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.
New York Giants (0-1)
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.
Washington Commanders (0-1)
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.
Dallas Cowboys (1-0)
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.
Philadelphia Eagles (1-0)
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.
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