Only the GEPS degraded.
To me it looks as though the EPS more or less held while the GEFS improved.
My trepidation comes from the fact that this is a strong El Nino and they are never wall to wall winters, therefore "delayed" looks may be more realistic than a moderate El Nino.
Here is the EPS (middle ground between the great GEFS look and and eh GEPS look). While yes the PNA progresses to negative, the NAO is progressing to negative as well.
Now, I know last December has a lot spooked that the "NEG NAO no longer works", however that was only due to the fact that we had an extreme trough off the west coast and California, if we stop the RNA here and build a Neg. NAO, then we are in business.