- Philadelphia Eagles by Andrew Thell
- Rest of NFC East by Brian Spencer

We’re almost there: the end of our division-by-division breakdowns and the start of the 2009-10 NFL season. Next up is the NFC East, which’ll have three teams entertaining realistic playoff hopes and one picking up the crumbs. Next and last up is the NFC South later this week; links to all previous division previews are at the bottom.

1 – Philadelphia Eagles

The days of Eagles’ observers decrying the lack of offensive talent surrounding quarterback Donovan Mcnabb are over. Any discussion of the 2009 Philadelphia Eagles must start with the huge influx of offensive weaponry, and I’m not just talking about the dude with a lapsed Kennel Club membership.

The Iggles offensive line will be visibly better on every play after replacing creaky tackle duo Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan with youthful new end-pieces Stacy Andrews and Jason Peters. McNabb hit it on the head when he opinioned, “Stacy Andrews and Jason Peters are young, athletic and physical. They will help in both the passing and running game.”

In addition to the new tackles, Philly nabbed a couple of promising playmakers in the first and second rounds with Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy. Neither are likely to be Week 1 starters, but as the season progresses they’ll become more and more involved in the offensive attack, especially as they’ll be the primary backups to injury-prone Brian Westbrook and Kevin Curtis. Rookie receivers rarely have a huge years, but I discussed McCoy’s potential impact here.

The two young guns who actually will be lining up wide for the Eagles on day one are explosive second-year wideout DeSean Jackson and emerging, steady third-year tight end Brent Celek (who I discussed here), both of whom should be extremely active in the passing game. Jackson in particular could emerge as one of the NFL’s elite home-run threats. More than one training camp observer reported DeSean was the most impressive Eagle in camp.

It remains to be seen how, and when, Michael Vick will be integrated into the offense. However, there is no doubt that the man was and can be a playmaker. A freak athlete and game-changer that was always shoe-horned into the QB position because of his price tag and pedigree, the Eagles will now be free to utilize his rare talents wherever they see fit – which will be all over the field. It should be interesting to see what trick-play-lover Andy Reid comes up with.

Unfortunately, things aren’t quite as positive on the defensive side of the ball in Philly. Just as a discussion of the Eagles must start with their new pieces on offense, it must also address the loss of their defensive chess master, the great Jim Johnson, who recently passed away. It’s hard to understate the potential impact Johnson’s loss could have. He was one of the premier defensive signal callers in NFL history. Johnson’s artful, unpredictable and relentless blitz schemes defined this defense for the last decade.

JJ is replaced by long-time assistant Sean McDermott, who joined the team in 1998 and studied under Johnson since. Just 35 years old, McDermott is known as a focused and extremely prepared coach and wouldn’t be the first Johnson protégé to go on to rapid success (Steve Spagnuolo, Leslie Frazier, and, to a lesser extent, John Harbaugh).

They Eagles lost their emotional on-field leader when 13-year safety, face of the defense, and hitting machine Brian Dawkins signed with the Denver Broncos. They also lost their leading tackler and best ‘backer in MLB Stewart Bradley to an ACL tear early in camp. Those losses could be critical. The deep defensive line should remain strong, led by Darren Howard and Trent Cole, but it remains to be seen how the the rest of this unit will respond to losing so many critical pieces.

A look at the rest of the NFC East after the break…

2 – New York Giants

There are two things this non-Giants fan enjoys about this team: the defensive line and the bruising rushing attack, both of which also happen to be the team’s strengths.

“Strength” is certainly an adjective that comes to mind when considering starting tailback Brandon Jacobs, who at 6-4 and over 260 pounds can run through just about anything: defensive lineman, linebackers, brick walls, you name it. He’s punishing. He’s deceptively quick. He runs the ball north and south and makes hapless cornerbacks and safeties think twice about taking him head on.

Jacobs is simply one of our favorite backs in the league and, barring injury, should rush for a third-straight 1,000 yard season. He’s complimented by explosive jitterbug Ahmad Bradshaw, a third-year back out of Marshall who’s had an excellent training camp and preseason and could replicate the role Derrick Ward, now in Tampa Bay, played for the Giants last year. Two backs with realistic shots of crossing the century mark in the same season, for the second season in a row, is an insane luxury for the Giants.

And it’s one they’ll need with Eli Manning having to sort through a middling crop of receivers. With Plaxico Burress facing two years behind bars and long-time safety valve Amani Toomer depressing all of us in Kansas City, it’s on unproven youngsters like Domenik Hixon, Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, and first-round pick Hakeem Nicks to step up and stop opposing defenses from stacking the box on first and second downs.

Don’t expect any of these guys to have big individual efforts, but if they can collectively be even semi-effective, it’ll take a lot of pressure off Jacobs, Bradshaw, and one of the most consistently dominant offensive lines in football (though some think it could falter some this year). Eli is what he is: a relatively stable game manager with a low “wow factor” and average physical talent. Truly great quarterbacks make their WRs look better than they are, so let’s see what you can do, Eli.

The Giants’ defensive line is ridiculously deep and led by Justin Tuck (22 sacks over the past 2 seasons), Mathias Kiwanuka (8.5), and Osi Umenyiora, who recorded 13 of his own last year. Umenyiora threw a temper tantrum this week and pulled a primadonna act by leaving camp over what sounds like a trifling issue, but that shouldn’t have much long-term impact on his play. This crew is filthy, end of story.

The linebacking crew, led by Antonio Pierce, is rock solid, and the pass defense finished 8th overall last season in allowing under 200 yards through the air per; to a degree, though, they’re beneficiaries of the world-class pass rush in front of them.

Can you tell how psyched I am about the Giants?