If you aren’t careful, any discussion involving the Philadelphia Eagles‘ annual interdivisional clashes with the hated New York Giants, Washington Commanders, and Dallas Cowboys can take a turn that directs you to discussions about the ‘NFC Least’ and how bad the on-field product has been for what’s long been known as the NFL’s ‘Money Division’.
League offices are well aware that the four teams making up the National Football Conference’s Eastern Division are among the most popular brands in all the professional sports. If you haven’t noticed, regardless of what’s expected from these teams on a year-in and year-out basis, whenever there’s a game involving any combination of these four teams, pro football’s brain trust finds a way to get these games on the prime time schedule. If they don’t do that, they make a way to make these games available for national viewing (more often than not).
Pro football prides itself on parity, but let’s be honest. There are a few conversations taking place about how they’d love for Philadelphia, Dallas, New York, and Washington to be more competitive, and during the coming 2022-2023 regular season, league offices may get their wish.
Despite recent improvements, the Eagles and the NFC East bomb in an NFL divisional ranking fueled by quarterback potential.
As training camp approaches, the conversations surrounding our favorite game haven’t slowed down. As a matter of fact, with no on-field workouts or major rumors to discuss, the content has been more creative as imaginations are venturing towards overactivity.
Recently, NFL.com Contributing Columnist Adam Schein ranked all eight of the NFL’s divisions basing his criteria primarily on quarterback potential. The AFC West, as you might imagine, tops the list. They’re followed by the AFC North, the NFC West, the NFC North, the AFC East, the AFC South, and the NFC South. The NFC East lands in the cellar.
Here’s some of what Schein had to say on the subject.
"I had to put this division, which includes three teams that could be changing quarterbacks this offseason, at the bottom. I like Hurts a lot, and the Eagles are ready for prime time, but he’s got to improve his completion percentage (61.3 in 2021, his first full season as a starter). The man Hurts displaced in Philadelphia, Wentz, had a forgettable season with the Colts; there’s little reason to believe (he is) capable of recapturing his old 2017 magic with the Commanders after Indianapolis coach Frank Reich, who helped Wentz look like an MVP candidate in Philadelphia, couldn’t make it happen last year. Jones’ career passer rating (84.3) ranks 33rd in the NFL since he entered the league as the sixth overall pick in 2019. The Giants’ decision not to pick up Jones’ fifth-year option for 2023 is not a good sign.. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Tyrod Taylor play at some point this season."
Heading into the coming regular-season campaign, the questions surrounding the quarterbacks of the four teams comprising the NFC East are familiar. Sure, Dak Prescott is good, but can Dallas win a Super Bowl with him? Doesn’t it seem like he needs the roster surrounding him to be elite for him to be successful? Can he carry an average offense?
What’s going on with Carson Wentz? He hasn’t been the same since that late-season injury in 2017 railroaded an MVP-type season. Is this his last chance in Washington? Heck, why does he get so many chances?
Can Jalen Hurts take the next step? Would he still be here if the Eagles felt like they had a better option? Is it reasonable to believe that they deferred all of that draft capital to next offseason so they can pursue a franchise signal-caller if Hurts doesn’t work out?
Do we even need to dedicate time to discussing Daniel Jones?
Playing quarterback in the NFL at a high level is hard to do. Stop letting Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, and Josh Allen fool you. They’re the exceptions to the rule. More often than not, guys will fail at playing the position. That’s why we see so many get drafted every year.
Jalen Hurts has gotten better every year that we’ve seen him play quarterback since we saw him take snaps at Alabama with the Crimson Tide. This season, he has an advantage that he’s never had before, familiarity with the system because his offensive coaching staff hasn’t changed.
The next time you’re ready to write him off because the ball sailed too long or he missed the open receiver, remember this. As much as you love Tom Brady and Russell Wilson, they struggled during the early parts of their career too. It takes time. It takes patience.
Trust us we get it, for a city that had to endure ‘The Process’, a process the Philadelphia 76ers still have yet to complete, patience can be a tough ask, but something tells us that Jalen Hurts will be fine.
His next start under center for the Eagles will be his 20th (his 21st if you count last season’s playoff game). He has better weapons and a full year at QB1 under his belt. He’s going to be better in 2022 than he was in 2021. Forget this ranking. Try to forget what you’ve seen to this point. All that matters is training camp and Week 1 versus the Detroit Lions in the Motor City.
Once we get there, we’ll reassess. Then, we’ll take this one game at a time.