The NFC has vastly improved since last season

By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 

All eyes are on the Philadelphia Eagles to replicate their success in 2018 that they had on the way to a Super Bowl Championship last season. But just because the Eagles are in a position to repeat doesn't mean the road is free of obstacles.

Heading into last season, the balance between the conferences really showed favor with the AFC, until it became more clear as the season progressed that the power was lying in the hands of the NFC. Now, five months removed from the epic conclusion to the 2017 season, the NFC has made gigantic strides to being the powerhouse conference in the NFL.

The Eagles are going to have to compete with some very familiar foes this upcoming season against other divisional powers, as well as some very hungry divisional opponents in the Cowboys, Giants, and even the Redskins could be a team to turn some heads. Every "good" team has improved, including all of the Birds' division rivals. The Eagles are going to have to be mindful of just how strong the NFC has gotten as they reflect upon their first Super Bowl title.

The Rams, Vikings, and Saints are looking like strong competitors in the NFC this season, all teams that had a "better" chance on making Super Bowl LII last season, but fell short. Each team made an improvement in the offseason to get better and try to compete with an Eagles team that didn't lose a whole lot of talent from this year to last year, yet grew stronger in certain areas.

The Rams added more offensive firepower to QB Jared Goff's offense, including wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who seems to be recovering nicely from his nasty hit playing for the Patriots against the Birds in the Super Bowl in February. Los Angeles also added more defensive powers to their side of the ball, with solid veteran corners in Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib. They also signed defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to a contract. Sean McVay looked fierce in his first season as head coach, and he's only going to improve going into Year 2. The Rams can only hope that they can live up to the hype that has been bestowed upon them.

The Vikings keep the same, formidable defense heading into 2018, and their offense improves drastically from last year to this year. Of course, they are led by new quarterback Kirk Cousins, replacing Case Keenum, who helped lead Minnesota to the NFC Championship Game last year. Running back Dalvin Cook comes back from his ACL tear suffered in Week 4 last season. In his first four career games, Cook rushed for 354 yards on 74 attempts with two touchdowns. As eluded to before, the defense is what makes the Vikings so deadly. Led by Xavier Rhodes, Harrison Smith, Anthony Barr, and Eric Kendricks, the Vikes' defense is surely going to be dominant for yet another season.

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but the Saints were oh-so-close to knocking off the Minnesota Vikings and head to the NFC Title game before the Minneapolis Miracle occurred and completely changed the course of the rest of the playoffs. New Orleans was one play away from their destiny, but it wasn't meant to be thanks to a gorgeous Case Keenum pass to a sprawled out Stefon Diggs, and a missed coverage by Marcus Williams that allowed Diggs to run to the endzone for the victory. The Saints are surely hoping the outcome differs in 2018. The tenacious tandem of running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram returns this year. Ingram is set to miss the first four games of the season due to a PED violation, but when he returns, look out. Kamara rushed 74 times for 728 yards and eight touchdowns in his rookie season, adding 81 receptions for 826 yards and five touchdowns to make himself a true dual-threat running back. Drew Brees is definitely going to be poised to make the best out of his 18th NFL season.