Philadelphia Eagles debate table: Which NFC team’s the biggest threat?
As the Philadelphia Eagles begin the 2018 off-season as the defending Super Bowl Champions, many will ask one question. Who will be the biggest challenge for the NFC’s throne?
The Philadelphia Eagles beat both the Atlanta Falcons and the Minnesota Vikings on their way to their first Super Bowl in team history. Last year’s NFC Playoffs featured the best teams in the conference, and while the NFL is a league where you can go from worst to first fairly easy, each of the teams that made the playoffs appear as though they can win for a while, or at least be fairly competitive.
With that being said, can we expect a new set of teams in next year’s playoffs or can we expect to see more of the same?
Let’s take a brief look back in history.
While the Eagles were taking care of business against the Falcons in the NFC Divisional Round, the Vikings were squeaking past the New Orleans Saints. Prior to that the Saints knocked off their divisional rivals, the Carolina Panthers, and the Falcons took care of the Los Angeles Rams on the road.
Threats rise in both the west and in the south.
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As things stand currently, the Eagles figure to maintain their edge over their NFC East rivals. They clearly have the best roster, from top to bottom, in the division.
With what we’ve seen from the 2017 season, the NFC South may now be the best division in football. The Panthers, Falcons and Saints all have their franchise quarterback. That is if Drew Brees returns to the Saints. There’s no reason to think he won’t.
That leaves the NFC North and the NFC West. As far as the North goes, we mentioned the Vikings. They should be back in the playoff hunt again in 2018, but they need to figure out who their quarterback is. There’s one more thing. There’s this guy named Aaron Rodgers who missed the majority of the 2017 season with an injury.
The Green Bay Packers should return to their winning ways. The Rams, though young, are now the best team in the West. They’ve already added cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, and the Seattle Seahawks appear to be rebuilding. Still, as long as they have Russell Wilson, they have a shot to be competitive.
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Defending the crown won’t be easy.
Conventional wisdom states that Peters and Talib were added to the Rams’ roster to slow down the passing attack of the Eagles. The Rams aren’t gearing up to win the NFC West. They’re trying to get to football’s biggest game.
They gave the Eagles one of their most difficult games in 2017, and these two may meet in the playoffs in 2018 somewhere. They missed each other in January. It may be unlikely that this will be the scenario next time. It’s going to be fun when next season kicks off.