The Week 2 NFC East Report: Giants Are As Bad As We Thought

One week is in the books. All 4 NFC East teams have played, and they are a collective 2-2. The Giants embarrassed themselves vs the Vikings, the Commanders got blown out by the Bucs, the Eagles escaped Brazil with a win, and the Cowboys pummelled the Browns.

What does the NFC East look like after the 1st week of the season? Here is your week 2 NFC East Report.

The Vikings are not going to be a good team. They have Sam Darnold at QB. But they made the Giants look terrible. The only thing uglier than the Giants themselves on that field in week 1 was the jerseys they wore.

This team is going to compete for the 1st overall pick. Daniel Jones is a joke. The only guy on that offense that maybe scares you is Malik Nabers. But Nabers relies on Jones to get him the ball. Devin Singletary is a fine back, but he is not a good enough back to put up stats with stacked boxes. Their defense is a bit better, but not good enough to make up for how bad their offense is.

The Giants are who we thought they were. They will get their "franchise QB" in the draft next year. Will that franchise QB save them? I don't know if any of these guys are franchise changers. Shedeur Sanders is so talented, but we just saw him throw his O-line under the bus for Colarado's performance vs Nebraska. Is that a guy who will come in and fix a franchise that hasn't had good O-line Play in over a decade?

This week they get the Commanders. It should be a good chance for Washington to right their own ship.

I am far more willing to be generous to the Commanders for getting blown out in week 1 than the Bucs. For 1, they actually put up a fight. A 37-20 loss is not pretty, but it is better than 28-6. The Commanders showed some signs of life. And while Jayden Daniels was not great, he flashed a few times.

Also, this is a team with a new QB, a new coach, and a whole new team in charge behind the scenes. They may be on the right path, but it will still take a while.

They get the Giants in week 2. They go into the week 2.5-point home favorites. I think they cover that spread, and then some. The Commanders are figuring things out, but the Giants are a mess.

Credit to the Cowboys, they had perhaps the most impressive performance of all 32 teams in week 1. They demolished the Browns, a team many people had going to the playoffs. They got some help from Deshaun Watson being a terrible, but they also put up some points on what should be a great defense.

I stand by my claim they are a worse team than they were last year. They lost too much talent and didn't replace it with much. But, what they showed is that they still have plenty of talent to spare. Micah Parsons has a case to be the best defender in the league, and Cee Dee Lamb is a top 5 WR. Dak Prescott, while he has his flaws, is a QB capable of putting up crooked numbers.

But they are also the Cowboys. Until proven otherwise, I can't have faith that "this is their year," like Cowboys fans say every year. They will get 11 or so wins, and they will lose in the playoffs.

They get the Saints in week 2 at home. The Saints looked great vs the Panthers in week 1, but the Panthers might be the 1 team worse than the Giants. I don't believe in them much. The Cowboys are 6.5 home favorites. I hate to say it, but that is a Cowboys line. They win and cover to start 2-0.

Week 1 was not easy, but they got the win. Given it was week 1, and the game was in Brazil, vs a tough Packers team, on a terrible field, I can forgive sloppiness. Fans should be very optimistic about this offense. They didn't play their best and still put up 34 points on a good team. Hurts made some mistakes, but also made some great plays. Saquon was as good as advertised, and it is clear Brown and Smith are too much to handle for opposing defenses.

Even the defense showed some promise. Them holding the Packers to 1 of 4 in The Red Zone is super impressive. Especially considering 2 of those Red Zone trips started in the Red Zone. But they did get burned for big plays several times. Still, I left the game feeling very hopeful for the secondary and even the linebackers.

The big concern is the Edge Rushers. Bryce Huff barely played, and did nothing when he did get on the field. Nolan Smith was a no-show. Brandon Graham was decent, but he can only play so many snaps. Josh Sweat was fine.

They need Huff to be great. They were relying on him to replace what Haason Reddick gave them. One week in, it does not look like he can do that. I can forgive one off week. Even Aaron Donald had bad weeks. But the Eagles playing him just in just 45% of the snaps is concerning. Because that tells me they don't trust him.

They get the Falcons in week 2. The Falcons looked awful in week 1. Kirk Cousins is not the Kirk Cousins we are used to seeing. He looks injured. He can't move in the pocket, and there were so many off-throws from him vs the Steelers. With the weapons they have, they mustered just 10 points vs the Steelers.

The Eagles are currently 6.5-point favorites, and it is moving in the Eagles' direction. That is an Eagles line. They should get the win and start the season 2-0.

Football is here. We got the first game last night, and then the Eagles season kicks off tonight vs the Packers. At the start of the season, nearly every team has a reason for optimism. You haven't played any games, which means you haven't lost any games. Even the Panthers can pretend they have a chance. Everyone starts the season 0-0. Technically, the NFL season could go anywhere.

But do the Eagles have a chance? Can they bounce back from losing 7 of the last 8, and get back to the Super Bowl? Will the issues that caused last season's collapse plague them again? Will they look more like they did in 2022, or 2023?

The start of the season is the time to be bold. Make that crazy prediction. Go out on a limb. If in 18 weeks you were right, you can rub it in everyone's faces. If you are wrong, only a few people are going to actually remember to call you out for it.

That is not to say make hot takes. There is a difference between being bold and being stupid. Saying that Zack Baun will win MVP is not bold, it is dumb. Saying that AJ Brown will be traded for Patrick Surtain is not bold, it is dumb. Luckily I have not seen anyone say that though.

Related: Jalen Hurts Showing Signs He Will Be Better Vs Blitz in 2024

Bold predictions need to be backed by some facts. They are things that can reasonably happen. The staff of 97.5 The Fanatic all shared their bold predictions about the Eagles before the season kicked off. Check them out below.

But here are some more bold predictions before the season kicks off tonight. From Jalen Carter winning some hardware, a rookie outperforming expectations, to Hurts getting back to his MVP form.

I'm borrowing this one from Bill Colarulo because I agree with him. This is not a shot at Brown, or an attempt to pit them against each other. I think both guys improve their numbers from last year. But, I think Smith will improve them a bit more. They have been WRS 1a and 1b, but Brown has been more productive the past 2 seasons. I think that flips, at least the yards. Kellen Moore's scheme, where he gets his WRs in space, is going to take Smith from a top 15 WR to being a guy who can get to 1,400 yards.

Smith has shown he is a great WR already. For a small guy, he makes amazing catches in traffic and on the sidelines. He has the speed, the hands, and the smarts to be a top WR. I think he takes a major step this season.

Okay, this one is a bit of a shot at Nolan Smith. I just don't see it. I hope I am wrong. I hope he turns his elite traits into elite production. But I have now watched him be unproductive for several seasons at Georgia and then watched him fail to get on the field with the Eagles. Then he had an underwhelming camp. The speed off the edge is great, but speed alone won't get to the QB. These Tackles are quicker than ever. The problem with Smith is we have seen he doesn't have the power or tools to beat a guy when they beat him to the spot.

Hunt also has great traits, only he is bigger than Smith. He also flashed his potential way more in camp. When they drafted him at the end of the 3rd round, people assumed he was a project and we would not see him. But his camp was good enough that he may see the field. And while I am not saying he racks up double-digit sacks, I can see him getting 4 or 5 as part of the rotation. And I think 4 or 5 will eclipse what Nolan Smith gives you.

Everyone expects Carter to be good. He fell off at the end of his rookie season, but hitting a rookie wall is not unusual. Not just Eagles fans, but people around the NFL, think very highly of Carter. In fact, James Palmer told The Best Show Ever that "there are people around the league who say Jalen Carter could be Defensive Player Of The Year, that is how highly he is considered."

It is easy to see him touching double-digit sacks. Especially if Jordan Davis plays as well as he did in the first 11 games last season. Those two will determine where the defense goes. They need to do it over a full season, but there is a reason the defense fell off when those 2 did. They were so good over the first 11 games, that it made up for a lot of flaws in that defense.

The plan for Quinyon Mitchell was for him to play inside in Nickel or Dime Packages, and outside in the dime package. But Isaiah Rodgers, the guy who would start outside in the Nickel and Dime, will miss week 1. That may keep Mitchell outside a bit more often in game 1. I think he looks so great there, they don't go back. He stays outside, but not only that, by week 5, he is shadowing the other team's best WR all game long. That may mean following them inside in the case of Cee Dee Lamb.

Vic Fangio has not shied away from criticizing his players. He told us that Cooper Dejean still has work to do to catch up. He told us at the start of camp that Bryce Huff was not ready, yet, to be a full-time player. But he has continually showered Mitchell with praise. He has shown trust in him by playing him inside and outside. It is quite clear he thinks very highly of him, and he will eventually trust him with being the top corner on the team.

Gainwell will not start here. Saquon is locked in for 3 seasons. But there will be a role for him. The Eagles are not going to run Barkley into the ground the way the Giants did. Their goal will be to keep him healthy for January. So they will mix Gainwell in.

I see him being very productive in those snaps. Especially as a pass catcher. Good enough, that in what is a contract year for him, he will earn himself a starting job somewhere else for next season. Andrew DiCecco has said over and over again on our airwaves how impressive he looked in camp. We know the Eagles will utilize the RBs more in the passing game. Gainwell will certainly be part of that.

Fans for some reason don't seem to like him much. But he has 12 TDs in 3 seasons as a part-time player and averages 4.4 yards per carry. He is better than fans think. I say he proves it this year.

John Kincade predicted Hurts to set career highs across the board. Tyrone Johnson said he will set a franchise record for passing yards.  I agree. I think having a real offense to run is going to take him to the next level. He will be able to dump the ball off, throw it over the middle of the field, use motion, and now he has the tools to respond to the blitz.

Hurts was so good in 2022. I think that is closer to the real him than last year. People forget he was the MVP favorite after 11 games. But then the collapse happened. And he shared a role in that. But with these weapons, and Moore calling plays, I think the offense is elite this year. Winning it is hard because there are so many great players. but his name will be next to Mahomes, Jackson, and McCaffrey at the end of the year.