I've tired of DWTS. The judges are way over the top and it's lost its novelty to me. I watched it from the first season when Kelly Monaco went from being tone deaf to a pretty good dancer. Now I'll tune in a bit to see Witney Carson and Lindsey Arnold (my two favorite pros) but then get bored and move on to something else. I'm okay with Erin Andrews, but not thrilled with her. I'd like to see Tom Bergeron host the Ocscars sometime. His wit and ability to ad-lib is top notch.
As to the Redskins, and truth be told pretty much every team in the NFC East this year, it'll all come down to the quarterbacks. Any GM who trades for a QB from Andy Reid is setting himself up for a fall.
For the Redskins, they have to hope that Alex Smith is an Andy Reid mistake. The problem is that history tends to show that Andy Reid dumps quarterbacks just before they fall off the edge of the cliff into obscurity. He traded AJ Feeley to the Dolphins for a second round pick. He traded Kevin Kolb to the Cards for a second round pick and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. He traded Donovan McNabb to the Redskins for a second and fourth round pick. None of those trades looked bad for the teams at the time. Some GM's (arguably most) thought they'd skunked Andy, but all turned out to be disasters. Now he's traded Alex Smith to the Redskins for a corner and third round pick. That's arguably the lowest price he's taken for a quarterback yet. Does that mean that Alex Smith is the least valuable of those quarterbacks to Andy, or is he just being nice to the Redskins? (It's a little alarming that in a quarterback starved league, no other team thought Alex Smith was worth more than a corner and third round pick.) We'll have to see how it plays out, but history tends to show that Andy knows when to get rid of a quarterback.
The Giants have to see if Eli's last two to five years have been due to inadequate talent and support around him, or if he's just slipped a lot. Getting OBJ back will help them as will Saquon Barkley, but without good play from the QB, they could be in trouble. Eli will be learning yet another new offensive system and the first year in a new offense tends not to be great for any quarterback. How will OBJ and Barkley get along? Barkley will steal touches from OBJ and receivers tend to be a bit upset if they don't get the ball. OBJ tends to get upset at anything, so losing touches to a rookie may not make him very happy.
The Cowboys have to find out if Dak is the Dak of 2016 or the Dak of 2017. When he only got one touchdown against the Eagles second and third team defense in that season finale, it got their attention. They were concerned about his confidence last year also which is not a good thing. Dak talks a good game, but losing Dez Bryant and Jason Witten (guys who pretty much were the highlight receivers in 2016 and 2017) will impact the passing game a ton. They're replacing two guys with big catch radiuses with guys with significantly smaller catch radiuses for an inaccurate quarterback.
The Eagles have to see if Carson Wentz can pick up where he left off. He's easily the most talented of the four NFC East quarterbacks and likely a top five QB in the league. I'd put Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Brees, and Russell Wilson above him, but not by a lot. Wentz also has a very talented cast around him. With Witten retired you can make a pretty good argument that Zach Ertz is the best tight end in the NFC East. (Jordan Reed is also very good, but a bit more injury prone.) Alshon Jeffrey is arguably the second best receiver in the NFC East behind OBJ. Nelson Agholor might be the third best receiver in the NFC East. The running back situation is pretty solid. Jay Ajayi is likely a step back from Ezekiel Elliott and Saquon Barkley, but he's still a very good back. There's also good depth behind Ajayi in Sproles, Corey Clement, and the rest. That Eagles defense is clearly the best in the NFC East. I think the Eagles have the best backup QB situation followed by the Redskins. The Cowboy and Giants backups are a bit iffy, at best.
A whole lot of what happens in the NFC East this year comes down to the quarterbacks. Can Eli still perform at a high level? Did Andy give the Redskins a great quarterback at a bargain basement price, or fleece them a second time? Can Dak carry the Cowboys without Dez or Witten? (And when you watch Cowboy highlights, you see mostly Dez and Witten in their passing game.) The Eagles seem to be the clear favorites for now, but will the Super Bowl hangover hurt them? It's going to be an interesting year.
I think the Eagles are the favorite, but if Alex Smith can play at a high level the Redskins could be right up there. That Giant defense is likely to be a problem for them. I'm not sure they've fixed their offensive line issues either. Five new starters on the line is a lot. The Cowboys may not have a passing game at all without Dez or Witten. They're also moving a lot of defenders around including moving Byron Jones to corner from safety which is the opposite of how that move generally works. Generally you move a corner, who's not quite good enough, to safety. Byron Jones has never figured out the angles to play as a safety, so they're moving him to corner to try and salvage the pick. One early mock draft for next year has the Giants, Redskins and Cowboys all drafting in the top ten in next year's draft which means that at least one "expert" prognosticator thinks all three teams will be pretty bad. We'll have to see. The Giants have surrounded Eli with the most talent he's had in years. If Alex Smith is actually good, the Redskins could be very strong. The Cowboys need Dak to perform well.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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