NFC East

“America’s Team” once again spent the offseason watching the playoffs despite a star-studded roster. You’d be wrong to blame Tony Romo (+10.7 overall in 2011), who, despite failing to play in January, still put up impressive stats and played through some injuries. He didn’t always have stellar pass protection, either (-1.7 pass blocking grade as a unit).

Arguably, their defense–which underperformed in Rob Ryan’s first year at the helm–was the weak spot of the team. Despite generating pressure (43 sacks, 50 QB hits, 192 pressures) and generally shutting down the run (+61.8 as a unit in run defense), opposing QBs were able to pick them apart through the air (-36.6 pass coverage). Even with this fatal flaw, the Cowboys still had a chance to earn a home playoff game in the last week of the regular season, but fell to the eventual World Champion New York Giants. How can the Dallas Cowboys live up to their high expectations? Let’s take a look at a few areas the Cowboys need to upgrade if they want to reclaim their long-lost dominance in an increasingly competitive NFC.

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Mike Shanahan will be feeling the pressure in 2012 after the Redskins went from 6-10 in his first season to 5-11 in 2011. Definitely not the kind of progress the former Super Bowl-winning coach would have been hoping for. However, beneath the surface there is a lot for Redskins fans to be optimistic about going forward.

Shanahan has the team going through a rebuilding phase as the days of overpaid veterans and busted trade deals appear to be over. The Redskins are a much younger team compared to two years ago. Some key positions were addressed last season through free agency and the draft as they continue to move forward. The Redskins venture into the 3-4 defensive scheme is now entering its third season and further results will be expected of Jim Haslett’s unit. The real pressure however, is no doubt lying with Kyle Shanahan and the mess of an offense Washington has been burdened with for the best part of a decade.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that all three positions of need come on that side of the ball. Let’s take a look at what’s needed in the nation’s capital.

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After winning the Super Bowl you’d forgive the New York Giants for putting their feet up and relaxing. After all they built a roster that won the big one, beating the incumbent Packers and AFC Champion Patriots on their way to a remarkable victory.

However, this is an NFL where if you’re not getting better you’re getting worse. The Giants do have a number of areas to improve on if they’re to repeat and not fall away as they did the last time they won a Super Bowl. Given what they were able to do this year, without a big free agency and limited contributions from their draft class, you wouldn’t bank on the Giants being big players. Moving forward it’s time to look at some of their problem positions, and some possible moves to rectify them.

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Despite all of their free agency additions a year ago, Philadelphia’s safety position was left largely unaffected. The Eagles decided to go with youth and potential on the back end of their secondary, hoping a strong group of defensive lineman and corners could hide their deficiencies. In practice, however, the safeties were exposed and the standard of play was simply not good enough for a team that was “all in”.

Since Brian Dawkins left in the 2009 offseason, Quintin Demps, Sean Jones, and Jarrad Page have all seen themselves penciled-in as starters. None of them have worked out and they’re now no longer on the team. Third-year men Nate Allen and Kurt Coleman remain, but are they good enough? And what of 2011 second round pick Jaiquawn Jarrett? Let’s take a look at their performances to date.

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It’s amazing to think that back at the start of the season, the Philadelphia Eagles were the team to beat, the Washington Redskins were a team on the rise, and the Dallas Cowboys were a team ready to bounce back from a disastrous 2010.

In fact, when you polled people on what to expect from 2011 it was only the situation of the New York Giants that left a set of fans from the NFC East concerned. A tough offseason saw them lose Terrell Thomas and Bruce Johnson for the year while Prince Amukamara was sidelined with a foot injury, leaving their secondary severely depleted. Throw in some big losses in free agency (Kevin Boss and Barry Cofield) and some retooling on an offensive line that was aging, and the Giants looked like a team ready for some transitioning.

It’s funny how things work out, right? As we know, the Giants went onto take the division, the Eagles capitulated, while the Redskins and Cowboys proved they weren’t quite up to challenge. That the NFC East played out in such a surprising fashion owes to some performances we didn’t see coming. So, with that in mind let’s look at some of the movers and shakers in the NFC East as we break down the most improved, most deserving of more snaps, and most disappointing players of 2011.

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There was a sense of déjà vu in the lead up to the 46th Super Bowl on Sunday and the game didn’t disappoint, delivering a game full of intrigue and drama, that resulted in the New York Giants taking their second Super Bowl in the last five, the franchise’s fourth, and making the New England Patriots wait at least one more year to add their own fourth Super Bowl.

Much of the pre-game build up revolved around the dominance of individual units and individual positional groups but throughout the course of sixty minutes each team’s defense and each team’s offense had spells where they had a clear upper hand on the opposition ensuring that neither team could get out of sight. Ten points is the magic barrier in the Super Bowl but each team fell just short of this margin and instead it was the final swing of the pendulum, a 12-0 scoring run from midway through the third quarter, back towards the Giants that proved decisive. Once again it was the Giants’ offense taking control of the ball with the game on the line that proved decisive as it has in the prior two encounters between these two teams. The Patriots recognized this and tried everything to get Tom Brady the ball back with time to win the game, but 80 yards in 57 seconds proved too much.

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Come the Super Bowl everything gets magnified, and so it is with the PFF Focus Points. Rather than simply giving you one matchup to look at, we’re dividing our efforts and taking a look at both blind-side protectors to check the impact of two of this game’s more intriguing spots.

PFF Founder and fearless leader, Neil Hornsby, takes a look at New England’s left tackle Matt Light while Sam Monson cast his eye over David Diehl, Light’s New York counterpart. Below is the account of what each learned during the game.

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Given the incredible success of Sam Monson’s piece telling everybody why the San Francisco 49ers couldn’t beat the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Playoffs, we’ve decided to draft in some help, hedge our bets, and take both sides of the Super Bowl.

While Sam may prove yet again to be wide of the mark, at least this way one of our analysts’ “guarantees” will prove correct. PFF’s Director of Analysis, Ben Stockwell, joins Sam in making cases for why each of the Super Bowl protagonists is fighting a losing battle on Sunday.

Here’s what they’ve determined to be the Achilles heels for the big game.

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Swerving from our usual path of providing a quick detail about the upcoming game’s key matchups, during Super Bowl Week we’ve gone into further depth and broken out each of the pivotal battles in their own articles.

With that being the case, this Three to Focus on is going to serve as a clearinghouse for all of the preview content we’ve supplied you with in the past few days–your one-stop shop for PFF’s Super Bowl content.

If you missed anything along the way, here’s your chance to click through and catch up.

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This being Friday of Super Bowl Week, you’ve surely encountered a healthy dose of matchups, breakdowns, and backstories for the two teams and their players by now. The necessary paces of proper previewing dictate certain topics get covered, and the customary angles get addressed, but that’s all a bit too rigid for the Scramble.

Instead of tacking on more about the head-to-head, this-guy-or-that battles (tough to add to what our analysis team has produced this week anyway), our four Scramblers were set loose to explore the fringes of this week’s big game. Free to trek down whatever random path caught their interest, they’ve returned to assemble a piece that’ll take you in four directions and round out your pregame prep.

So, as the meat marinates, the beverages chill, and the guacamole awaits its first chip, have a read and join in on the conversation in the comments section below.   Read the rest of this entry »