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NFC East Notebook: Redskins' Cousins is rolling at the right time
Week in and week out, the NFC East makes things interesting in the divisional race. The three-way tie at 6-7 between the Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants guarantees a down-to-the-wire finish. With divisional matchups looming ahead, if any of the three teams lose a game in the upcoming weeks, they may find themselves out of the race.
The Redskins have an opportunity to pull ahead this week. They face the 6-7 Buffalo Bills while the Eagles take on the 11-2 Arizona Cardinals and the Giants play the 13-0 Carolina Panthers.
The Redskins' offense is starting to find its groove at the right time. The offense clicks with a two-pronged running attack accompanied by rookie Matt Jones and Alfred Morris. With Chris Thompson out of the lineup with a torn labrum, the Redskins signed former New Orleans Saints' running back Pierre Thomas. The hope is to use Thomas as the receiving passing-down back. He finished with one catch for 12 yards in his first game.
But it's quarterback Kirk Cousins who has really settled into his role with the Redskins. After starting the year with eight interceptions in his first six games, Cousins has thrown just three interceptions in his last seven contests. The murmurs of criticism thrown Cousins' way have died down, and he is growing more and more comfortable in the offense with each day.
Feed Beckham Jr. plenty and often, but he's going to have a tough week
Through 25 career games, Odell Beckham Jr. has 176 catches for 2,625 yards and 24 touchdowns. When you compare those numbers to some of the greatest wide receivers of today's game and NFL history, Beckham dwarfs them.
But Beckham and the Giants have a tough opponent in the undefeated Panthers this weekend, and Beckham is going to have a tough time replicating his Madden 16-like numbers. Why? Because Beckham will face off against Josh Norman. Norman has completely shutdown the NFL's top wide receivers this season. Houston Texan's DeAndre Hopkins? He had two catches on seven targets for 24 yards. Atlanta Falcon's Julio Jones? He had four catches on six targets for 33 yards.
@AdamSchefter pic.twitter.com/eHOTPPCoFS
— Jeff Brodie (@jbrodie56) December 15, 2015
So if Norman is able to cover Beckham, who are the Giants going to give the ball to? Should the Giants expect their 88.4 rushing yards per game (fourth lowest in the NFL) to carry them against the Panthers' run defense that allows 84.6 rushing yards per game? They will likely need another skill position player to step up big if they want to pull off the upset.
Does DeMarco Murray have room to complain?
The Philadelphia Eagles have completely diverted to a running back by committee-style offense with Darren Sproles, Ryan Mathews and DeMarco Murray working together as a three-headed monster.
One of those heads is not exactly happy with his role. Murray met with both team owner Jeffrey Lurie and head coach Chip Kelly to discuss his role with the team. The extent of his meetings are dicey, but based on his 11 carries this past week against the Buffalo Bills, he was probably told his role is not that of a feature back.
But has Murray even proven in his time in Philadelphia that he can handle being a feature back in their system? Murray has rushed for 603 yards on 174 carries this season, good for 3.5 yards per carry, the lowest average over a season in his career. Mathews is averaging 5.3 yards per carry, and has 465 yards this season. Sproles is averaging 4.0 yards per carry, and has 275 yards on the year.
If Murray is unhappy with his situation, the Eagles have a difficult decision on their hands. To cut Murray, it would cost the Eagles $18 million against the cap, a hefty price to pay.
Could the Eagles trade away a big-name running back for the second year in a row?
Why did Murray even chose to sign with the Eagles after seeing what happened to feature back-turned role back LeSean McCoy the year prior?
Fool a feature back once, shame on the head coach. Fool a feature back twice, shame on the feature back.
Jerry Jones: 'We'll go balls-out with Dez'
It's not in Jerry Jones' blood to give up on a season for the sake of a high draft pick.
Despite the fact that his Dallas Cowboys' offense has averaged just 266 yards per game over the last few weeks, the Cowboys will still battle each and every week.
This season has been interesting for the Dallas Cowboys. They quickly became extremely ineffective when Tony Romo went down with two different injuries. He's 35-years-old. The Cowboys haven't selected a quarterback within the first two rounds of the NFL draft since they took Quincy Carter with their 53rd overall pick in 2001. If the offense is so stale without Romo, would it be a good idea to invest in a quarterback you believe would give you a bright future with your high upcoming draft pick?
Jerry Jones on @1053thefan asked if there are any plans of shutting Dez Bryant down early. "No, not at all. We'll go balls out with Dez."
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 15, 2015
The Indianapolis Colts took a similar approach when their vulnerability was exposed when Peyton Manning was out for the year with his spinal infusion surgery. They selected Andrew Luck with the No. 1-overall pick. Could the Cowboys snag their version of Luck?
