2010 NFL Division Preview: NFC East

Yesterday I put up a post by Michael Wright that gave 15 thoughts he had about his New York Football Giants for this upcoming season. I hinted that my NFC East preview would be written in the near future so here it is. This is the third installment of my eight-part preview of the 2010 NFL season, breaking it down division by division. In each of these posts I will preview each team in the division and then at the end I will predict who will win the division and how the other three teams will end up behind them.

To read my other divisional previews just click on the appropriate link:

NFC South

NFC West

In the NFC East we have had a lot of drama this offseason. A face-of-the-franchise quarterback being traded to another team within the division. Big name veteran free agency signings. A team trying to bounce back from a disappointing 2009 season. A team trying to build on their first playoff win since 1996. We had a big name quarterback get bloodied in the preseason opener. There was a prima donna receiver refusing to carry pads. You get the idea. Let’s jump in.

Teams: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins

Colts 2010 53-Man Roster Prediction

Kevin Thomas at the rookie camp

This was extremely difficult to try and predict. For starters nobody has any idea what’s going on with Kevin Thomas. He appeared to have suffered a season ending knee injury a few months ago, but is now on the active roster. He was recently seen at training camp in high spirits signing autographs and had no knee brace and wasn’t limping or showing any favoritism to the injured leg. He has said he’s still doing rehab and that it’s getting better and better every day. Reports like that don’t sound to me like somebody who will be missing the entire season. Actually, on the contrary, those are typically things you hear about somebody who is aiming to be ready to play by the regular season. I don’t think that’s the case with Thomas by any means but it certainly makes me optimistic enough to think that we could have him ready to go before the end of the year.

WMD: 1998 Colts vs 2010 Rams

This segment of WMD (Weller’s Musing and Divination) came via a suggestion from Bryan, which he mentioned in this post. The suggestion was to compare the 1998 Colts team with the 2010 Rams team. The ’98 season was Peyton Manning’s rookie year with the Colts and this 2010 season is obviously going to be Sam Bradford’s rookie year with the Rams. The Colts were coming off an abysmal 3-13 season that landed them the top pick in the 98 Draft. The Rams are coming off an abysmal 1-15 season that landed them the top pick in the 10 Draft. Colts top receiver, Marvin Harrison was entering his third season and had yet to really put together a great season. Rams top receiver, Donnie Avery is entering his third season and has yet to really put together a great season. It was Colts head coach, Jim Mora’s first year with the team. It’s Rams head coach, Steve Spagnuolo’s second year with the team. The Colts star running back, Marshall Faulk, who was easily the best player on the team, was entering his fifth season and was coming off a good season in which he was able to play in three more games than he had the previous year. The Rams star running back, Steven Jackson, who is easily the best player on the team, is entering his seventh season and is coming off a great season in which he was able to play in three more games than he had the previous year. The Colts had finished dead last in the worst division in the league the previous year. The Rams finished dead last in the worst division in the league last year. Also, when all else failed the Colts had the small bright spot that was their punter, Chris Gardocki. And, when all else fails the Rams have the small bright spot that is their punter, Donnie Jones.

Colts Wish List

With the NFL Draft being just a few days away I thought it was time to put up my annual wish list for the Colts. There are a lot of different ways that the Colts could choose to go with this year’s draft so instead of simply putting down my wish list, I’m going to list who I will be happy with (realistically) at each pick and who I’ve heard we could be picked that would make me upset. We have eight picks this year (31, 63, 94, 129, 162, 238, 240, and 246 overall) and I think our biggest needs are o-line, d-line, outside linebacker, corner and safety. That’s not to say that we will necessarily draft somebody for each of those positions, Bill Polian and Co. usually throw in a surprise or two and usually draft with a “best player available” mentality. Either way, let’s get down to it:

NBA Playoffs Preview – First Round

This is written by somebody who we are hoping will become a regular contributor. His name is Adam and he actually knows and follows the NBA which -as many of you know- is something we’ve been missing from this website. Either way, here’s his preview for the playoffs:

First off, I would like to say that I live in the greatest state for the NBA…Missouri, with two major cities St. Louis and Kansas City and a combined number of zero teams. So that means I have no team, but I love the NBA and always have since I can remember, of course I grew up a Bulls fan (who didn’t)!

The NBA seems to be somewhat rejuvenated from a competitive standpoint with a crop of true Superstars in LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and many more. Sure the defense is still lax for most of the game during the regular season, but for the Playoffs it is different. That’s why I’ve always said that for the casual basketball fan or the NBA hater that the NBA Playoffs are the time to watch. It’s when the greatest players in the world play their hardest and for the NBA fan, it’s the best time of the year!

New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts

This is the ninth installment of my 11-part series, previewing each and every NFL playoff game this year. To read any of the other eight click on the appropriate link below:

Jets at Chargers

Cowboys at Vikings

Ravens at Colts

Cardinals at Saints

Packers at Cardinals

Ravens at patriots

Eagles at Cowboys

Jets at Bengals

The Jets need to play their absolute best football to win this game. Unfortunately for the Colts, that’s exactly what the Jets have been doing lately and on top of that the Jets seem to have luck on their side as well. For the Colts this will be a very similar game to last week, with one difference. The Ravens had a defense that excelled at stopping the run, and the Jets are a team that excels at stopping the pass but both are great overall defenses. The Jets and Ravens are essentially the exact same team offensively. Run first, pass minimally, young quarterback, one successful young running back and an effective veteran running back as well as a good full back. So if the Colts defense can have a similar performance to the one they put on last week the Jets will have a tough time scoring, therefore a tough time winning.

New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals

This is going to be the first in an 11 part series – one for each game of the NFL playoffs. Bryan took care of the predictions, no matter how much I disagree with them. I’ll leave those alone and just do a game by game preview. This one is obviously about the Jets/Bengals game, which makes sense, seeing as it’s the first game of the postseason.

I want to start this one by saying that I believe this will be a ridiculously close and hard fought game. Don’t let last week’s game fool you. The Bengals weren’t about to tip their hand to the team that they would likely be playing in the playoffs the very next week. The Jets crushed the Bengals 37 to 0, but as I said, I think the Bengals were holding back quite a bit. Starting running back, Cedric Benson, didn’t even play.

Peyton Manning Gets 4th MVP

This is huge. Peyton got his record setting fourth NFL regular season MVP award. It’s reported that he got 39.5 of the 50 total votes. Drew Brees was second with 7.5, Philip Rivers got two and Brett Favre got one and Chris Johnson got none. This is huge. Nobody in NFL history has ever won this award four times and Peyton still has a whole lot of good years left in front of him. It’s not out of the question for him to win this award two more times, and I’d actually be surprised if he didn’t get one more.

I’m a little confused

I’ve been hearing all week on ESPN and other sports media services that people should be looking for the Titans to upset my Colts this weekend. There have been a wide range of reasons given to support this claim from the Colts faltering in recent weeks to the Titans being a different team than the one the Colts faced earlier this season. It’s also been brought up that the switch from Kerry Collins to Vince Young at quarterback has turned this team around. And Young has improved so much, which is why their team has gone 5-0 since he’s taken over the starting role at quarterback.

I won’t deny any of those things: yes, the Colts have struggled in the past five games; yes, the Titans are going to give a significantly different look from what the Colts saw earlier this year; yes, it seems that the Titans have been hot since Young became the signal caller; yes, it appears that Young has improved immensely by observing and learning as a backup from the sidelines; and yes Chris Johnson is a stud.

Chris Johnson

Where Might I Find Michael Vick in 2009?

Last year around this time I wrote a post (I’m actually just one week short of it being the exact same date) breaking down each team’s quarterback situation. You can check that out here. This post is going to be similar except it will be to specifically address whether or not each team has a need for Michael Vick and if they do, how much of a need it is. Some teams may need him simply because they need a quarterback, while others might be looking to use him in the Wildcat formation. Just today on ESPN.com’s NFL rumors section they said that the Redskins may be interested in Vick. I’d be interested as to what our commenter, Michael, who is a Redskins fan, thinks about this.