NFC EAST PREVIEW: Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, Redskins

StraightUPW · 08-07-12, 03:32 PM

Dallas cowboys

Vegas’ 2012 Team Win Total: o9+100 / u9-130
Odds to Win NFC East: +250 Odds to Win Super Bowl: +2300

Unique Look At last Seasons Numbers:

2011 NFL Record:
8-8, 2-4 Divisional Record 3rd in NFC East
Team Win Total: o9+100 / u9-130

Dallas’ Offense SCORED MORE points than their opponents defense allowed 8 times this season 8, LESS 6 times, and exactly what the opponents defense allowed 2 times. 8-6-2
Dallas’ Defense ALLOWED FEWER points than their opponents offense averaged on the season 9 times, MORE 6 times, and exactly what they averaged 1 time. 6-9-1
Dallas’ Average Opponents Offense PPG: 22.5
Dallas’ Average Opponents Defense PPG: 22.5625

Keys to Success in 2012
Hold on to late leads: Sounds silly but has 4 losses in the final 94 seconds. Jets took the lead to win with 27 seconds left, Lions took the lead with 94 seconds left, Pats took the lead with 22 seconds, and Giants took the lead with 46 seconds, All these team beat the Cowboys in these games.

The solution is Brandon Carr, a great one on one coverage guy, and acquired the best defensive player in the NFL Draft in Maurice Clairborne, also a cornerback. Dallas was 24th in the league against the pass last year, and all 4 of those last second losses were because of their inability to stop the pass. These two will be better than their predecessors, but really hard to be worse.

Rob Ryan is not going to accept a middle road of the defense, ranked 14th last year even without much talent at corner or safety. They only produced 15 INTS. Couple more turnovers and better pass coverage this is a top 3 defense in the NFC.

Offensively, Austin Miles and Dez Bryant need to stay healthy. Miles missed 6 games in 2011 and Dez only played in 12 games

Offensive Tackle Doug Free must protect better after leading the Cowboys in offensive penalties and allowing nearly 10 sacks. Cowboys signed Mackenzy Bernadeau so he can play the left guard. This signing allows Free to his more comfortable right position He will be critical to the Cowboys success.

SHOCKING STAT:
Tony Romo is on pace to surpass Troy Aikman for TD passes this season, If Romo repeats his TD-INT numbers from last year, he will have 15 more TD passes and 59 Fewer INTs than Aikman. Hall Of Fame Numbers?

StraightUPW · 08-07-12, 03:37 PM

New York Giants

Vegas’ 2012 Team Win Total: o9-125/ u9-105

Odds to Win NFC East: +175 Odds to Win Super Bowl: +1900

Unique Breakdown of Last Seasons Numbers:

Giant’s Offense SCORED MORE points than their opponents defense allowed on the season 11 times, LESS 3 times, and exactly what the opponents defense allowed 2 times. 11-3-2
Giant’s Defense ALLOWED FEWER points than their opponents offense averaged on the season 6 times, MORE 10 times. 6-10-0
Giant’s Average Opponents Offense PPG: 22.5
Giant’s Average Opponents Defense PPG: 22.5625
2011 NFL Record:
9-7, 3-3 Divisional Record 1st in NFC East
Team Win Total: o9.5+115 / u9.5-145

Keys to Success in 2012:
Despite being Super Bowl Champions, this team needs to see some improvement to have a chance:

The defense was atrocious. Including 29th against the Pass. For the Giants to improve they will be heavily relying on the health of Terrell Thomas, who tore his ACL is preseason last year. Thomas is a a difference maker because his ability to create turnovers and tackle.

Thomas had 5 turnovers and 4 forced fumbles in 2010. He also had over 100 tackles. The Giants were ranked 9th in passing defense in 2010 when he played.

This Giants team is built around the ability to rush the passer with Jason Pierre Paul, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka. The Giants were 3rd last year in total sacks. When the Giants get more sacks than their opponents they were 6-3 in the Regular Season.

The signing of Shaun Rodgers is rather insignificant. He’s only started 5 games the last 2 seasons and given the depth of the DL anyways, overrated signing. The bigger impact will be Keith Rivers, who is less of a pass rusher and more of a tackler to protect against the run and the over the middle passes.

Offensively, its the run game that needs to improve. Brandon Jacobs is gone, but he wasn’t the only problem. Ahmad Bradshaw is the clear #1 running back, but he average just 3.9 yards a carry, only .1 more yards a carry than Jacobs. Bradshaws longest carry was just 37 yards. All career lows. If Bradshaw cannot bounce back to 4.5 yards a carry, expect Rookie David Wilson to get a chance. Last Season, Wilson was the ACC Offensive Player of the Year.

Shocking Stat:
It’s well documented that the Giants struggled to run the ball, ranking dead last in rushing yards, . However, it wasn’t a lack of touches. There are 10 teams in the NFL that ran the ball fewer times than New York, yet Giants still had fewer yards. The Bucs were dead last in rushing attempts, 346 times, 65 LESS attempts than the Giants: Yet, they had 31 more yards on the season. That’s embarrassing for a Tom Coughlin team.

StraightUPW · 08-07-12, 03:41 PM

Philadelphia Eagles

Vegas’ 2012 Team Win Total: o10-145/ u10+115
Odds to Win NFC East: +125 Odds to Win Super Bowl: +850

Our Unique Break Down of last season Numbers:

Eagle’s Offense SCORED MORE points than their opponents defense allowed on the season 9 times, LESS 7 times. 9-7-0
Eagle’s Defense ALLOWED FEWER points than their opponents offense averaged on the season 8 times, MORE 7 amd exactly their average 1 time. 8-7-1
Eagle’s Average Opponents Offense PPG: 22.1875
Eagle’s Average Opponents Defense PPG: 21.9375

2011 NFL Record:
8-8, 5-1 Divisional Record 2nd in NFC East
Team Win Total: o10.5-140/ u10.5+110

Keys to Success in 2012:
The Eagles lead the league in sacks with 50 on the year. 48 of the 50 came from the defensive line. It’s not unimaginable to think Eagles could have that dominating of a performance again on the DL. Eagles spent all 3 of their 1st draft picks on the front 7. Fletcher Cox the 12th overall pick playing DT, Mychal Kendricks at LB, and Vinny Curry at DE. Eagles are continuing to focus on improving the defense.

As you’ll see in our shocking stat, Dominque Rodgers Cromartie must play to his potential for this team to have more success in 2012. Eagles allowed an astonishing 28 passing TDs last season, unacceptable when you have 60 million dollars tied up in one corner, Nnamdi Asomugha.

For comparison, Eagles QB Mike Vick only had 17 passing TDs. That’s a difference of -11 passing TDs.

Micheal Vick is the entire key to this team. He was the problem in 2011. Only 59.2% completion Ratio, 19th in the league. Vick had a career high in Interceptions, he had a total of 24 turnovers. Most disturbing is his QB rating in key moments of the game: He was one of the worst QBs in the league on 3rd down with a QB rating of 71, a QB rating of 77 for the 4th quarter and worst 61.9 QB rating in the last 2 minutes of the game. He must come up big when the team needs him most.

A positive note is the running game which ranked 5th in the league. The Eagles were the best in the NFL in runs over 10 yards. Behind this offensive line with McCoy, the Eagles were 2nd in yards per carry. With the loss of Jason Peters to an achillies injury, Demtress Bell will get the responsibility of filling that void.

Shocking Stat:
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie splits between playing outside coverage vs guarding the slot is unbelievable. In the slot, DRC allowed 74% of passes to be completed against him. Its equated to 2.65 yards per snap and 6.3 receptions per snap. AWFUL. Now compare to his number outside. Only 42% completions allowing just one reception every 26.1 snaps and only .33 yards per snap. The release of Samuels should be a good thing for this defense because it will allow DRC to stay outside where he is clearly more effective.

StraightUPW · 08-07-12, 03:45 PM

Washington Redskins

Vegas’ 2012 Team Win Total: o6.5+115/ u6.5-145
Odds to Win NFC East: +775 Odds to Win Super Bowl: +4400

Our Unique Breakdown of last years numbers:

Redskins’s Offense SCORED MORE points than their opponents defense allowed on the season 4 times, LESS 11 times and exactly the average once. 4-11-1

Redskin’s Defense ALLOWED FEWER points than their opponents offense averaged on the season 8 times, MORE 7 amd exactly their average 1 time. 8-7-1
Redskin’s Average Opponents Offense PPG: 23
Redskin’s Average Opponents Defense PPG: 22.6875
2011 NFL Record:
5-11, 2-4 Divisional Record 4th in NFC East

Team Win Total: o6.5+160/ u6.5-200

Keys to Success in 2012:

Im going to just put it out there: John Beck is the worst QB I’ve ever seen in the NFL. Although Grossman had his turnover problems, 20 INTs and 8 fumbles in just 13 games, at least he could sometimes move the ball. This team’s offense is inconsistent as any, but a lot of the problems really did start with the QB.

As cliche as it sounds its all about Robert Griffin III. He is a different type of QB who can run at an NFL level and also can run. A lot of comparisons are made to Cam Newton even though they are different QBs. It should be noted that Cam only led the Panthers to a 6-10 record in his Rookie NFL Campaign. Griffin will eventually need to be great. Because the Redskins mortgaged their future by swapping picks to move up to get Griffin, they also gave up their 2nd round pick in that draft as well as their 1st round pick in 2013 and 1st round pick in 2014. He doesn’t need to be great right now, he just needs to be able to complete some key passes and stretch the field to make sure the opponents aren’t stacking up against the run.

Redskins made major improvements in their defense from 2010 to 2011. The must continue to be improve. In 2010 they were the 31st ranked defense, in 2011 they were the 13th ranked defense.

Ryan Kerrigan may be the NFL’s best kept Rookie secret. He was in the running for the Defensive Rookie of the year. He was 2nd on the team in sacks with 7.5, had 4 forced fumbled and an interception returned for a touchdown. Brian Orkapo may get all the attention, but Kerrigan was a big reason this team went from 2nd to last in the NFL in total defense to 13th.

Shocking Stat:

The run game was greatly affected by the bad quarterback play. Even in Shanahan’s zone blocking scheme, which is plug in any NFL back and watch him run system couldn’t overcome the lack of respect at the QB position. Redskins have a stable of capable running backs: Tim Hightower, Roy Helu, Ryan Torain, or Evan Royster all have a shot at the position. However, these 4 only had 4 rushing TDs combined all season. They must improve in Red zone rushing.

p19101 · 08-08-12, 06:52 AM

Under 8.5 on Cowbows +135 @ Pinnacle