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	Quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Jason Campbell lead the two most overrated teams in the Beast.

Posted by ESPN.com's Matt Mosley

It's much too early to make any sweeping statements about the '09 season, but I'm planning to do it anyway. The NFC East is overrated.

I know the division is still showing up atop ESPN.com's Power Rankings -- now syndicated in more than 100 nations -- but that will soon change. The NFC North, commonly referred to as the Favre Division, is on pace to overtake the Beast by next Tuesday -- especially if John "The Professor" Clayton continues to rank the mighty New York Giants sixth overall.

As a former power rankings panelist, I believe the Giants are the best team in the league heading into Week 4. But after that, all bets are off. The Cowboys are 2-1, but our four distinguished voters don't even have them in the top half of the league (No. 17). And only by the grace of God and Clayton did the Redskins end up at No. 26 overall. They deserved much worse after their performance in Detroit.

Now let's take a look at all four teams to see where we may have overrated them. We'll assign them an overrated score on a 1-10 scale. The teams with the highest scores are the most overrated. If you're confused by this ranking system, please skip to the next blog entry:

Anyone who says they have the Eagles figured out is not being truthful: Seriously, how in the world are we supposed to have any feel for this team? They opened by destroying Jake Delhomme's fake elbow and the rest of the Panthers. Now that the Panthers are 0-3, that win doesn't seem quite as impressive. And the Eagles' defense, an alleged strength after Week 1, was awful against the high-flying Saints. The Eagles bounced back with a dominating performance against the Chiefs, but that's a team most teams should dominate.

Eagles coach Andy Reid has brought in the prototypical Wildcat quarterback in Michael Vick, but the formation had nothing to do with the Eagles' win over the Chiefs. The Eagles have an aging star quarterback recovering from a cracked rib and an aging star running back trying to bounce back from an ankle injury. There are simply too many uncertainties in Philly to make any logical guess as to where this team is headed. Reid made the mistake of banking on the highly unpredictable Shawn Andrews to start at right tackle. That's already backfired and I'm not convinced Winston Justice is the answer. Some of us thought the Eagles might have one of the better offensive lines in football heading into the season. That doesn't appear to be the case now.

Overrated factor: 7

I'm pretty sure the Cowboys' pass rush is overrated: The Cowboys are about to face one of the worst 3-0 teams (Denver Broncos) since the merger. After wins over Denver and Kansas City, Dallas will head into a bye with a nice-looking 4-1 record. But there are still some flaws that have emerged. A year removed from leading the league in sacks, the Cowboys were shut out the first two games. They had three sacks in the Monday night win over the Panthers, but two of them came after the game had already been decided.

The Cowboys won't win many games scoring 14 points on offense, although they pulled it off against Carolina. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett seems to be realizing that this team has a new identity. In the post-T.O. era, the Cowboys' best chance for success is in a run-based offense. When Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice are all healthy, the Cowboys potentially have the most dangerous running attack in the league. Unfortunately, Jones and Barber appear to be injury prone at this point in their careers. This may sound crazy, but I think the Cowboys are actually the most underrated team in the division right now. Our power rankings specialists put them at No. 17, which seems ridiculously low.

If this team can find anyone to rush the quarterback opposite DeMarcus Ware (hello, Anthony Spencer?), the Cowboys could get on a roll.

Overrated factor: 3


Why do we always fall for the Skins' offseason tricks? Most of us had the Redskins finishing fourth in the division, but a few brave souls (Mort) felt like they belonged in the playoff conversation. The signing of All-Pro defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was supposed to make this an intimidating defense. But when Lions rookie Matt Stafford calmly picks your defense apart in a 99-yard drive early in a game, you have some problems.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder spent an enormous amount of money on Haynesworth and cornerback DeAngelo Hall in the offseason, but he neglected other areas. Take the offensive line for instance. The Skins brought in Derrick Dockery to address one of the guard spots and they plucked Mike Williams from the Duke weight loss program. The Skins' other starting guard, Randy Thomas, is already out for the season with a triceps injury and he's been replaced by a former third-round pick who appears to be nothing more than a stopgap.

Throw in the team's embattled head coach/quarterback guru Jim Zorn and you have the recipe for a 6-10 season.

Overrated factor: 9.3

At least the Giants are pulling their weight. Unlike some other coaches in the Beast, Tom Coughlin never makes excuses for his team. This a locker room that has battled through a lot of adversity over the past couple years and it seems to inspire the team rather than bring it down. Losing safety Kenny Phillips to a season-ending knee injury is a big deal because he was on his way to becoming a star, but this team will recover.

Eli Manning's also gaining confidence in his young receivers each week. We spent a large portion of the offseason tracking rumors about Anquan Boldin and Braylon Edwards, but the Giants are getting it done with in-house players. Steve Smith and Mario Manningham have already made some clutch plays this season. I think beating the Cowboys in a close game in front of more than 100,000 fans is something that gave this team a huge boost.

The Giants have definitely replaced the Eagles as the Beast's flagship team. And I don't see that changing any time soon.

Overrated factor: 3.2

	Scott Boehm/Getty Images
	Albert Haynesworth and the Redskins fell to the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Posted by ESPN.com's Matt Mosley

You always hear people talk about how "on any given Sunday" an NFL team can rise up and beat you, but the Detroit Lions had become the exception. On Sunday, the Lions won for the first time since Dec. 23, 2007, and in doing so, have effectively put Jim Zorn's head coaching career in jeopardy.

Week 3 Coverage • Sando: Singletary stays positive • Mosley: Did Zorn seal his fate? • Seifert: GB's bread and butter • Graham: Owens, Evans MIA • Kuharsky: Fisher gets some blame • Walker: Bengals are contenders • Williamson: Broncos have special coach • Chadiha: Vick's modest return • Wojciechowski: Rocky seas for Sanchez • Clayton: Favre has magic touch • NFL Nation: Reactions | Wrap-ups | Live

He appears safe for the moment. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports the Redskins are not expected to make any moves with Zorn, a team source said Sunday night.

However, with Sunday's 19-14 loss to the Lions, the Redskins are now a team in crisis. This wasn't some sort of fluke in which the Lions received a bunch of breaks. They were, in fact, the best team on the field Sunday -- and that leaves the 1-2 Redskins in a tough spot. I guess the eternal optimist would look at the Skins' schedule and think they'll have a good chance to win against their next three opponents -- the winless Bucs, Panthers and Chiefs.

But after observing Sunday's game against the Lions, I wouldn't feel overly confident about the Redskins completing that sweep. I do think that Zorn, who is 9-10 since taking over in 2008, deserves the chance to at least see how things go during the next few weeks. Can he get his players to rally around him? I really have no clue at this point.

	Andrew Weber/US Presswire
	Jim Zorn’s job may be in jeopardy after the Redskins’ latest defeat.

If the Redskins could somehow rally and be 4-2 heading into an important division game against the Eagles on Oct. 26, then Zorn probably deserves to finish the season. But if the Redskins don't pull out of this tailspin, then I'd expect to see owner Dan Snyder make an in-season change -- perhaps during the bye week after the Eagles game. If you make a change right now, I'm not sure you're helping anything. Snyder hired Zorn to be the head coach, playcaller and quarterbacks coach. For better or worse, he's invested a lot of time and effort in quarterback Jason Campbell. Do we actually think making defensive coordinator Greg Blache the interim head coach would spark this team? I don't think it would make much difference.

The defense should bear just as much of the blame as the offense for Sunday's loss -- maybe even more. It was manhandled in the trenches by a nondescript offensive line, and Kevin Smith surpassed 100 yards on the ground. Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was supposed to transform this defense into something special, but Sunday, Lions rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford was rarely under intense pressure.

It's easy to second-guess Zorn on his decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Lions' 1-yard line early in the game, mainly because it didn't work. I didn't really have a huge issue with that decision because I thought the Skins' defense would've been up to the task. The Lions instead capitalized on the momentum of that play and drove 99 yards to make it 7-0.

You can cry all day about the questionable pass interference penalty on safety Chris Horton in the fourth quarter, but that's not where the Redskins lost the game. From the start, they couldn't match the Lions' intensity. The Redskins also should have been a desperate team, but that's not the attitude they brought to the game.

Zorn is a cerebral guy who will attempt to convince his players this week that all is not lost. But I sense that his methodical approach is beginning to wear thin in the Redskins' locker room. There just seemed to be no sense of urgency from anyone during Sunday's game.

And there was one final decision by Zorn that didn't make a lick of sense: With the ball on the Lions' 36-yard line with eight seconds left, he called for Campbell to throw short on the hitch and pitch -- and pitch. It was a clueless play, which fit pretty well with the way the Skins played Sunday.

Just from looking at a couple of different polls, I think it's safe to say that at least 65 percent of Redskins fans would like to see Zorn fired right now. But in this case, I don't think a firing will jumpstart the team. Washington has so many flaws that it's hard to really pinpoint anything.

Stafford, a quarterback who'd barely completed 50 percent of his passes through two games, had his way with the Skins' secondary, and the Lions were able to rush for 154 yards. It's time to admit that the Redskins are one of the worst teams in the NFL.

To single out Zorn at this point is the wrong way to go. But then, Snyder has never let logic stand in the way of a rash decision.