Breakdown of the NFC East Race

Giants 5-7

Washington 5-7

Eagles 3-8-1

Cowboys 3-9

Since it’s the holiday season let’s think about the island of misfit toys in the classic Rudolph the rednosed reindeer. That’s one way to describe the poor teams in the NFC LEast, the outcasts in a rather deep NFC. The NFL is full of spectacular talent that has been displayed this year whether that is coming from Kyler Murray in Arizona or DK Metcalf in Seattle teams are emerging. The one division that stands alone in this weird season is the NFC East. This division has been through tons of injuries most importantly with franchise players like Saquon Barkley and Dak Prescott. With three new coaches in the division in Joe Judge, Ron Rivera, and Mike McCarthy one would think that Doug Pederson would have the upper hand. The Eagles have been spooked all season and Carson Wentz is taking all the blame. Philly’s year seems to have come to an end replacing Wentz on Sunday when struggling to keep up with the Packers. The bottom line is the NFC East is full of teams that still have several holes. Come January records will be put aside and one of these teams will be hosting a home playoff game. This week gave us a better glimpse of what team we may see host a playoff game in January.

Here’s the breakdown of each team's path to a playoff berth.

Washington Football Team: 

The Washington football team finally were the ones to knock off the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. This Alex Smith-led team is playing their best football of the season but Ron Rivera’s bunch needs to win one more game than the New York Giants to make the playoffs. Washington has proved they can be a force to be reckoned with in this division and opponents like San Francisco, Seattle, Philly, and Carolina give them the easiest schedule left in the division. Let it be a shock to nobody if the Washington Football Team is NFC East champions in 4 weeks.

Dallas Cowboys: 

Who would’ve thought there would’ve been a thanksgiving massacre when the Cowboys hosted Alex Smith and company last week. The Cowboys couldn’t defend the run to save their lives against both Washington and Baltimore. Antonio Gibson’s career day may have shut the door on Mike McCarthy’s year 1 in Dallas last week. And that game led to another poor performance on Tuesday in a blowout loss against the Ravens. They follow with games against San Francisco, Philly, Washington, and New York. There is no way a team with this many question marks both on the field and on Mike McCarthy’s staff can win out to give them a possible chance in the division. 

Philadelphia Eagles

The birds headed into Green Bay with their season on the line last week. The Eagles were blanked for most of the game due to Carson Wentz’s struggles. They then turned to Jalen Hurts for the first time all season. He was able to throw one touchdown but came up short in the end. The Eagles season is over and what fans are looking for now is an improvement from Jalen Hurts and this offense from here out. Hurts will go up against the Saints, Cardinals, Cowboys, and Washington to finish out the year. If he can win 2-3 of these games there may not be a quarterback debate next year. 

New York Giants

The Giants completed the biggest upset of the season last week knocking off Russell Wilson in Seattle. The G-men held the Seahawks offense to 12 points. Even with the absence of Daniel Jones, Jason Garrett’s offense found other contributors like Alfred Morris and Wayne Gallman who have played well since Saquon Barkley was sidelined. But, the play of Leonard Williams the ex Jet is what sparked the Giants defense in route to a win. Williams finished the day with 2.5 sacks, one coming on a 3rd down with little time remaining. The Giants are finally clicking and this young unit is starting to get attention throughout the league. If Joe Judge can continue to motivate this team, and find different ways to win, the Giants should be the team we see host a game in January, being that they won both matchups against Washington. It is now up to Daniel Jones to heal from his hamstring strain and finish out the year with now winnable matchups against the Cardinals, Browns, Ravens, and Cowboys. 

Final NFC East Prediction

Giants 8-8

Washington 7-9

Eagles 4-11-1

Cowboys 3-13

Writer

-By: Sam Kirk