NFC East Picture Is Getting Clearer

November 27, 2015
Peter Solari Follow @4PeteSakeNY
 

The NFC East playoff picture got a whole lot clearer on Thanksgiving. The Philadelphia Eagles (4-7) and the Dallas Cowboys (3-8) appear to have checked out, as both teams were blown out of the water on turkey day, and are long shots to make the playoffs at this point. 

Philadelphia hasn't shown any signs of life for three weeks. While they were once 4-4, three straight losses have pushed the Eagles 2.5 games behind the division leading New York Giants (5-5), and things aren't looking up in the city of brotherly love. Detroit Lions quarterback Matt Stafford carved them up for 337 yards in the air, including five touchdowns, three of which were caught by Calvin Johnson, and no interceptions as the Lions easily cruised to an easy 45-14 win at home. The Eagles defense surrendered 45 points in back-to-back games for the first time ever, and their offense isn't much better. They've been forced to use backup quarterback Mark Sanchez in the absence of Sam Bradford, but neither of these guys is going to realistically lead Philadelphia to the promised land any time soon. Though they were both first round picks, Bradford going first overall, neither of them has found great success in the NFL. There was a time when Sanchez was taking the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship games, and some believed him to be better than Eli Manning, but those days are long gone, just like Philadelphia's playoff chances. If things weren't bad enough, the Eagles travel to New England in week 13 to take on the undefeated Patriots (10-0). New England plays Denver (8-2) this Sunday night. Unless Philadelphia pulls a rabbit out of it's hat against the Patriots, Tom Brady could put the nail in the coffin of the Eagles' season, as well as Chip Kelly's tenure as coach. The Chip Kelly experiment has been a bust to this point. The Eagles are going nowhere fast and I don't expect ownership to put up with it much longer. 

Everything was going the Dallas Cowboys' way coming into Thanksgiving. They finally had their Pro Bowl quarterback, Tony Romo, back on the field, and while they went 0-7 in his absence, they were the only division team to pick up a win in week 11 and sat two games out of first place. Then disaster struck again. To be fair, Romo hadn't been great to that point, having thrown three interceptions (two returned for touchdowns), and the Cowboys were down 30-6, but when Carolina Panthers (11-0) linebacker Thomas Davis hit Romo near the end of third quarter, you could hear more than just his bones break. You could hear the Cowboys' whole season come crumbling down. With Romo likely done for the rest of the season, Dallas has nothing left to play for. They've already shown an inability to win without their leader, and they might be better off in the long run, if they don't win another game the rest of the way. Romo is 35 years old and hasn't been the most durable guy throughout his career. He's been plagued by back problems. Perhaps it's time for the Cowboys to start shopping for their future quarterback. After all, even if Romo returns healthy, how many more quality years can you expect out of him? With only three wins on the season, Dallas is potentially sitting on a very high draft pick. That's not a bad place to start looking towards the future, but in the present, it's all over in big D. 

With Dallas and Philadelphia seemingly out of the fold, Sunday's game between the Giants and Washington Redskins (4-6) just got a whole lot more interesting. Expectations weren't very high for either of these franchises at the beginning of the year, and maybe they still aren't, but both of these teams are going to enter December playing meaningful football. The Giants lead the division at a mediocre 5-5, but the Redskins are right on their heels, just one game back, at 4-6. The Giants held off Washington 32-21 back in week 3, to pick up their first win of the season, but will still have their hands full this week. Washington is a different team at home than they are on the road. In fact, they haven't won a single game away from FedEx Field, in five attempts this season, while they're 4-1 in the comforts of our nation's capital. Because of this, Washington will have an edge this weekend, and by the end of week 12, the Giants and Redskins of all teams, could be locked in a first place tie atop the NFC East. 

At the end of the day, it's probably a sad state of affairs in the division, especially in Dallas and Philadelphia, that either Washington or the Giants are going to represent them in the playoffs, but nobody in New York or DC cares. This is why they play the game. This is why championships are decided on the field, and not on paper.