Nfc East

Times NFL writer Sam Farmer poses the big questions as each team readies for training camp: NFC EAST On Oct. 3, the Washington Redskins play at Philadelphia. It promises to be one of the most fascinating games of this NFL season. The mere sight of Donovan McNabb in a Redskins uniform is strange enough, but to see him walk onto the field as a visitor in Philadelphia? That will be bizarre. The Eagles can only hope they made the right move, trading McNabb to a division rival and entrusting the starting quarterback job to largely untested Kevin Kolb . A somewhat similar situation worked out for New England several years ago, when the Patriots sent Drew Bledsoe to Buffalo and kept Tom Brady (although Brady was coming off a Super Bowl victory.

The draft will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday in New York. Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines team needs by division. Today, the East divisions: AFC East The Buffalo Bills are once again in search of a quarterback, and might reach for one with the eighth overall pick. An intriguing fit is Ryan Nassib, who played for new Bills Coach Doug Marrone and (new Bills offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett) at Syracuse. Even though the franchise broke the bank on pass rushers last off-season, the Bills could use more help in that department.

Fourth in an eight-part series as Times NFL writer Sam Farmer analyzes the league by division. Today, the NFC East: Story lines 1 Like many defending Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants have tried to portray themselves as underdogs. With the Giants, we believe them. Their defensive line carried them through last season, and now Michael Strahan has retired and Osi Umenyiora is out for the season with a knee injury. 2 If you watched this summer's episodes of "Hard Knocks," you might think the Dallas Cowboys should just book their tickets to Tampa and wait around for whichever AFC team makes it to Super Bowl XLIII.

Dallas Cowboy (8-7) at Washington Redskins (9-6) Time: 5:15 p.m. TV: Channel 4 Story line: Washington carries a six-game winning streak into a game that will decide the NFC East championship. Rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III shredded Dallas on Thanksgiving Day for 304 yards and threetouchdowns. Fellow rookie Alfred Morris is the NFL's fourth-leading rusher. The Cowboys' Tony Romo has thrown for more than 1,300 yards and for 10 touchdowns in his last four games, targeting Dez Bryant often.

The draft will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday in New York. Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines the needs for each team by division. Today, the East divisions: AFC East Yet again, the Dolphins are looking for their franchise quarterback. They have the eighth pick and might use it on Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill, providing he's still on the board. The team needs a receiver, too, since it traded Brandon Marshall. The right side of the offensive line is a work in progress, and the team is perpetually looking for pass rushers.

If nothing else, the Dallas Cowboys accomplished an unprecedented feat this season: sweeping the NFC East. "Nobody else will ever be the first to do it," Dallas Coach Chan Gailey said after the playoff-bound Cowboys defeated the Washington Redskins, 23-7, Sunday night, becoming the first NFC East team to go 8-0 against conference rivals. "We wanted to do it, but it's not like that was the only thing on our minds," Gailey said.

The New York Giants found the perfect way to keep the ball out of Jake Plummer's hot hands: Give the ball to Charles Way. Way had 114 of the Giants' 201 rushing yards and quarterback Danny Kanell provided some balance to their attack with 182 yards and two touchdown passing in a 19-10 victory over Arizona on Sunday. "Everybody wants to get their hands on the ball and do something with it. The important thing is we won the game," said Way, who started the season as a blocking fullback.

Bill Parcells has a two-step, sure-fire way of getting into the playoffs--play well in December and move the ball on the ground. That's just what the New York Giants are doing now, and only a victory over the New York Jets separates them from a second NFC East title in 3 years.

Reporting from East Rutherford, N.J. — Eight years with the Giants, and Eli Manning still resists doing anything in a New York minute. The drowsy-eyed quarterback refuses to be hurried through life, instead cruising along at his own speed. Even with all the demands of being a football centerpiece in the nation's biggest market, he's seldom edgy, irritable or even excitable. "He never loses his cool, never gets frustrated," said his backup, David Carr. "It's kind of weird, actually.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have proved they're among the AFC's elite teams; they're 5-0 in the conference. But can they beat an NFC East team? So far, no. The Steelers, who came into the season with the NFL's toughest schedule, have lost to Philadelphia and the New York Giants. They will get another crack at the division tonight when they play at Washington.

With two weeks remaining, three NFL divisions remain up for grabs. The AFC North is undecided. Same goes for the NFC East and West. The fuzzy picture will come into better focus after this weekend's games, which include a handful of pivotal divisional matchups: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, Washington at Philadelphia and San Francisco at Seattle. First, the Steelers. If they win their final two — home games against the Bengals and Cleveland Browns — they will secure a spot in the postseason.

Michael Vick did not receive an endorsement from his coach following the Philadelphia Eagles' third straight loss, 30-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. It apparently took Andy Reid more than 24 hours to decide that Vick will remain his team's starting quarterback, at least for Monday night's against the New Orleans Saints. There has been no official announcement since the Eageles' headquarters were closed Monday due to Sandy, the massive storm that has lashed the East Coast, but three sources told the Associated Press of Reid's decision.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants, eager to pick up where they left off last season, have adopted the slogan "Build the Bridge" in hopes of making another march to the Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys should consider a different motto: Dig the Tunnel. The Cowboys have been imprisoned by the Giants in recent years, losing seven of nine meetings since early 2008. Over that span, the Giants have won two rings — in both cases using victories over Dallas as springboards for their championship runs.

ALBANY, N.Y. - Boring Eli Manning has nothing much new to say. Manning's pulse never seems to quicken, no matter what he's asked. New York Giants reporters, who have mined him for every interesting angle, greet him with pleasant hellos as he walks past but don't often scramble to get his thoughts. He won't fill their notebooks. Oh, and one more thing: Manning is the best clutch quarterback in football, a guy with two Super Bowl rings and two most-valuable-player awards from those games.

What began with a lockout ends Sunday with a luck-out. Thirteen of the NFL's 16 games in Week 17 are truly meaningful , either to the playoffs or the 2012 draft, and the schedule culminates with a high-profile finale for all the marbles — Dallas at the New York Giants — the winner claiming the NFC East and the loser eliminated. "What we hope each year is that our 256th and final regular-season game will be incredibly relevant," said Howard Katz, the NFL's senior vice president of media and operations.

Revenge is an overrated emotion in the NFL. Fans think about it, the media speculates about it, but for players — many of whom spend time with multiple franchises over the course of their career — the game is more about paychecks than payback. The upcoming game in Denver could be an exception. The Broncos will play host Sunday to Kansas City, a week after the Chiefs were eliminated from the playoff picture. This game is anything but meaningless to Chiefs quarterback Kyle Orton, though; he has an opportunity to spoil the party for a team that cut him five weeks ago. "We knew it was a possibility," Broncos executive John Elway told the Denver Post of running into Orton again.

Move over, Tony Romo. Jeff Garcia is taking a run at being the backup quarterback of the year. After all, he led the Philadelphia Eagles past Romo and the Dallas Cowboys and into first place in the NFC East with a week to go in the season. Garcia took the Eagles to scores on four of their first five drives and the Philadelphia defense humbled Romo in a 23-7 victory Monday that secured at least a wild-card berth.

Reporting from East Rutherford, N.J. — Eight years with the Giants, and Eli Manning still resists doing anything in a New York minute. The drowsy-eyed quarterback refuses to be hurried through life, instead cruising along at his own speed. Even with all the demands of being a football centerpiece in the nation's biggest market, he's seldom edgy, irritable or even excitable. "He never loses his cool, never gets frustrated," said his backup, David Carr. "It's kind of weird, actually.