Here’s our take on the NFC East as we saw it way back in early spring.

NFC East

After 12 games, the New York Giants were 11-1 and a consensus pick to return to the Super Bowl. But after the Plaxico Burress fiasco, the Giants took a turn for the worse. They went just 1-4 over their final five games, and it was clear that the Burress incident really affected the team’s play. Minus that distraction, the Giants should be able to make-up for their late-season collapse. Their defense is loaded, and if QB Eli Manning can develop a go-to wide receiver, things will look more like early 2008 rather than late 2008. Can first round pick Hakeem Nicks be the big play guy that takes this veteran team back to the playoffs for a 3rd consecutive year?

We pegged the Philadelphia Eagles in this space last year as a team ready to make some serious noise in the NFC. The Eagles did exactly that, and were a 4th quarter away from the Super Bowl. Donovan McNabb was great down the stretch, and the Eagles offense played some great football. And that offense should pick up right where they left off as this team is solid at every position. The acquisition of OT Jason Peters was a nice move as the Eagles need to protect McNabb’s blindside in their free-flowing offense. The Eagles are also solid on defense, and as long as Jim Johnson is calling the shots, the unit will produce.

Owner Daniel Snyder is once again trying to buy a championship for the Washington Redskins. Snyder paid Albert Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall megabucks over the off-season. But paying big bucks to high profile free agents is not the way to form a championship caliber team, and Snyder should know this after out-spending the other 31 teams over the past six years while winning only 43% of their games. QB Jason Campbell is under a ton of pressure to produce this year, but with the offensive line a mess and aging, that may be tough to do. The Skins’ offense was terrible last year, scoring 13 points or less in 7 games. And points won’t be easy to come by as their 3 divisional opponents all have very good defenses. Washington will also have a tough defense to score on, but their offensive woes will continue to stall their progress in 2009.

Spotlight Team

Addition by subtraction for the Dallas Cowboys. They finally rid themselves of a major headache known as T.O.; a great talent but too much baggage. One could argue that the Cowboys have one of the most talented teams in the league, and if that talent comes together, this team will be scary good this season. Their defensive numbers didn’t correlate as they allowed just 294 yards per game but 23 points per game. The stop unit deserved to fair much better than that, and that’s why we expect the Cowboy’s defense to be one of the best in the NFL. If one of their wide receivers can breakout to help Tony Romo and compliment their loaded ground attack, Dallas will be one tough team to beat.

? Caution ?: If the teams listed below fail to perform like we expect, discontinue betting-on or against them. You’ll learn more by watching a couple of games than you do by making preseason assessments.

Thanks for reading, Matty