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Columnist Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News has the New York Giants on top of the NFC East in his early division preview for 2014. After the Giants finished 7-9 in 2013 and third in the NFC East, Gosselin liked Big Blue's aggressive approach in free agency within a division he sees as wide open, given there hasn't been a repeat champion since 2003-04.
But first and foremost, he wrote, the Giants know how to win.
"The Giants have the same head coach and quarterback in place from a team that has won two Super Bowls in the last seven seasons — the only Super Bowls the NFC East has won in the last 18 seasons," Gosselin wrote. "Not only has Eli Manning won two Super Bowls, he's been the MVP of both of them. He has made the biggest plays in the biggest games of his life. The jury is still out on the other three quarterbacks in the division.
"The Giants lost more games by starters due to injury (91) than any team in the NFL last season but still finished 7-9. This despite an 0-6 start. The Giants went 7-3 the rest of the way. Cincinnati, Denver, Indianapolis, New England and Philadelphia also closed the season 7-3 with much healthier rosters on the way to division titles."
Gosselin went on to project the Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins would finish behind the Giants in that order.
"The other reason I like the Giants is that since winning their first division title under Coughlin in 2005, they have won the East every third year since then," he wrote. "They won in 2008 and 2011, putting them on track to win again in 2014. The Giants are a franchise that doesn't stay down for long."
