NFC East falling apart?
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by user Bleeding Green
The so called "best division in football" is in rough shape. A look around the news stories this morning shows a bunch of bad news for several of the NFC East teams.
First and foremost is the shoulder injury to Redskins RB Clinton Portis. Considering Portis is the Redskins offense(gaining over 1,500 yds on the ground last year), this is bad news for them. He suffered the injury, which was confirmed by an MRI ina preseason game against the Bengals. So far the only word is that he's out "indefinetly." "Right now, it's tough to say," coach Joe Gibbs said. "Obviously, it's going to be a while."
Second is the major problems going on with the New York Giants. Both Lavar Arrington and Carlos Emmons, their two starting outside LBers, have been injured all preseason and are still not healthy. Those injuries and the loss of Strahan for their first preason game led to thier defense getting shredded by Baltimore.
The biggest and most obvious weakness coming into the season on the Giants is the interior of their defensive line. They lost a quality player in Kendrick Clancy and made no major moves moves to replace him. They instead decided to rely on former 1st round pick(and so far bust) William Joseph, who routinely tends to dissapear in games. The tough NY media and fans are starting to turn on the guy heavily... what's worse is that he's refused to address the media since he was drafted in 03. So fans and media alike have been left wondering who he is and if he has any explanation for his poor play.
In response to the general bad play from his defensive line, coach Tom Coughlin unleashed this gem..
| I will never use that – you know, this guy was here, that guy was there," Coughlin said. "I thought we were soft up front, to be honest with you. |
That's right, he calls them soft. Now, maybe he thinks this will motivate his team? Not quite, they've already fired back at him. Pro Bowl DE Osi Umenyora came out against Coughlin in an article in the NY Daily news today after a team meeting where Coughlin reportedly blasted the defensive line.
| Obviously, I'm the worst defensive end in all of football after hearing the comments that were made in there," he said. "At this point in my career I feel like I know when I made a mistake. There's nothing a coach can say to me that I haven't said to myself 10 times already. As soon as I mess up, I know. So you don't have to do that to me. |
Date
Mon 08/14/06, 7:39 am EST
Now, I'm no Owens apologist, I've got a clear record of despising the guy no matter what uniform he's wearing. But let's wait until something's actually happened to say something's happened. Nothing outside of absurd predictions indicates that a TO circus is set to erupt.