Let me clarify what I mean by X-factor. In this case it doesn't mean the best player or the most popular its closer to how google defines it "a variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome." I will go through each team and pick one player who if healthy and at his best will make the biggest impact on the teams success. I will also be staying away from quarterbacks because they are the talked about enough as it is.
Dallas Cowboys
- Demarco Murray
Murray is not the best player, that title belongs to Dez Bryant and Tony Romo, but when he is healthy and productive this Cowboys team preforms at a much higher level. In the last two years the Cowboys have gone 8-0 when Murray has carried the ball 20 times or more. Murray has the talent to be a big time back in this league the problem has been he can't stay healthy.
New York Giants
-Victor Cruz
I was pretty tempted to put Hakeem Nicks here originally but then I actually looked into the stats and Cruz has clearly made a bigger impact even when Nicks was healthy. In the 2011 and 2012 Cruz caught 60% and 63% of his targets respectively while Nicks failed to catch 60% of his either season. Cruz dominates Nicks in almost every per game statistic and catches the ball more on 3rd down. Nicks may have the "higher upside" but Cruz has proven to be the more valuable and reliable player the past two seasons.
Philadelphia Eagles
- LeSean McCoy
In the last two seasons the Eagles are 7-1 when McCoy gets 20 carries or more. He only had 2 touchdowns last season but that is largely because of the complete crash of the Eagles and Andy Reid's failure to use him. If you were to put McCoy on a team that would lean on him more I can almost guarantee you that his stats would be fantastic. Look at a team like the Vikings who made it to the playoffs on the back of Adrian Peterson. While McCoy isn't Peterson he is certainly the kind of running back that a team can lean on and would help struggling quarterbacks.
Washington Redskins
- Pierre Garçon/Alfred Morris
It may be cheating to pick both of these guys but frankly I don't care. There are 2 key common factors in 9 of the Redskins 10 regular season games last year. One being that Garçon was playing and the other being Alfred Morris had 20 carries or more. Only one of the Redskins wins came without these two things. Robert Griffin III had a great rookie season and I don't mean to take away from it at all but without these two players the Redskins season would not have been as successful as it was.
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