The biggest question after Sunday’s games? Do any of the four NFC East teams actually want to win the division?
Because none of them are playing like it.
The Washington Commanders were poised to really take control of the NFC East division on Sunday.
But they couldn’t close the deal, falling by a touchdown to the Ravens in the Battle of the Beltway.
The suddenly healthy Philadelphia Eagles got the win to pull to within a half-game of Washington. But they didn’t look like world-beaters against the NFL’s doormat, the Cleveland Browns, while doing it.
The Dallas Cowboys? They can’t win at home, nor beat a quarterback with even a modicum of talent and ability.
The New York Giants will likely be the only reason why the Cowboys aren’t worried about finishing dead last in the division this year.
In other words, the NFC East is wide open, and it’s anyone’s division to win or to lose.
Is this year the NFC East’s turn to send a divisional champion into the playoffs with an 8-9 record?
It might be, especially the way all four teams are playing right now.
Dallas Cowboys (3-3)
The Cowboys will be getting back several players on defense, hopefully, over the next few weeks.
Perhaps that will even translate into fewer games allowing 40 or more points. Curing what ails the offense is a whole other issue.
In 24 quarters, Dallas’ offense has posted 10 total touchdowns. That’s less than two a game.
Brandon Aubrey has kicked 17 field goals in 19 attempts.
That’s not a sign of a healthy offense when you have more drives ending with field goal attempts than in the endzone.
It looks even worse when you look at how many possessions have ended in punts. Bryan Anger has punted 17 times.
Eleven possessions have ended on a turnover – six Dak Prescott interceptions accounting for most of those errors.
Six more possessions ended when Dallas went for it on fourth down and failed. They have only converted on fourth down four times so far in 10 tries.
Nearly every Cowboys’ flaw was magnified in Sunday’s 47-9 loss to the Lions.
Each and every one of them needs to be fixed, and fast.
Next week: The Cowboys have a bye week this week and will not play until Week 8 against the 49ers in San Francisco.
New York Giants (2-4)
How bad are things going for the Giants?
They allowed Joe Burrow to run 47 yards for a touchdown on the opening series of Sunday night’s game.
Then, with a chance to win and tie Dallas at 3-3, just a game out of first, New York found yet another agonizing way to lose. To the even lowlier Cincinnati Bengals.
Down three late, the Giants chose to punt and hope for a turnover. They got the fumble they were looking for.
Then, two Giants failed to secure the ball before it rolled out of bounds.
The Bengals scored a touchdown to make it 17-7. The Giants missed a field goal, the second miss of the night, and that was that.
New York remained the sole occupant in the NFC East’s basement.
Next game: hosting the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Noon.
Philadelphia Eagles (3-2)
Philadelphia leapfrogged over the Cowboys to take sole possession of second place in the division.
The primary reason why they did so, thanks to a 20-16 win over Cleveland, was the return of receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
Brown had been out with a hamstring issue. Smith took a hard hit to the helmet a few weeks back and needed time off.
The biggest beneficiary of their return was Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Hurts has struggled to move the ball without his two top targets.
He was able to do so on Sunday. Still, it was against a Browns team that isn’t that good, and the Eagles just barely managed to escape with the win.
Despite a winning record, and only a half-game out of first, Eagles fans are letting head coach Nick Sirianni hear it.
Apparently, he isn’t liking what he’s hearing. After the home win, Sirianni was chirping at the fans as he exited the field.
Not so much “brotherly love” in Philly these days.
Next game: at New York Giants, Sunday, Noon.
Washington Commanders (4-2)
The Commanders saw their four-game win streak come to an end as the Ravens held on for a 30-23 win on Sunday.
Washington at least made a game of it but could never solve how to slow down Derrick Henry. Henry rolled for 132 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
Lamar Jackson’s 323 yards and a touchdown didn’t help the Commanders’ cause either.
Rookie sensation Jayden Daniels was 24-for-35 with 269 yards and two touchdown passes in the loss.
Despite the loss, Washington is still alone on top of the division, and they have four very winnable games on the schedule coming up.
The Commanders are playing the most consistent ball in the division so far. If they continue to do so, they’ll stay in the mix all the way to the end.
Next game: hosting the Carolina Panthers, Sunday, 3:05 p.m.
Ok the Commanders are playing like it they’re playing so much better than last year and with another rookie QB last year they probably wouldve been blown out by the ravens and wouldve probably found a way to lose to the cardinals but no they even beat the Bengals so they’ve been playing like they wanna win even with all the injuries the Giants theyre gonna need improvement yes but they also sucked last year and beat the commanders i believe both times the Eagles are playing like they played last year near the end when they couldn’t win a game and were terrible and the Cowboys they just cant win anything right now all their games have probably been close when they won (I haven’t checked) let alone they can’t win a playoff game so don’t be shocked the lions may have a mediocre qb according to you but last year look at their record they were good they’re playing well so don’t be surprised if they’re defense and offense beat the cowboys to a pulp another thing the ravens defense was “elite” last year but look at Jayden Daniels his stats against them it does not matter it’s football Jayden Daniels is way more comfortable than a rookie should be hes doing amazing somehow hes in the MVP race
The Commanders are definitely the surprise of the year so far. If they keep playing the way they have, they have a legitimate shot to win the division. The Eagles offense will get better with Brown and Smith back in the line-up now. The Cowboys are just too Jekyll and Hyde right now. And they have four tough opponents coming up after the bye. The Giants? Yeesh… They just keep finding ways to lose and will almost certainly be last in the division by the end of the season.
Thanks for reading and commenting!