The View Back East: G-Men Move Into 1st Place

The power in the NFC East shifted once again last week. The Giants defeated the Bills to move into first place. The Eagles saved their season by dominating the Redskins. The Cowboys were on the verge of an upset of the Patriots, but Tom Brady won it at the end. Here is a recap of the Giants, Eagles and Redskins' games from last week and a preview of next week.

Giants 27 Bills 24                 

Ahmad Bradshaw carried the Giants offense as he rushed for 104 yards and three touchdowns. Eli Manning had another solid game with 292 yards. What was the biggest thing for the Giants? They didn't turn the ball over. The offense was in sync all game as Mario Manningham, Jake Ballard and Hakeem Nicks both had great games. Nicks led the team with 96 yards, Ballard had 81 yards and Manningham had 56 yards. The defense gave up some huge plays to the Bills, but still came up with some key interceptions by Corey Webster.

The defense gave up touchdowns of 80 yards and 60 yards, but still won the game. The defense is going to have to stop giving up these big plays every week in order to stay in first. Even though the Giants won, we still don't know their identity. One week they will pass all game and another week they will run all game. They laid an egg against the Seahawks last week, but beat the Bills this week.

They have a bye week coming up and then play the Dolphins after. They should dominate Miami, but then they go through one of the toughest stretches of games ever. Their schedule after that is: at New England, at San Francisco, vs. Eagles, at New Orleans, vs. Green Bay, at Dallas, vs. Washington, at the Jets and vs. Dallas. If they can come out of that stretch with a .500 record, they might make the playoffs.                 

Eagles 20 Redskins 13                 

The Eagles dominated this game defensively. They forced four interceptions and they played a solid game offensively. Michael Vick threw for 237 yards with a touchdown and an interception. LeSean McCoy had a huge game with 126 yards rushing and a touchdown. The bigger story is the defense, because they finally clamped down on the run and held the Redskins to 42 total rushing yards. This is after giving up huge rushing totals in every game before that. Is this a sign of things to come? Has this team turned their season around? If the defense plays this well from here on out, they will be contenders.

The Redskins were brutal in this game. Rex Grossman threw four interceptions before being benched for John Beck. Beck came in relief and played well, but it was too little too late. The defense didn't let up a point in the second half, but it did not matter since the offense could not get anything going. John Beck has been named the starter for this week's game against the Panthers. The Redskins now must prove they are contenders. If they want to remain in the race for first place, they must beat the Panthers this week. This won't be easy, but they will force enough turnovers to get the victory. The prediction is the Redskins win 21-17.

The Eagles have a bye week this week and they play the Cowboys next week. That game will be crucial for them, because they can't afford to fall to 2-5. It will also be a must win game for Dallas since they need to win the majority of their remaining games to make a playoff run. It will be a huge game. Who will win? A preview of the game will be in next week's article as we close out another week of the NFC East.