NFC Eastern Division:
1) Dallas: Head man Bill Parcells is in his 4th year with the Boyzzz and over the past three seasons has compiled a 25-24 straight up and 23-24-2 ATS record which is not too shabby when taking into consideration that these Cowpokes had only won 15 games total in the three years prior to the Big Tuna's arrival. Dallas posted a mark of 9-7 last season, however, that includes 3 losses by three or less points including a gut wrenching 13-14 loss on MNF to rival Washington. These Pokes believe that the additions of WR Terrell Owens and PK Mike Vanderjagt to their roster will put them over the top and allow them to capture a divisional title and I have to agree! Projected record: 11-5
**Look to play ON these Cowpokes when the Redskins come riding into Dallas on September 17th, this is a double revenge game for the Boyzzz who lost both meetings against the Skins last season including that tough 13-14 MNF loss, a check of the ole history book reveals that prior to last years seasonal sweep Dallas had posted a mark of 7-1 straight up and ATS versus the Skins in their eight previous get-togethers.
2) Washington: The Skins posted a mark of 11-7 straight up and ATS last year and made the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season. These Skins in a lot of ways were the NFL's "Cardiac Kids" last season when considering that they won 4 games by a grand total of 10 points while losing 4 games by a grand total of 11 points, add that up you come up with an amazing 8 games decided by a grand total of 21 points!! For the 2006 season the Skins brought in former Chief offensive coordinator Al Saunders to create and run a more imaginative offense, to help Saunders the Skins paid top dollar to acquire the services of versatile WR Randal El from Pittsburgh. I believe the Skins made a mistake in letting backup and former starting QB Patrick Ramsey go, should aging and often injured starting QB Mark Brunell succumb to injury the Skins would be forced to press untested QB Jason Campbell into service. Projected record: 10-6
**Look to play AGAINST these Redskins when they visit Dallas on September 17th, this is a double revenge game for the Cowpokes who lost both meetings against the Skins last season including that tough 13-14 MNF loss, a check of the ole history book reveals that prior to last years seasonal sweep Dallas had posted a mark of 7-1 straight up and ATS versus the Skins in their eight previous get-togethers.
3) NY Giants: When the G-Men hired Tom Coughlin to take the helm in 2004, players and media talking heads alike blasted Coughlin for being too straight laced with regard to his disciplinarian ways and the rules he had laid out for his players. Now HC Tom Coughlin is the toast of the Big Apple after putting together a 11-6 season in 2005. Go figure. The G-Men will once again be explosive on offence in 2006 after scoring 24 or more points in 10 games last year but they need to fix that leaky defensive secondary which ranked a shoddy 26th in the league last year. The Giants hope the free agent signing of CB's Sam Madison and R.W. McQuarters along with Safety Will Demps will solve their problems. In the big picture the G-Men reside in a tough division and must face Seattle, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Carolina all on the road and that is in addition to hosting Indy, TB and Chicago, in other words these G-Men have a tough row to hoe in 2006. Projected record: 10-6
**Look to play AGAINST these G-Men when they visit Carolina on December 10th, the Giants will be playing their 3rd road game in a 4 week span and the contest places the G-Men in a divisional sandwich situated between home games against Dallas and Philly.
4) Philadelphia: It would be easy to blame last years 6-10 straight up and 5-11 ATS season on the distractions surrounding the T.O. versus McNabb saga, however, the truth of the matter is that these Eagles had won 12 or more games in each of the previous five seasons heading into last years collapse. Meaning that in today's day and age of free agency and salary cap restrictions, there is simply no way a team can maintain excellence long term without having a down period to reload. Think about it a moment, successful teams are penalized for being successful by picking much lower in the draft than losing teams, thus the more successful a team has been long term, the longer that team is reduced to picking from the lower tier athletes remaining in the draft. The end result is the team that has been successful long term gets old and simply doesn't have the quality backups to take over. You need look no further for this simple truth than what happened to both the Eagles and Packers last year. Dallas, Miami, and the Giants are other examples who are just now recovering from their "down period". The Eagles have an excellent HC in Andy Reid and still have QB Donovan McNabb as the cornerstones but don't expect these Eagles to soar too high this year or probably next year either. Projected record: 8-8
** Look to play AGAINST the Eagles on September 17th when the Giants visit the City of Brotherly Love, Philly has been a very public team and that will continue this year. I expect the Eagles to look like world beaters after they demolish the Texans in Houston during week one and that is what will give us "line value" in week two when the G-Men come to town, the Giants swept the seasonal series last year and could do the same in 2006.
Jim Campbell runs http://www.FootballForecastor.com which has been an internet based sports handicapping service since 1997, you will be hard pressed to find another handicapper that has had the kind of success Jim has had, over the past eight years he has maintained one of the very best winning percentages of any sports handicapping service.
Jim Campbell finished the final four weeks of the 2005 NFL regular season with a mark of 14-5-2 ATS coming down the stretch for a winning rate of 73.68% and for the season in the NFL he finished with an overall mark of 48-33-4 ATS for a winning rate of 59.26% and that includes a perfect mark of 7-0 ATS in the NFL Playoffs, Jim has posted a mark of 6-2 ATS over the past EIGHT years with his Super Bowl selecton.
