Giants have a divisional fight on their hands according to media outlet
Nobody within the walls of the New York Giants facility believes things will be easy in 2023, especially if they want to build off an overachieving 2022. The main reason for that is the inter-divisional competition between the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys. PFF seems to agree with that, and they have predicted a battle that […]
Nobody within the walls of the New York Giants facility believes things will be easy in 2023, especially if they want to build off an overachieving 2022.
The main reason for that is the inter-divisional competition between the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys.
PFF seems to agree with that, and they have predicted a battle that Giants fans may not be ready for.
The NFC East came in as the third toughest division in PFF's rankings heading into 2023. Only the AFC West and AFC North were ranked above them, meaning Gordon McGuinness of Pro Football Focus believes the Giants are a part of the toughest division in the entire NFC conference. Here's why:
The Philadelphia Eagles once again headline a division that sent three teams to the playoffs in 2022, boasting the fourth-highest-graded quarterback in Jalen Hurts (88.2) and two of the top 20 highest-graded wide receivers in A.J. Brown (88.9, sixth) and DeVonta Smith (81.1, 18th). The Dallas Cowboys are tied for the sixth-best Super Bowl odds but will need Dak Prescott to bounce back from a down year that saw him post a 68.2 PFF passing grade, the second-lowest mark of his career.
So it seems that McGuinness believes that the Cowboys and Eagles will be the top two teams in the division, seemingly repeating the order from last year. The parody in the league tends to prove otherwise, especially in the NFC East, where there hasn't been a repeat winner of the division in nearly two decades.
Now I'm not saying that the Giants should be a shoo-in to win the division and I recognize the dominance of the Eagles, but I'm not so sure the Cowboys haven't started their descent or at least plateaued in terms of their outlook. McGuinness said the following about New York and Washington:
Brian Daboll turned the New York Giants around instantly in 2022, unlocking Daniel Jones‘ rushing ability. The newly signed quarterback set a career high with 302 yards on designed quarterback runs. Sam Howell takes the helm at quarterback for the Washington Commanders, and while a run at a playoff spot would be welcomed, a good season in Washington, realistically, would be finding out whether he is worth investing in as their franchise quarterback.
The use of the term "unlock" is interesting considering the running joke on Jones (pardon the pun) was that he was more of a runner than a thrower. But Daboll did feature more QB-designed runs and that was only in year one of installation.
So with his contract set, his future stable, and his experience in the scheme just starting to take shape, it's not a far fetch that the Giants take the next step in 2023 and Daniel Jones silences his critics, even in what may be the conference's toughest division.
