Here is my take on the Giants for the benefit of Misters Giovingo and Newman, among our other Giant loving friends.
Clearly the Giants are the best team in the NFC East but I think they have taken a step back on offense. The biggest thing is losing Plax. Yes he is an asshole and a distraction but saying the team gets better without him is blind homer-ism. Without him they have nobody that can stretch the field and that was pretty obvious down the stretch last year that was a big dimension of their offense that was missing. Without Burress and Toomer they are left with very little in the way of proven talent at the WR spot. Hixon, Smith and Moss are decent complimentary guys but I think continuing to wait on those guys to develop into starter level recievers is a waste of time. Hakeem Nicks is the wild card. He's a talented rookie who they drafted to take over for Plax eventually, but counting on rookies for immediate impact is risky at best. For every Marques Colston or Calvin Johnson there are plenty of Charles Rogers' and Robert Meechams. On a key 3rd and 8 late in the game where does Eli go with the ball?
As for the running game I think it's a mistake to assume that Jacobs will be healthy and effective all year. This is a guy who has missed 8 games due to injury in the last 2 seasons. Derrick Ward did a good job filling in for him as the main RB option when he was out the past couple years, something that Bradshaw isn't big or physical enough to do, and behind him are 2 young, unproven guys in Danny Ware and Andre Brown. RB is a position where young guys can make more of an immediate impact, but I still say counting on rookies (Brown) and undrafted free agents with 2 career carries (Ware) isn't something I'd be entirely comfortable with. The running game should be fine, particularly behind the Giants really good O-line, but what do they do if (when?) Jacobs has to sit for a few games?
The defense will be as dominant as any in the league again this year. They get Osi back from injury but they didn't miss a beat without him last year. They also added Chris Canty (not the filthy ginger who works at Dock St.) to just add to their stable of pass rushers. They are solid in the seconary as well, aided greatly by the dominant pass rush. Not a whole lot of question marks on this side of the ball.
I think the Giants will win the NFC East this year with 11 or so wins but will struggle to score points at times which could make them vulnerable.
My biggest point about the other teams getting worst was that, from a Redskins perspective, one of our biggest weaknesses the past few years has been wide reciever and the passing game in general, and by just staying with what we already had we could possibly have the best passing game in the division.
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