I just want to examine the leaders of the defense. It seems to me like the Eagles and Skins may have lost leaders, obviously the eagles. While the Cowboys and Giants didn't lose leaders. Nonetheless I still think the skins have by far the best defense and I'll give a quick breakdown of my thoughts on each with a ranking. Give me your opinions. 

1. Skins - I still think our defense will be not only solid but better this year. If there is one thing Skins fans know better in this league then any other fans is that, great names don't make a great defense. And often leaders are very undervalued to how critical they are to a defense becoming a dominating unit. The common statement that this team was the 4th best defense in the league last season is absurd, but yes we look solid for the upcoming year with a defense that now not only has the right schemes and chemistry but the ability to end critical drives and create turnovers. 

I can't talk about the skins D still without thinking of ST and dirty thirty back there. Would have been the greatest safety duo of all time hands down. But when you look at it, we have a group that is not only solid but all haven't reached there potential and if it clicks this year could be the best secondary in the league. Headlined by Landry and Rogers, Hall brings the ints this team lacks all though Rogers gets very underrated because he has bad hands. Shallow fans tend not to realize how solid of a cornerback he is because of that, I would rate him the third most up and coming cornerback behind Revis and Finnegan. Smoot and our 3rd round pick Barnes, plus kareem moore, seem to only indicate good things coming out of this group. Hopefully we don't have injuries because we don't have a ton of depth. but the unit will be fine. 

The linebackers are by far the shakiest group of the bunch. I was shocked in the draft when we drafted cody glenn, that was a terrible pickup, but robert henson looks like a solid player and if given time to develop will be a contributor. London Fletcher is the leader, heart and soul of this defense. And as anybody whos watched him as a skin know, thats a great thing. Rocky Mcintosh has yet to break from the mold of a medicore linebacker, and actually played horrible at the end of last season but he too has shown flashes and I expect a solid season. Brian Orakpo at Sam, Not a good decision but keeping this guy on the field as much as possible is a good thing. Of course that should mean at DE but whatever I'm looking forward to this guy emerging in the NFC East as a beast. 

D line, Bag of mixed goods. Haynesworth, Carter, and Orakpo wil be monsters. Griffin, Golston, Montgomery, and Alexander will all be servicable. Wynn, Daniels, Wilson, will all be useless but Wynn and Daniels will be heralded as great run stoppers. Never understood how anyone could Back Daniels and Wynn's play if you actually watch them on the field but Orakpo falling to us was a miracle in the draft and this D line will be nasty and finally bring some pressure on the QB that will..

Launch this defense from a solid unit into one of the nastiest defenses in the league. Mcnabb, Manning, Romo, watch out this defense will be in hunting season come september. Overall a nice offseason by Vinny bringing back the same core unit minus Springs(who I personally hated) and Washington. Washington's departure will hurt this team trust me, when you lose a locker room presence like that it's hard to compensate for, but I think Fletcher was more of a leader and the addition of Haynesworth and Orakpo will offset on the field what Washington brought off the field. 

 

2. Giants - I won't be going in depth with the other teams, but I have to say the Giants have a very nice, very smart, very veteran defense that will give their offense enough of an oppurtunity to win games. That Dline will be downright scary this season with the talent they have at DE with Tuck, Umenyiora, Kiawunaka, and Canty coming in. Their DTs are very stout and this line will not be getting shoved around, especially by the Skins old rag tag oline. 

But their linebackers are far from stellar, headlined by Antonio Pierce, they had a good offseason patching up the weakest part of their defense, with the additiosn of Boley and Stintim out of UVA, but they still are nothing to be feared. Same goes for the secondary, not a unit that will blown away but lacking in star power. This is a quality defense that will be top 10 in the league but will not stack up to the Skins defense. I am bias, but from an objective viewpoint, It's really quality(skins) vs. quantity(giants) and I see the Skins being a more dominant force in '09.

 

3. Cowboys - I almost feel idiotic not saying the Eagles defense isn't atleast the 2nd let alone 3rd best D in the division but I am going to go on gut instinct and say that they will fall apart without their two leading men in Brian Dawkins and Jim Johnson. If you watch the game highlights and see how devastating the eagles defense was this past decade... ill get to it when I get to the eagles as for the cowboys. 

Being the third best defense in the NFC East still means being a potentially top 5 NFC defense so theyre nothing were going to be toying with. Demarcus Ware is probably the best defensive players in the league, the man put up 20 damn sacks last year and reminds us how old Samuels is everytime we face the boys. But overall the Cowboys are lead by Jones, and Jones is a clown. This team hasn't won a playoff game in over a decade, because they don't know how to become a unit. And no Keith Brooking will not turn this Defense into a unit. Terrence Newman is very solid, the dline is stout, and the linebackers aren't slouches but this defense just doesn't frighten me. 

Wade Phillips I think frightens no one, being a Defense guru or not this unit just isn't on the level of the Skins and Giants and will not ever collapse with Ware and Newman healthy, but I still expect big things out of Moss, Cooley and Portis when we face them in '09. Hopefully Campbell can put up enough of a showing against them to Vault Romo into the bottom of the NFC east QB rankings. 

4. Damn look at every play we almost broke against the Eagles, Dawkins is right there. Look at every time Portis smacks one of the bastards in the mouth and sends them tumbling, about to break free, Dawkins is right there. Well dawkins is gone, and so is Jim Johnson. The mastermind behind the blitzkreig that was the Eagles when this defense was hot. Best wishes to a healthy recovery for Jim Johnson, are hearts go to him but this defense isn't frightening after losing the two people that made it menacing. That is why I put them at the bottom, they are still a solid defense, and will be above average, but just won't hit teams in the mouth anymore. I expect this defense to slip up a lot in divisional games and pretty much put the game of Mcnabb's back, and the annual choker will do his thing and it makes me very confident playing this team after 2-0ing them last year. I have a lot of respect for this defense and they were probably the NFC defense of the decade, but without Dawkins and Johnson I see the fire blowing out pretty fast this season.