By Ken Pomponio
This summer/fall, The Sports Post is highlighting and breaking down some of the key storylines and trending topics in each of the NFL’s eight divisions. The series began with looks at the AFC East, NFC West and AFC South and we now take a turn east.
The United States has Missouri, the Show-Me State.
The National Football League has the NFC East, the Show-Me Division.
From Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins, to coach Chip Kelly’s Philadelphia Eagles, to Jerry Jones, Jason Garrett, Tony Romo, and the Dallas Cowboys, it’s shaping up as quite the much-to-prove, put-up-or-shut-up, walk-the-walk 2015 season in the the NFC’s easternmost quadrant.
As you might have been quick to notice, we left Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, and the New York football Giants off this list, and it’s wholly by design. You see, winning a pair of Super Bowls in true underdog fashion in a span of five years tends to buy a franchise a little leeway—even half-a-decade later in the league that’s infamously also known as “Not For Long.”
As for the remaining three franchises, uh, well, suffice it to say, there are a few issues to be resolved:
With the storylines, goal lines, and challenges now established, let’s go in-depth with our colorful cast of characters and their quests for gridiron glory.
Dallas Cowboys
There was Romo’s infamous bobbled and botched field-goal hold with 1:19 remaining in a 21-20 wild-card round loss in Seattle in 2006.
A year later, there was the 21-17 home divisional-round loss to the eventual Super Bowl-champion New York Giants as the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
Then, this past January, there was the controversial no-catch ruling that went against Dez Bryant and the Cowboys late in a 26-21 divisional-round loss in Green Bay.
The playoff defeats not only have been plentiful over the last two decades, but they’ve been particularly painful for Jones’ crew.
This is a franchise that has won five Super Bowls, but there’s been an entire generation of Lone Star fans who’ve been born, grown up, and headed off to college without attending a single Big D victory parade.
The 2014 squad, however, had Cowboy Nation hopes soaring higher than they have in years. Coming off three straight 8-8 seasons, last year’s ‘Pokes fielded one of the league’s most potent ground games en route to the second-highest scoring season (467 points) in franchise history, a 12-4 finish, and their first NFC East title in five seasons. The Cowboys then got the past the Detroit Lions 24-20 in the wild-card round before falling late—in controversial and deflating fashion—on the frozen tundra.
Painful to be sure, but that’s only seemed to have whetted Lombardi Trophy appetites in Dallas.
Despite losing the league’s leading rusher in DeMarco Murray to the rival Eagles, the Cowboys still possess the league’s top offensive line, a wiser and still-dangerous Romo, and arguably the NFL’s top wide receiver—now the second-highest paid—in Bryant. Add to that pass-rusher Greg Hardy, one of the league’s most praised drafts (essentially containing three first-round picks based on pre-draft evaluations), and hopes for an improved defense.
It all has the 35-year-old Romo fired up as he made a Super-sized boast at an awards dinner in April.
Those wise fellas in Vegas also like the Cowboys’ chances, as one prominent sportsbook is giving only six teams better odds of winning Super Bowl 50.
So, hey, all that’s left is for Romo and the Cowboys to go out and prove it—on the field.
Philadelphia Eagles
LeSean McCoy: Traded.
DeSean Jackson: Not re-signed.
Trent Cole: Released.
Nick Foles: Traded.
Jeremy Maclin: Not re-signed.
Evan Mathis: Released.
And those are only the big names—an 11 combined Pro Bowls with the franchise between them. In short, Chip Kelly has orchestrated quite the extreme makeover in Philly since coming aboard only two years ago from the University of Oregon.
The comings and goings were especially hard to keep track of this offseason as Kelly replaced his starting QB (Foles), leading rusher (McCoy), and No. 1 wide receiver (Maclin) and brought in a new QB in Sam Bradford, two No. 1-type running backs in Murray and Ryan Mathews, and spent a No. 1 draft pick on wideout Nelson Agholor. As a wild-card, Kelly also has brought in polarizing QB Tim Tebow.
Yeah, wow.
In Kelly’s first two seasons, the changes netted a pair of 10-6 finishes and one short-lived playoff berth that ended with a home wild-card loss to the Saints in 2013.
Kelly’s offenses have been prolific, ranking in the league’s top five both seasons in points and yards, but his defenses have left something to be desired, finishing in the league’s bottom half in both categories over the same span. The ongoing offensive experiment should prove to be Kelly’s most interesting yet.
Anointed to guide the offense is Bradford, the top overall pick in the 2010 draft whose myriad injury issues have caused him to miss a full 31 of an 80 possible games in five seasons with the St. Louis Rams. That’s included back-to-back ACL tears which knocked him out of the final nine games of the 2013 season and cost him the entire 2014 regular season.
Can he possibly remain upright for a full season in Philadelphia?
That’s the daunting question for a Philly franchise which is in dire need of some stability under center themselves. Here’s a fun fact: No Eagles quarterback has started as many as 11 games in any of the last three seasons and no QB has started an entire season since Donovan McNabb in 2008.
Whomever the quarterback is, though, they’ll have the luxury of handing the ball to Murray, the league’s leading rusher last season with 1,845 yards. But that was running behind the talented Dallas offensive front. Additionally, it also was Murray’s first full season in four years as a pro, having missed a combined 11 games over his first three campaigns, so he’s in “prove-it” mode as well.
As for the passing game, the team is looking for its third No. 1 wide receiver in as many years after failing to re-up with Jackson and Maclin in back-to-back offseasons. All they did is combine for 167 catches for 2,650 yards and 19 TDs as Philly’s top wideouts over the last two seasons.
Bold moves and big gambles, Chip Kelly. Let’s see how it all plays out on the field.
Washington Redskins
One day after Robert Griffin III suffered a concussion while struggling through a 2-for-5 passing performance for eight yards, two fumbles and three sacks in an August 20th exhibition contest, ESPN’s Adam Schefter gave his rather bleak assessment on a radio talk show:
“RGIII didn’t look comfortable or confident and he left the field concussed in Washington’s second preseason game,” Schefter said. “That’s not a good combination.”
That black cloud of misfortune seemingly has shadowed the D.C. QB since he sparked Washington to a quick 14-0 first-quarter lead over visiting Seattle in the 2012 wild-card round. From there, the Seahawks rolled up 24 unanswered points, Griffin was hurt, requiring major offseason knee surgery, and the Redskins have lost 26 of 33 games, beginning with that 24-14 home playoff defeat.
In that Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year season in 2012, Griffin completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 20 touchdowns and only five interceptions. He also ran opposing defenses ragged, finishing with 815 yards and seven TDs on the ground.
But since going 9-6 in those 15 regular-season starts in 2012, Griffin is 5-15 as a starter with a 62.8 completion percentage, 20 TD tosses and 18 picks.
And after getting sacked only 30 times in 15 games as a rookie, he’s been brought down 71 times in the 22 regular season contests since. The hits have added up quickly and taken their toll—including a dislocated ankle last season—particularly on Griffin’s once-feared mobility, as he’s rushed for 665 yards and only one TD on 124 attempts (5.4 per rush) since his aforementioned rookie campaign (6.8 per attempt).
Not surprisingly, Washington was the league’s fourth-highest scoring team (27.3 points per game) in 2012, but has ranked 23rd and 26th in the two seasons since, averaging just 19.8 per outing.
Meanwhile, the Skins’ defense hasn’t exactly compensated finishing among the league’s bottom four in points allowed in each of the last two seasons, surrendering an average of 28.6 per game.
Griffin also hasn’t received much help from his ego—proclaiming himself, just last week, to be “the league’s best QB”—or second-year head coach Jay Gruden, who’s been insistent that the QB fit his system, rather than tweaking the scheme to better suit the QB. In essence, it’s been a square-peg-and-round-hole pairing that’s worked about as well as some of D.C.’s deeper political divisions.
So, with that backdrop, will Griffin ever be able to recapture his rookie-year magic? It seems particularly doubtful as long as he remains in Washington, but if Griffin can stay healthy, he’ll at least have one more chance to disprove the doubters this fall.
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