiders, 44-7. Last year the Giants started off 6-2 and once again looked like one of the best teams in the league. The ’08, ’09, and ’10 seasons ended badly. Even if the Giants look good early on, there is going to be doubt about them until they win in November and December.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS

John Beck was the QB all spring and summer. Now it’s Rex Grossman. Either way, is anyone really worried? Rex started 3 games late last year. He was 1-2 and led the team to 21.3 ppg. The Skins offense is definitely improved, but I’m not buying that it will suddenly be some explosive unit. The Skins scored 30 points in one game last year. I’m supposed to believe that Tim Hightower, Rex Grossman, and Jabar Gaffney solve all the offensive problems?

The defense should be much better, but then again improving from 31st in the league isn’t a huge challenge. This year the team has personnel that better fit the 3-4 scheme. I’m not enamored with Barry Cofield at NT. I like him more as a 4-3 DT, but he signed up knowing what he was getting into. Ryan Kerrigan is the key guy. If he proves to be a good pass rusher, that changes everything. Last year Brian Orakpo was the only one up front who could rush the passer. He had 8.5 sacks. After that, several guys tied with 2.5 sacks.

Mike Lombardi has picked the Skins to win the division. I don’t know what the heck he’s drinking, but I’d like to try it. The team will be better, but just because they played well in August doesn’t mean squat during the regular season. Just ask Steve Spurrier. He looked like Vince Lombardi in preseason games, but more like Ray Handley in the regular season.

DALLAS COWBOYS

Jerry Jones decided to revamp his O-line and got rid of some veterans. Sound familiar? The Cowboys actually outdid the Eagles. They have a rookie at LG and RT. They have a C with only 1 career start and who was a UDFA in 2010. The line will be smaller and more athletic than last year. It will be interesting to see which line does better, us or them.

Dallas is still loaded at the skill positions, assuming they can make up for Roy Williams dropped passes and sporadically lethargic effort. I have faith that they’ll come up with something. If the Boys stay healthy and the line works as expected, they could score a lot of points.

Can they stop anyone? LB Anthony Spencer needs a big time bounce-back year to help DeMarcus Ware out. CBs Mike Jenkins and Terrence Newman also need bouce-back seasons. Abram Elam and Gerald Sensabaugh are veteran Safeties. We’ll see how they play in 2011. For some reason, Keith Brooking is still listed as a starter at ILB. At some point Sean Lee should take that role from him. Rob Ryan is the new Defensive Coordinator, but I think some of the hype that comes with him is based more on his last name than his track record. Rob has only had one unit finish in the Top 10 in fewest yards or points allowed in his 7 years of running an NFL defense. Wade Phillips has an infinitely better track record. Ryan has a great last name and a fiery personality, but the truth is that he’s been a middle of the road DC in the NFL. Dallas gives him a chance to coach talented players and to benefit from a good offense. We’ll find out just how good a coach Rob really is.

I think Dallas is the key competition for the NFC East title. Staying healthy will be crucial for the Cowboys. I’m not a big fan of their depth.

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For those of you who like to keep up with the other NFC East teams, there is one crucial site: http://bloggingthebeast.com/.

It’s run by Jimmy K. He does a great job of covering the 4 teams and providing good information. He’s not very smart. He’s not a gifted writer. He’s wanted in 37 different states for various crimes. And yet, he somehow manages to run the best NFC East site out there. Miracles never cease, huh? Make sure to check it out. Just don’t make direct eye contact with him or touch his new fur coat.