Division Links: Kellen Moore, Dallas pass catchers, the future for Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, and a Jalen Hurts update

What’s being talked about on other NFC East blogs this week?

Blogging the Boys

The case for the Dallas Cowboys to move on from offensive coordinator Kellen Moore

The Dallas Cowboys have moved on from several assistant coaches following their playoff exit. However, they should make one more move.

Moore’s flaws are becoming more apparent to people around the NFL:

Former Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells was asked about his opinions on Dak Prescott, following their loss to the 49ers. Parcells responded by saying they need to add more weapons and have a more balanced offensive scheme.

“They don’t have the top, top-quality quarterback in Dak Prescott, but I do think he’s good enough to win with,” Parcells says. “I just think they have to put more pieces around him. They just have to be more reliant on the overall scheme. Their defense is pretty good, but their overall offensive scheme has to be more balanced.”

The great Daryl “Moose” Johnston, former Dallas Cowboys fullback, criticized Moore as well, saying his offense appears “gimmicky.”

Kellen Moore was in consideration for the Carolina Panthers head coaching job before the team decided on hiring Frank Reich on Thursday. Panthers legend and NFL Network analyst Steve Smith, was not a fan of that idea.

While one could argue that Moore must be pretty good to be getting considered for a head coaching position with a NFL team, one could counter that argument with the fact that Moore continues to get passed on by other organizations. Even Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy was unwilling to commit to him as their offensive coordinator in 2023 on Thursday, in a press conference with the media.

There is a reason why Moore’s job status is still in question in Dallas, as opposed to defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who thrilled Cowboys faithful on Thursday by announcing he will be returning to the team in 2023. People are starting to wake up and understand that regular-season offensive statistics do not tell the full story in an offensive coordinator.

If the Cowboys truly want to make a change this offseason that will help the Cowboys get over the hump in the playoffs, it all starts with moving on from Kellen Moore. Until that decision is made, the offense will continue to not reach their full potential in the playoffs.

Blogging the Boys

The Dallas Cowboys got very little from non-CeeDee Lamb pass catchers in 2022

The Cowboys offensive skill players did not exactly rise to the challenge in 2022.

On the surface it appears that the Cowboys did indeed cash in on one of their bigger bets as they believed CeeDee Lamb would evolve into a bona fide alpha wide receiver. He did.

But we live in an NFL world where one alpha is not enough. Iron Man couldn’t have defeated Thanos alone, he needed the likes of Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, one of the most famous scenes from Avengers: Endgame is literally the entire MCU army showing up for the battle in question.

If we look at the EPA generated by Dallas Cowboys pass-catchers you can see Iron Man at the very top flying around in his fancy suit. Outside of that, it appears like a bunch of normal citizens and not anyone with a special shield, hammer, or radiation-generated superpowers.

Amazingly the pass-catcher who generated the second-most EPA on plays where they were targeted was T.Y. Hilton who didn’t even join the team until it was nearing its conclusion. Our third-place finisher is rookie tight end Jake Ferguson. Behind Fergie lies Tony Pollard, who we have all screamed to be used more while Malik Davis is holding strong in fifth with his limited opportunities (none of which came with the season on the line in San Francisco).

Nobody else is on the positive side of the spectrum, and perhaps even more frustratingly, some big investments are hanging out way near the bottom.

The actual bottom features tight end Dalton Schultz who played the season on the franchise tag and showed poor effort over the final plays of the season by not knowing he had to get out of bounds and not taking getting two feet down in bounds serious enough. The Dennis Houston that commanded all sorts of hype around training camp is just above him, but third-from-the-bottom is franchise running back Ezekiel Elliott. That feels about right.

Big Blue View

Daniel Jones the priority over Saquon Barkley? Giants’ GM Joe Schoen makes it seem that way

GM says he wants both back, but hedges more on whether Barkley will return in 2023

“We’d like Daniel to be here,” Schoen said. “There’s a business side to it, but we feel like Daniel played well this season. He’s done everything that we asked him to do … we would like to have Daniel Jones back.

“I don’t know the exact date or time when we were like Daniel’s our guy, but we’re pleased with how he played this season.”

Schoen wouldn’t talk numbers and indicated the Giants won’t begin offseason planning meetings until later this week.

There was, though, no hesitation is Schoen’s remarks. It seemed clear that whether it is with a long-term deal or use of the projected $32.445 million franchise tag that he expects to go forward with Jones as the quarterback.

There was, however, wiggle room in his remarks about Barkley.

When asked about Barkley’s future, the first thing Schoen did was talk about business.

“We’d like to have all the guys back, I really would, but there’s a business side to it and there’s rules that you need to operate under in terms of the salary cap,” Schoen said. “Saquon’s a good player, he’s a great teammate. I loved getting to know him this season. He’s a guy we would like to have back.

“Everybody’s going to step back, take the emotion out of it, evaluate the roster. We’ve got to operate under the salary cap, how are you going to divvy up how we’re going to create the roster, what are the priority positions and how we’re going to move forward.

“We would like to have Saquon back, if it works out.”

Bleeding Green Nation

Jalen Hurts admits he has “felt better”

The Eagles’ QB said how he’s feeling physically doesn’t really matter, they still have to go out there on Sunday and get it done.

Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts spoke to reporters on Wednesday ahead of practice, and learned on stage that he was an MVP finalist — although he didn’t have much to say about it. The QB did, however, talk about his competitive drive, how the relationships among the offense have developed, and a bit about the 49ers defense.

He was asked about how he’s feeling physically, and Hurts was honest:

“I’ve felt better. But, it doesn’t really matter. Gotta get it done.”