Ray Hagan
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Beat of the East here at PhillyInfluencer.com. The predictions went a little better this week, going 1-1 and 1-1 against the spread. That brings us to 8-6-1 overall, 7-8 against the spread. The Eagles and Redskins are bordering on impossible to figure out. I might just go Constanza and go opposite style in Week 10.
REWIND
The Redskins had the bye week this week. The Giants defeated the Eagles in a game that the Eagles will regret for missed opportunity after missed opportunity. Carson Wentz made four throws that were backbreaking. The two interceptions were brutal. The last pass to Matthews was by all accounts not where it was supposed to be, according to Ron Jaworski by “about two feet”. The one that I don’t hear being talked about enough was the deep ball to Treggs where Treggs had to slow to a crawl to catch it. If Wentz hits him in stride it’s six. I believe that Wentz is a franchise quarterback. I think he’s a special player, but he’s taken steps back. I think there’s a fear in this city that you can’t criticize him or it brings up questions of whether he’s a franchise guy. He is, but he’s also not infallible, and for all the mistakes made elsewhere in that game, the biggest difference was in those missed throws. The Giants won the game, but they didn’t look like the better team to me at all. But one team that is clearly better is Dallas. Dallas ran over the Browns (to no one’s surprise) but 35-10 was an even bigger margin than I expected. The Dallas Cowboys are the class of the NFC right now. I just threw up in my mouth a little.
FAST FORWARD
The Redskins come off of the bye week to face a suddenly reeling Vikings team that has lost three straight and its offensive coordinator. The Cowboys will face a suddenly vulnerable Steelers team that has joined the Eagles in making the state of Pennsylvania .500 on the NFL season. If Roethlisberger doesn’t look healthier than last week the Cowboys could roll. The Steelers talked about averaging 30 points per game this year. They’re averaging 15 per game over their last three. The Giants will close out the week against the Bengals on Monday night. Cincinnati joins Washington in coming off the bye week after their *yawn* exciting *yawn* tie in London.
LONG BOMB
It’s the halfway point of the Season as every team in the division has now played 8 games. So who is the most valuable player in the division after 8 games? Well that’s what we’re here to figure out. Since Carson Wentz has done his best impression of the little mountain climber guy from The Price is Right and fallen off a cliff, he’s out. I’ve narrowed it down to three viable candidates, Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott, and Kirk Cousins. So which wins the day? Let’s find out.
Dak Prescott
The Case For: He’s a rookie playing the game’s most challenging position like a veteran. His ball security has been tremendous and it’s allowed the Cowboys to not miss a beat without Tony Romo. Prescott is also the fourth highest rated passer in the NFL. Seeing what is, in many ways, the same team as last year cruise without Romo in 2016 when 2015 was such a disaster without him really underscores the steadying presence that the rookie has been.
The Case against: He benefits from the best O-Line in football. He has Ezekiel Elliott to hand the ball to. While he’s the fourth highest rated passer in football, he doesn’t rank in the top ten in any major category, completion percentage, yards, or touchdowns. You can make the case right now that Prescott is a good quarterback, maybe even a very good one. But can you really say that he’s great?
Kirk Cousins
The Case For: Cousins has as many touchdowns as Prescott, a better completion percentage and is sixth in the league in yardage, averaging 300+ per game. He’s doing it without the benefit of much of a running game. The Cowboys rank first in rushing yards per game; the Redskins are right near the league average at 14th. Cousins has also gotten hot at the right time leading the Redskins to a 4-1-1 record over their last six.
The Case against: Cousins has a lower passer rating than Prescott, has thrown seven interceptions to Prescott’s two. While he matches his touchdown total, we’ve already covered that that falls outside of the top ten at the quarterback position. Cousins might be the best quarterback in the division this year, but the position hasn’t been a major strength in the NFC East.
Ezekiel Elliott
The Case For: Zeke has been the workhorse back that most NFL teams don’t have anymore. He’s given the Cowboys an average of 24 touches and 130 yards per game. He’s also giving them almost a touchdown per game. He has been the best running back in football this year, sorry David Johnson. No back in football has had more rushes of over 20 yards. No back in football has run for more first downs. He’s tied for fifth in rushing touchdowns. He may not be driving the car, Dak is, but he’s absolutely the engine that keeps it running.
The Case against: When you’re looking at Elliott, it’s difficult to find flaw. I mean really what knocks can you have on him? You can make the argument that he benefits from the best offensive line in football. You can make the argument that he’s not the best rookie on his team (though that would be wrong). You could make the argument that he at the very least benefits from having a well-rounded offense. All of that is true, but you can’t find a flaw with Zeke himself.
The NFC East Midseason MVP Winner: Ezekiel Elliott
BEAST OF THE BEAT
Ezekiel Elliott returns to claim the award that he has won more than NFC East player. With just a shade over ninety yards and another pair of touchdowns this week he was the player that stood out the most for me. Zeke is just taking home all the hardware right now. Congrats Mr. Elliott on being both the Beast of the Beat for week 9 and the Halfway MVP of the NFC East.
We’ll be back later in the week with a preview of this week’s NFC East matchups, thanks for reading and be sure to check out all of the great content here at PhillyInfluencer.com.