The Worst Division in the NFL
By Timothy An
Ever since the National Football League introduced a 16-game season, the only team with a record under .500 to ever make the playoffs were the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks in 2010. That Seahawks team is considered to be arguably the worst team to ever make the playoffs, but we can expect this to change during this 2020-21 season. The NFC East has a combined record of 5-18-1. They are the only division to have zero teams above .500, with the Dallas Cowboys leading the division with a record of 2-4. The score differential for each one of these teams shows that these records aren’t simply anomalies. The Cowboys have been outscored by 45 points, the Eagles by 34, the Giants by 51, and the Redskins by 54.
Why is This Team so Bad?
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys enter Week 7 with an unimpressive 2-4 record. Their two wins come against the 1-5 Atlanta Falcons by one point and a miraculous comeback, and to the 1-5 New York Giants by a mere 3 points. This Cowboys team came into the season with high expectations led by a dynamic offense and a young, talented linebacking core. They have a plethora of weapons on offense led by Ezekiel Elliott, Ceedee Lamb, Amari Cooper, and a talented offensive line. Their defense is led by their linebacking core of Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith, along with star defensive end Demarcus Lawrence. With new head coach Mike McCarthy at the helm, the Cowboys were expected to contend for a Super Bowl this season, but instead, have deeply disappointed us and might not even make the playoffs.
The Cowboys offense has been good this season, leading the league in passing yards and yards per game. They also rank third in the league for points per game at 31.5. However, as the saying goes, defense wins championships. It doesn’t matter how good this offense has been playing if they are ranked dead last in the league in points per game allowed. This Cowboys defense hasn't shown the ability to stop a passing attack or a running attack all season long. They aren’t getting any turnovers, rank low in sacks, and give up a tremendous amount of yards every game. With the injury to quarterback Dak Prescott, this defense can’t keep allowing offenses to absolutely shred them.
The only hope the Cowboys have is for Andy Dalton to return to his old form and carry this offense into the playoffs. Though he had success on the Cincinnati Bengals early in his career, he followed it by having four straight losing seasons. Monday night's game against the Arizona Cardinals was not promising, as the Dalton-led Cowboys were only able to post 10 points against a weak Cardinals defense. If the Cowboys want a shot at winning this division, they are going to have to step it up on defense and hope Dalton can recapture his pro-bowl year performances.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles come into Week 7 posting a 1-4-1 record with their one victory coming against the injury-riddled San Francisco 49ers team. This team is led by quarterback Carson Wentz, who is easily having the worst season of his entire NFL career. In 6 games, Wentz has only thrown 8 touchdowns and is ranked second in the league for most interceptions thrown with 9. Wentz has been so bad this year, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Jalen Hurts was named the starter at some point in the season. Even though Wentz has been playing poorly, the bad performance of the team as a whole cannot be placed solely on the shoulders of Wentz.
The Eagles have been struck hard by the injury bug this season. They have had 25 players miss at least one game due to injury, and this number is expected to go up by four by this Thursday night. Further, Eagles players have missed a total of 77 games due to injury this season, ranking only behind the 49ers in terms of most games missed. During Sunday’s game against the Ravens, starting center Jason Kelce and Wentz were the only two players on the entire Eagles offense who were starters coming into the season.
On paper, the Philadelphia Eagles are a talented football team. However, with the poor play of many of their all-pro players, along with the insane amount of injuries the team has accumulated throughout this season, the Eagles can’t find a way to win football games. The only shot the Eagles have at turning the season around is for their players to get healthy. But, with the injuries to Zach Ertz and Miles Sanders on Sunday, we don’t expect this problem to be resolved anytime soon.
New York Giants
The New York Giants started off the season with unfortunate news as their star running back, Saquon Barkley, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2 against the Chicago Bears. The Giants now stand at 1-5, with their only victory coming by 1 point against their division rivals the Washington Football Team. There is nothing to really attribute the Giant’s poor performance to other than their lack of talent. Nobody really expected this team to be competitive this year, and with the injury to their most talented player, they couldn’t prove the doubters wrong.
This Giants team ranks second-to-last in points per game, averaging an abysmal 16.8 points per game. Daniel Jones has not shown improvement this season, as he has only thrown 1,223 yards in six games with just three touchdowns and six interceptions. Even though the Giants knew they were going to struggle this year, they were hoping to see some improvement out of second-year quarterback Daniel Jones. However, Daniel has shown a regression in terms of his performance and is making Giants fans regret the trading up for him in the draft last year.
The only signs of promise the Giants have shown are on the defensive side of the ball. Their defense ranks as average for this season, which is a much better sign than where their offense is. The season is unsalvageable for these Giants, and the only hope they can have is to see improvement from their young players. Hopefully, Daniel Jones can start improving his play, and start developing a connection with the young weapons on the team in Darius Slayton and Evan Engram.
The Washington Football Team
The Washington Football Team surprised the league with an upset victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, but have followed it up by losing five straight games. This team is very young and is showing promise during this season. Even though they are 1-5, nobody really expected this team to play well this season, and I think they are a real candidate to tank and get the top pick in the draft. Dwayne Haskins started the first four games of the season, before being replaced by Kyle Allen, and now Alex Smith. One thing we have learned this season is that Dwayne Haskins is not a franchise quarterback. The Washington Football Team ranked 3rd to last in points per game and can’t seem to get anything going on that side of the ball.
Even though the Football Team has played poorly this season, their young prospects have shown a lot of talent. Their defense is led by first overall pick Chase Young, who has looked really good this season with 2.5 sacks. They also have Montez Sweat, Jonathan Allen, Landon Collins, Daron Payne, and Kendall Fuller, creating a promising, young core on defense. On offense, Terry McLaurin has continued to solidify himself as one of the most exciting, young wide receiver prospects, and rookie running back Antonio Gibson has proved to be a steal from this rookie class. The only thing Washington fans can hope for this year is the number one overall pick. Adding a quarterback like Trevor Lawrence to this team would make this franchise one of the youngest, yet talented teams in the NFC East.
Season Prediction
Dallas Cowboys
(Record: 2-4)
Week 7: @ WAS - Loss
Week 8: @ PHI - Win
Week 9: vs. PIT - Loss
Week 10: BYE
Week 11: @ MIN - Loss
Week 12: vs. WAS - Win
Week 13: @ BAL - Loss
Week 14: @ CIN - Loss
Week 15: vs. SF - Loss
Week 16: vs. PHI - Win
Week 17: @ NYG - Win
Final Record Prediction: 6-10
Philadelphia Eagles
(Record: 1-4-1)
Week 7: vs. NYG - Loss
Week 8: vs. DAL - Loss
Week 9: BYE
Week 10: @NYG - Win
Week 11: @ CLE- Loss
Week 12: vs. SEA - Loss
Week 13: @ GB - Loss
Week 14: vs. NO - Loss
Week 15: @ ARI - Loss
Week 16: @ DAL - Loss
Week 17: vs. WAS - Win
Final Record Prediction: 3-12-1
New York Giants
(Record: 1-5)
Week 7: @ PHIL - Win
Week 8: vs. TB - Loss
Week 9: @ WAS - Win
Week 10: vs. PHI - Loss
Week 11: BYE
Week 12: @ CIN - Loss
Week 13: @ SEA - Loss
Week 14: vs. ARI - Loss
Week 15: vs. CLE - Loss
Week 16: @ BAL - Loss
Week 17: vs. DAL - Loss
Final Record Prediction: 3-13
The Washington Football Team
(Record: 1-5)
Week 7: vs. DAL - Win
Week 8: BYE
Week 9: vs. NYG - Loss
Week 10: 2 DET - Loss
Week 11: vs. CIN - Win
Week 12: @ DAL - Loss
Week 13: @ PIT - Loss
Week 14: @ SF - Loss
Week 15: vs. SEA - Loss
Week 16: vs. CAR - Loss
Week 17: @ PHI - Loss
Final Record Prediction: 3-13
The End Result
As you can see through my predictions, I think the Dallas Cowboys have enough talent to win the division with a record of 6-10, but you never know. This division race is one of the most interesting ones to ever exist in the NFL. I wouldn’t be surprised if a 5-11 team made the playoffs, and it will be exciting to see which team can pull this off.
Follow Timothy on Twitter @timothyan1
