Your NFC Wild Card Primer

Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins is pumped to be playing at home, where his team is 6-2 and he's posted a 117 passer rating this season. On the road Washington is just 3-5, with Cousins' passer rating dipping all the way to 87.7.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

We kicked off our Wild Card Weekend preview yesterday with our AFC Primer. Both of us like the road teams on that side of the bracket. Here comes the NFC Primer, where again, both road teams are the nominal favorites.

All four road teams can't end up winning, can they?

A reminder, in case you missed the AFC Preview - the "DVOA" line in the "By The Numbers" section is the Football Outsiders' metric "Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average." It is designed to measure each team on a per-play basis, adjusted, obviously, for the opponent, but also for down and distance. For example, a 6-yard gain on 3rd-and-4 against Seattle is a more valuable and/or meaningful play than a 11-yard gain on 4th-and-12 against New Orleans. DVOA accounts for those things. And positive numbers represent more yards/points, so a defense is better when it is further negative.

Let's dive right in. 

Joe & Daphne's Preview: The NFC East

Us working hard on these NFL previews.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe) and Daphne Parello (@DaphnePup)

Monday we took an in-depth look at the AFC East, and today we turn our sights to the NFC East where Dallas, Philadelphia and New York all have legitimate playoff hopes, but also questions to answer in the early days of training camp.

The division is still the home of reigning rushing champion DeMarco Murray, but the 1,800-yard rusher has taken his talents from Big D to Philly, where offensive guru Chip Kelly has had one of the most interesting off-seasons in recent memory. The Giants are also in a period of transition, as they welcome back Victor Cruz to play next to instant star Odell Beckham Jr. at receiver, and bring in former Patriots running back Shane Vereen to make life even easier for Eli Manning.

One thing that hasn't changed: Robert Griffin III and Jay Gruden are still paired and probably hating each other. How will this confrontational relationship between quarterback and coach work out for Washington this season? If you know the recent history of this franchise, I think you can guess.

Without further ado, here are our thoughts on the NFC East.

Long And Suite Preview: The NFC East

The Cheerleaders might be the only appealing part of Dallas' season in 2014.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

The NFC East. All the prestige. None of the results.

The failures of the blue bloods of the NFC North can at least be explained by injuries - Aaron Rodgers, the entire Chicago defense - the NFC East doesn't really have an excuse. They were just bad.

The Cowboys continued their annual tradition of entering Week 17 with an opportunity to win their division. But for the third straight year, against the third different opponent in three years, the Cowboys lost, awarding their opponent the NFC East title. So if you believe in destiny, the Redskins will be the 2014 NFC East champions - they're the ones with the fortune of playing the Cowboys (at home) in Week 17.

NFL Week 8 Primer - How To Pick Games Without Watching Them

Only Peyton Manning has thrown more TD passes than Dallas scapegoat Tony Romo this year.

 By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Joe's wedding this past weekend threw a large (but quite lovely) monkey wrench into football viewing this week. I drove south from Mt. Washington and arrived home just in time to see my beloved Patriots lose in embarrassing fashion. I was too thoroughly exhausted to watch any late afternoon games (although I hear Joe's Steelers came up with a win), and I barely managed to sit on the couch with a glazed look on my face as Indianapolis upset Denver.

For this reason, we didn't have our usual "Good, Bad, and Ugly" recap on Tuesday morning - it's hard for us to talk about things that happened over the weekend if we didn't see any of those things happen. So this week's picks will be interesting. How will we handicap games when we basically have no idea about how these teams performed in their last game? We'll just make it up and hope we're on the right track. Ironically, this is basically what we do even when we HAVE watched football all weekend. Let's see if it makes any difference.

Weekend Football Roundup - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Peyton Manning: Still good at football.

 By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe) 

Every Tuesday during football season, editors Jeremy and Joe will bring you the good, the bad and the ugly from the college and pro football weekend that was. 

The Good

Carolina's Front Seven

It's hard to say how much they had to do with the absolute dismantling of the Giants that took place Sunday afternoon, considering this is the third straight week in which the Giants have appeared to be firing bullets into their own cleats, but in any event, the Panthers' defensive front dominated this game from start to finish.

Even despite a depleted secondary, the Giants were held to just 90 net passing yards (thanks to seven sacks of Eli Manning) and at no point in the game did it appear that the Giants were capable of moving the ball. Their only "positive" play was a seventeen yard would-be touchdown run by David Wilson that only occurred because Will Beatty bear-hugged the defender in front of him, and the only reason they had the ball in that position was because their defense forced a turnover. Carolina's front seven spent more time in New York's backfield than they did on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Considering they also did it Week 1 against Seattle (who beat up San Francisco's front last week) makes me think it's not a coincidence.

-JC

Miami/Kansas City 

Seriously, they're both 3-0. Go ahead, you can look it up, I'll wait.

The Official NFL Week 2 Primer (With Picks)

Russell Wilson hopes to put Seattle at the top of the NFC West with a win over San Francisco. (Flickr)

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Welcome to Overreaction Weekend.

Everyone went into the season with pre-conceived notions, and many of them were trashed in Week 1. Both of us feel it - we were both under .500 by a good clip in our Week 1 picks. Week 2 is a balancing act - you have to really weigh how much one game really matters, and even beyond that, you have to weigh both sides of the coin. For instance - a lot of people picked the Colts to regress, and a lot of people expected Oakland to be one of the worst teams in the league. So when the Raiders cover a 10-point spread against Indianapolis (and almost win the game outright), does that mean the "Colts Regression" camp was right, or does it mean the "Oakland Sucks" camp was wrong? Or is it both? Or is it neither, and the game was just a fluke? It's only one week, so nobody knows for sure.

In other words, let the overreactions begin.

Long and Suite Preview: The NFC East

Will RGIII be healthy enough to deliver more memorable moments in 2013?

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Unlike the AFC East and its year-to-year domination by the New England Patriots, the NFC East is arguably the most volatile division in the league. In fact, the last four years have seen a different division winner each time (Washington in 2012, New York in 2011, Philadelphia in 2010, and Dallas in 2009). Every team has occupied every spot in the standings over the last four years except one - the Giants have never finished last.

At first glance, it would seem like the Giants have had a disproportionate amount of success in comparison to the rest of the division, and considering their 2012 Super Bowl win, that may actually be the case. But it's important to remember that the Giants have two seasons of missing the playoffs entirely sandwiching that Super Bowl year.

In other words, it's up for grabs.

American History Told Through Sports Rivalries

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

The 4th of July is nearly upon us, and as we get set to celebrate our independence, let's take a quick look back at our history, as told through popular sporting rivalries.

Florida State Seminoles vs Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes


Long before the white man arrived in the new world, the native people of this great land had to conquer both wildlife and the elements.

Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics: The American Revolution

This was as close as I could get to finding a Patriotic themed team vs something British without the cop-out of "America vs England in something." I mean, Celtics are from the British Isles, so I'm gonna call this a win.

Washington Redskins vs Dallas Cowboys: America's Unethical Treatment of Native Tribes

Not only did early settlers brutalize the native population, infect them with diseases, strip them of their culture and force them to move far from their homes, we still haven't changed this highly offensive team name. For shame.

Studs and Duds: Flipping Out

By Jeremy Conlin and Joe Parello

Studs and Duds is a weekly feature on Suite Sports. Who had a good week? Who had a bad week?

Studs

Filomena Tobias

This Florida woman, now famous for violently flipping off Chicago's Joakim Noah after he was ejected from game two of the Bulls' playoffs series against the Miami Heat, is all kinds of awesome. First of all, she captures the essence of a very particular kind of South Floridian: The Rich Trash.

Yeah, she has money, but you have no idea how she got it (Well, according to Deadspin she married four different rich dudes, and was accused of killing one of them). And, instead of being classy with her money, she throws it in everyone's face and just generally acts like she's better than you, despite the fact that she has done nothing in her life to earn said money. And just look at that guy she's with, he's clearly miserable and trying to convince himself that he's happy. Awesome.

Does she give some of that money to charity, or at least use it help out friends and family? Nope, looks like she spends it all on jewelry, pants that should only be worn by someone 20 years younger, pills and Heat tickets.

The craziest thing about this is the pride it gave my fellow native South Floridians. Instantly, memes were made showing her as a sign of Miami's attitude and toughness. Seriously, this is the way we want the rest of the country to view us. Like, for reals.

Man, I miss South Florida.

-JP