I think it boils down to how each of our opponents handle pre-season. Some teams are full vanilla, don't game plan much, and concentrate on individual matchups and player evaluations for their rookies/bubble players and contact/conditioning for their starters.
However, neither of the teams we have faced so far operate in the pre-season that way. Pittsburg does not take pre-season lightly but blew off the game's result. Indy is just not clicking at all and it showed.
If you wanted to go deeper, then just throw away the 2nd half of each game and see the results of our starters against their starters. In that I saw a clear advantage over both of these teams.
Finally, look at how the team as a whole is performing. There is cohesion, no distractions, people have learned the system (offense and defense) and each side of the ball looks sharp, youth and talent are starting to pour in, and our coaches are all proven winners.
Are we going to win the division? I don't think so. Are we going to do better than 6-10? Yeah. How much better? If I were to make a bet it would be 9-7/8-8. Even with that record I think we have a better chance of being in 3rd or 2nd place in our division than people give us credit for. Why?
1. Philly is going to take the Division based upon their continuity and increase in talent. Although they are this year's media darling "Dream Team" and trying to "buy a Super Bowl" which is what we were constantly being accused of, I think they will take it if they don't get too big for their shoes and become prima donnas, buy the hype too much, and expect everyone to just hand the division to them (See the Dallas Cowboys of last year). I think Philly is more fragile than people think; they are just as inclined to throw a shut out as they are to lay down a stinker. You can already see the pressure they are feeling to be perfect based upon their response to the spanking they got on their 2nd pre-season game. They could easily implode and drive Andy Reid straight to the all-you-can-eat buffet to wallow in his misery.
2. New York is down so far with injured players on the defense, which is supposed to be their strength, that I believe their success this year is going to come down to the offense; and Eli does not scare me a bit.
3. Dallas has, unless I am mistaken, lost more than it retained because they didn't have a lot of money after bringing in all those underperforming, overpriced prima donnas the last couple of years (sound familiar?) and are also learning a new defense. A new defense is almost never successful in its first year of implementation due to player/position inequities and the learning curve (see the Washington Redskins defense of last year) so their success is also going to hinge more on their offense than defense.
So, Super Bowl? No.
Division winner? No.
Vastly improved and out of the NFC East basement? Yes.
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