Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray/The Star-Ledger
The NFC East has some of the strongest rivalries in the NFL and with the Cowboys coming off one of their best seasons in years, they’re hoping to dominate the East again. Right now, it looks like it could go between any of the four teams.
Dallas Cowboys: For the first time in years, QB Tony Romo is actually able to participate in training camp which has to be a good feeling for the boys. The biggest story is how the Cowboys are going to replace Demarco Murray. Murray went to their division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas has a few candidates, but most of them are ending up on the injury list. Darren McFadden seemed poised to take on Demarco’s absence, but he has been added to the PUP list along with Lance Dunbar. The remaining candidates are Joseph Randle, Lache Seastrunk, and Gus Johnson, but it looks like Randle is going to win the starting position.
The defense is really shining with their new additions. Even though Greg Hardy is suspended for right now, it looks like he’s adding a lot to the defense: “He goes 100 percent all the time. He teaches the young guys a lot, not just about technique and how to rush the passer, but showing them how to bring physicality and intensity all the time.” The Cowboys first-round draft pick, Byron Jones is adding new depth to the Cowboys defense, even garnering praise from Dez Bryant, “I think the beautiful thing about it is he’s willing to learn. You can see it. He’s not down on himself if he don’t make the play because he knows.” Jones’s willingness to learn is going to be essential to the Cowboys defense. The offense is looking good which is to be expected, but the stand-out was LT Tyron Smith who took down Greg Hardy and rookie Randy Gregory.
New York Giants: The starting of training camp has seemed to light a fire under Eli Manning which has resulted in him not throwing a single interception. With 14 interceptions from last year, this is certainly a step in the right direction for him.
The offense is being headed by a talented group of wide receivers like Odell Beckham Jr and Victor Cruz who are both coming back from injury, but are playing well given their circumstances. While those two are the front-runners for starting positions, rookie Geremy Davis is putting in work too, “The thing I really like about him is that he’s really serious. I mean, for a rookie, he’s serious about his business. And he’s been that way since day one — he’s a note taker, he pays attention to everything, he’s detailed, he is as good of a worker as you can ask for with a maturity level, for a rookie, that is outstanding.”
One of the big stories surrounding the Giants right now is their DE Jason Pierre-Paul’s fingers or lack thereof, but Giants co-owner/CEO John Mara knows about as much as we do: “I don’t know how many fingers he has. We know what we’ve read and what we’ve been told, but until we actually see him and the extent of the damage, it’s hard to make any sort of prediction as to what kind of condition he’s in”. In terms of defense, the Giants look to have two safeties starting, Bennett Jackson and Landon Collins, but right now, the competition is still open.
Philadelphia Eagles: The quarterback competition is still neck and neck with Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley which leaves its open to debate who could start.
To go along with the quarterback competition, the offensive line is looking a little sloppy with Demarco Murray not playing with first-teamers, but the stand-out for the offense is Zach Ertz. Ertz has had an amazing camp which included a pass from Mark Sanchez in which Ertz used his whole body and was able to overtake LB Mychal Kendricks. The Eagles first-round draft pick, Nelson Agholor is finally getting a chance to play with the first-teamers and if he puts in the effort towards being a starter, it looks like that’s where he’ll end up.
Another rookie, second-round draft pick, Eric Rowe also got a chance to work with the first-teamers as well and was able to get to Ertz. One of the biggest takeaways from camp is Kiko Alonso’s concussion; he will not be able to return to camp until after his concussion protocol is done.
Washington Redskins: RG3 is arguably the one player on the Redskins with most eyes on him except for maybe Desean Jackson, but it looks like RG3 is slowly but surely improving. With a total of 7 games won in the past 2 years, the only place the Skins can go is up and RG3’s improvement can only help. Even HC Jay Gruden had good things to say about Griffin, “But, overall, I think throughout the whole performance, I think he did OK – he did pretty good. There’s some things to improve on obviously as we all have, but he’s coming along.”
Right now, it looks like the Redskins first-round draft pick, Brandon Scherff is not meeting expectations and is not seen as being NFL ready. The offense also has the added benefit of Bill Callahan to help whip them into shape and help bring more unity into the line. The Redskins new additions of Stephen Paea, Junior Galette, and Terrance Knighton bring depth to the defense and it looks like the three will be competing to have a starting position. With camp comes injuries and one of the most popular Redskins, DeSean Jackson is the latest added to that list. Jackson is expecting to miss 1-2 weeks with a sprained right shoulder.
