NFL Schedule Breakdown: NFC EAST
This last Wednesday the fans of the NFL got a look at the full 17 game schedule for their favorite teams. Last season the NFC East went through a brutal schedule that resulted in a divisional championship for Ron Rivera and the 7-9 Washington Football Team. This upcoming season this division will have matchups with the AFC West as well as one singular matchup against the AFC East against the team that finished in the same spot in the previous season. There are a lot of questions to be answered within this division and possibly an easier schedule compared to the 2020 season can help these young teams continue to grow.
Washington Football Team
Since the Football Team won the division in 2020, it would only make sense for them to have the hardest strength of schedule within the division. Washington ranks 15th in strength of schedule heading into this 2021 season. Ron Rivera and his young promising squad will play 5 division champs, including the Bills, Saints, Chiefs, Packers, and Seahawks. As well as a possible revenge game against the reigning Super Bowl champs in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Unfortunately for Washington the added game against the AFC East has them playing the Buffalo Bills. Along with the 5 division champs Washington will need to play, they end the year with 5 straight divisional matchups starting with the Dallas Cowboys in week 14 and ending with the New York Giants in week 18. Washington’s season will ride heavily on the outcome of those games heading into postseason play.
Dallas Cowboys
Heading into 2021, the Cowboys’ strength of schedule is ranked 31st in the league only ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles. Dallas will start the year with two straight road games, including an enticing primetime Week 1 game against Tom Brady and the Bucs.
The Cowboys will play in two Thursday night matchups this season, one being the opener against the Buccaneers and the other is a December trip down to Mercedes Benz Stadium to play Jameis Winston and the Saints. These two Thursday night matchups actually give the Cowboys more time to prepare and stay healthy as they go through their season. Currently, sportsbooks have the Cowboys at 9.5 wins for the 2021 season which is barely over .500 but is also the best over/under in the entire division.
The toughest part of Dallas’ schedule will be down the stretch with 4 road matchups in their last six games of the season. Four of these games as well are against their NFC East opponents, and the other two being matchups against the Saints and Cardinals. Dallas is going to need everyone healthy for their final stretch. One important aspect to keep an eye on is the status of their offensive line. If the Cowboys can keep a consistent front for Dak Prescott’s first year off a major injury, they will have a shot to take the NFC East crown and save Mike McCarthy’s job.
Philadelphia Eagles
Even though the Cowboys have the 31st strength of schedule in the league, the Eagles are the only team in the NFL with a strength of schedule below Dallas and below a .450 win percentage. The Eagles had a lost season in 2020 with a 4-11-1 record. Philly plays only three games against teams that finished above .500 last season. These matchups are no joke though being that they will have to play the two conference winners in the Chiefs and the Bucs as well as an explosive Saints offense. Nick Sirianni will only have to face five teams that went to the playoffs in his first season as the Eagles head coach.
The Eagles along with the rest of the division will have to improve from last year quickly. But Philly at least gets to play both the Bucs and the Chiefs at Lincoln Financial Field. With full capacity stadiums in play for the 2021 season that should give the Eagles some more life and energy like it has for many years. I’m sure Sirianni in his first year in one of the more pressuring cities in the country to win will not be complaining about having the easiest schedule in the league.
While the Eagles’ schedule is the easiest analytically speaking, the number should not mean much being that teams like the Chargers, Panthers, 49ers, and Falcons should improve dramatically from last season. At the end of the day, Philly is entering a rebuilding season, and Sirianni and his staff need to focus on the development of Jalen Hurts and staying competitive in every game on their schedule before all else. But even so, the Eagles’ schedule is only going to get easier down the stretch. If the Birds can stay in the mix heading into those last 5 weeks of the season where we will see an NFC East round-robin, who knows they may be more competitive than we thought. Isn’t that what the NFC East is about after all?
New York Giants
Thanks to the blunders in the NFC East in 2020, the Giants are tied for the eighth-easiest schedule in the NFL. Other than their six division games Big Blue faces a rather interesting schedule that will determine Daniel Jones’ fate as a New York Giant.
Joe Judge’s team will start the year at home against the Denver Broncos. They follow that with a road trip to Washington, a home game against the Falcons, and a trip to New Orleans. Right off the bat, the Giants are going to be tested. If they start out the season off on the wrong foot the coaching staff and front office’s seats are only going to get hotter.
Since they finished in second place in the division last year, the Giants also will play the NFC wild-card Rams and Bears on top of another long-awaited matchup with Tom Brady. From the AFC East, the up-and-coming Dolphins will be their 17th opponent.
For the latter half of the New York Giants 2021 season, they will finish with 6 games, 3 being against their division foes and another 3 against the Dolphins, Bears, and Chargers. All of these teams, much like the Giants are going to be improved compared to last year, it will be up to Joe Judge and his staff to get the most out of this roster that now is considered amongst the most talented in the league.
Writer
-By: Sam Kirk