clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Reaction: ESPN's All-NFC East Team

Let's examine ESPN's end of the year "All-NFC East" team through Big Blue View's extraordinarily blue goggles!

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Dan Graziano and his buddies over at ESPN created an All-NFC East team that can be found right here: Clicky

There were four New York Giants to make the team, which is right in line with how the standings turned out. This team includes:

11 Philadelphia Eagles

7 Dallas Cowboys

4 New York Giants

3 Washington Redskins

Given how the seasons went for each team, there isn't much to complain about when it comes to the number of players that each team represents. Fittingly, all four of the New York Giants players are on defense. None on offense. Bet you didn't see that one coming. Ready for the big reveal? They are:

Justin Tuck at defensive end

Cullen Jenkins at defensive tackle

Antrel Rolle at safety

Will Hill at safety

Let's get the easy ones out of the way, is anybody going to argue with the two safety selections? I don't think so. Take a gander at the competition: Cowboys' J.J Wilcox and Barry Church, Eagles' Nate Allen and Patrick Chung, or Redskins' Brandon Meriweather or Reed Doughty. Yup, nothing even close.

The NFC East panelists actually had 12 spots on defense, allowing for two defensive ends, two defensive tackles, two outside linebackers, and two inside linebackers.

The defensive ends were Justin Tuck and Fletcher Cox. No complaints here, they both were deserving. The defensive tackles were Cullen Jenkins and Jason Hatcher. I think Hatcher is the obvious choice here. He easily makes the team. The issue is with Cullen Jenkins.

Don't get me wrong, I think Jenkins is a very good player. I think there are two better deserving candidates however. Linval Joseph, I think, was the better two-way player than Jenkins was. Cullen might have been a better pass rusher, but Joseph was a disruptive force inside. The other individual that I'd replace Jenkins with is a former New York Giant: Barry Cofield. Cofield doesn't have the stats as a 3-4 nose tackle, but he was the cog in that Redskin defense. He was consistent, he was disruptive, and he was someone the other team always had to account for. He made mincemeat of Kevin Boothe every time we played him. The honor should be his.

Don't worry, though, Giants fans. There's one player on the Giants that got snubbed. Take a look at cornerback. The two corners that are on the NFC East team are Brandon Boykin of the Eagles and DeAngelo Hall of the Redskins. I can buy the Boykin argument, but who's going to convince me that Trumaine McBride wasn't nearly as good?

Brandon Boykin's coverage stats via Pro Football Focus:

89 targets, 52 receptions, 58.4 percent catch rate, 12.6 yards allowed per catch, 3 TDs allowed, 6 INTs, 10 passes defensed

Trumaine McBride's coverage stats via Pro Football Focus:

73 targets, 32 receptions, 43.8 percent catch rate, 11.5 yards allowed per catch, 2 TDs allowed, 2 INTs, 8 passes defensed.

Boykin has got him beat in interceptions by a large margin, but McBride holds his own in pretty much everything else. He certainly deserves to be picked over DeAngelo Hall. His stats?

94 targets, 60 receptions, 63.8 percent catch rate, 12.1 yards allowed per catch, 4 TDs allowed, 4 INTs, 9 passes defensed.

I think it's pretty clear that McBride deserves to be on this team. The only thing he's missing is the interceptions and the name recognition. It's a snub.

As far as the offense goes, it's a no-brainer that zero Giants were named. Who deserves it? Anybody? Didn't think so. The best offensive player was Victor Cruz, but his numbers don't match up with Dez Bryant, Pierre Garcon, or Desean Jackson.

Justin Pugh would be a nice choice, if he didn't have to compete against Tyron Smith, Trent Williams (who didn't even make this team) and Jason Peters. I think its a travesty that Cowboys guard Ronald Leary made this team, but I have no suggestions for someone better. Such is the case for NFC East guards this year.

On special teams, Josh Brown and Steve Weatherford have been very strong players, but neither deserves it over Dan Bailey, who made 28-30 field goals including 6 over 50 yards, or Donnie Jones, who had a great season for the Eagles.

Who else got snubbed? What Giants made it that don't deserve to? Let us know in the comments section!