A Reason to Love and Hate Every NFL Team This Season: NFC East Edition

In Part 5 of my preseason punditry, we take a look at reasons to love and hate every team in the NFC East this season:

Dallas Cowboys
Love - Rob Ryan's Brand of Crazy
Rex Ryan's stock may be on its way down after a tumultuous off season in New York, but we still have a lot to learn about his woollier, more Dude-like zygote partner Rob.  The Dallas defense saw its ups and downs in 2011, but now we'll have a much clearer picture of Rob's capabilities with a full off season to mold his troops... All of this with Demarcus Ware still playing lights out and without any further "contributions" from recently traded CB Terence Newman.

Hate - Any Possibility That the Cowboys Reclaim 'merica's Team Status
Here's the thing, do we really want to see Dallas succeed?  The honest answer is that many people do, given that the Cowboys fan base rivals those of the Steelers and Packers in sheer ubiquity.  Still, haven't we not-so-secretly enjoyed America's Team going bust in the playoffs since 1999?  Especially at the behest of Jerry Jones and lovable-but-dopey Tony Romo?  Sometimes distraught Dallas fans just look better on an HD jumbo screen.

Philadelphia Eagles
Love - Living Up to Its Dream Team Potential
Talk about 15 minutes-- For a fleeting moment in 2011, the Eagles were a fantasy football team brought to life with some ambitious off season talent acquisitions.  Then they kamikaze-ed their way to a 4-8 start much to the chagrin of a Philly fanship that has yet to host a Super Bowl victory parade in its 43 years in the modern NFL.  Still, there's plenty of hope that with last year behind them and plenty of key players returning, the Eagles may yet prove they are the Dream Team that Vince "Not-strodomous" Young once prophesied they would be.

Hate - Miami Heat Syndrome
Unfortunately, it's damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't for the Eagles, who may fall victim to "Miami Heat" syndrome if they do break through this year.  What I mean is that special flavor of schadenfreude that happens when a team like the Heat [or the Yankees for that matter] buy their way to the top of the totem pole instead of climbing to victory against the odds through numerous building and rebuilding efforts.  Buying success just doesn't play well with the American bootstraps mentality, even if it gels just fine with capitalism.  Don't believe me? Just take a look at who America was rooting for during the NBA Finals this year:

New York Giants
Love - Dynamic Play on Both Sides of the Ball
There's something to be said about getting hot at exactly the right time of the season, and NYG is the poster child for this.  Just as they did in 2007, the Giants crawled their way into post-season relevance at the last possible moment--largely in debt to the Cowboys' sheer incompetence--and then ignited a defense and rushing game to match a powerful passing offense.  Eli Manning is here to stay, so look for human octopus DE Jason Pierre-Paul to continue stoking the defensive fire in order to keep the Giants towards the top of the NFC this year.

Hate - Regression to Old Habits
Nevertheless, the Giants are one of those teams you never know what to expect from-- One minute, they're toppling NFL Goliaths like the 2011 Packers and the 2007 Patriots with relative ease; the next minute, they're coughing up 21-point fourth quarter leads to the likes of the Eagles (2010) and Titans (2006).  Either Tom Coughlin is a resilient genius or a very, very, very lucky man.  Flipping a coin is probably the best insight we have into whether he'll be coronated or fired this season.

Washington Redskins
Love - RG3's Potential to Eclipse Andrew Luck
In my second reference to the 1998 Manning-Leaf-off in this series, the NFL odds suggest that there can be only one long-term QB standout in this draft class. Most are putting money on either long-time draft darling Andrew Luck or new Heisman recipient Robert Griffin III.  If RG3 ends up having a banner year like Cam Newton did in 2011, expect to see some fundamental changes not just to how QBs are drafted in the NFL but how offenses [and then defenses] are designed.  This could be a breakout to watch.

Hate - Mike Shannahan's Manson-esque Devil Eyes
Seriously, they're beady and a little dead inside.  Makes you wonder if there was ever any spark in this guy's soul that John Elway wasn't manufacturing for him.