2014 NFL SEASON: NFC EAST PREVIEW

1. Eagles

2. Giants

3. Cowboys

4. Washington

I think the Eagles have finally have found their signal caller in Nick Foles. It will be interesting to see what Chip Kelly's offense will be like in its second season. Teams on the Eagles schedule will have had an entire offseason to game plan for this offense.

The Eagles are the favorite to repeat as NFC East champions. Philadelphia's path to repeat will start with four of their first six games at home. Their two road games are against 2013 playoff teams: at Colts in Week 2 on Monday Night and at San Francisco in the late Sunday Fox afternoon slot.

After their Week 7 bye, the Eagles travel to Green Bay which could be a playoff preview. Knocking off the Packers would raise the profile of this team.

Four of the final five games are against NFC East teams: Thanksgiving Day in Dallas, hosting the Seahawks in Philadelphia, the scheduled Week 15 Sunday Night game at home against Dallas, and closing out the season on the road in Washington and at the Giants.

The Giants should be better this season. New York picked up a new offensive cooridnator, Ben McAdoo, that focuses on quick decisions and accuracy. Those aren't necessarily Eli Manning's strengths. Already in the preseason the offense has struggled to gain some kind of consistency.

The Giants can't afford another dismal start like they did last season. Mid-season could be telling if this team makes the playoffs or not. In Week 9 the Giants host the Colts on Monday Night followed by traveling west to play the Seahawks in Week 10 and then returning home to face the 49ers in Week 11. The Giants close out the season against the Eagles which could determine the NFC East title.

If the Giants don’t make the playoffs, I don't expect to see Tom Coughlin on the Giants sideline in 2015.

I've already expressed my views on the Dallas Cowboys 2014 season as seen here and here. The defense is atrocious due to cap casualties and poor drafting over the last few seasons. I was being generous with saying Dallas will go 9-7. I really think there will be another 8-8 season for the Cowboys. The last time Dallas went undefeated in the preseason, it was in 2000 when the team started off with three consecutive 5-11 seasons.

Well… at least they were consistent.

As for Washington, they once again claimed the title of winners of free agency. That normally doesn't translate to a winning season. Since Dan Snyder bought the team in 1999, Washington won the NFC East twice and only won two playoff games. They have not won a divisional round playoff game since January 1992. If quarterback Robert Griffin III returns to how he was in his rookie year, this could be a dangerous team late in the season.

There are so many IFs in the NFC East. The one consistency appears to be the Eagles in 2014.