Beasts in the East

by HEpennypacker on Oct 6, 2008 9:14 AM EDT

Hey Guys. I'm a Cowboys fan from over at BTB, but thought this post I just made would be interesting to you all as well.

OK, this has already been discussed a bit, but with the resurgent 'Skins looking like a force, it is time to ask whether or not the NFC East of '08 is the best division in the history of football. I'm going to make the case FOR. I don't have time to look through all the years to see if I'm wrong, plus, I'm young and can't remember a lot.

At this point in the season the Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, and Redskins, in my opinion, look like they could beat anybody, including each other. I think on any Sunday a matchup between any of these teams is a coin flip, and also that against any other team...and I mean ANY other team, the NFC east team is going to be favored to win.

A quick look at the stats shows that when ranking NFL teams by game stats, the Philidelphia Eagles are # 9, with all other NFC east teams being above them. One division, four teams, all in the top 9 in overall stats? That's incredible.

In scoring, we have three teams in the top 7, with the Redkins back a bit in #17. but Still, three of the best seven teams are in the NFC east in scoring.

Ditto in passing. Cowboys, Eagles, Giants are 4,5,6,, with the skins back toward the middle of the pack. But the Skins are just now coming into their own.

Again with Rushing, three teams in the top 9, with the Eagles way toward the back of the class in this one.

Total Yards on Defense shows the Giants and Eagles at 3 and 6, with our Boys and the Skins in the middle of the pack. Pretty respectable.

Eagles, Giants, Cowboys are in the top six for Sacks.

All four teams are in the top ten in defending the run.

And finally, look at our records.

DAL: 4-1 - Loss to the Skins

WAS: 4-1 - Loss to the Giants

PHI: 2-3 - Losses to Cowboys, Skins, and a tough Bears team

NYG: 4-0*

So, outside of the NFC East, these teams are 9-1

Who knows how they will finish out, but the way they are playing right now I would put them as the best division ever. I mean...damn.

*Thanks Woogie

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This is interesting

We will have to look back at some history and see what other divisions compare.

by ETVal on Oct 6, 2008 9:26 AM EDT 0 recs

Let's not

Get ahead of ourselves. Giants are only 4-0 :P

by Woogie526 on Oct 6, 2008 9:34 AM EDT 0 recs

My Bad

I forgot about that bye week.

by HEpennypacker on Oct 6, 2008 9:37 AM EDT 0 recs

it's pretty clear that all of our teams are awesome

i just can’t figure out who is the awesomest, even though Washington is really starting to scare me. Campbell has really turned the corner and i think Portis and Eli are 1 and 1A in the MVP race as of now. by the way, have you looked at Washington’s next three? St. Louis, Cleveland, at Detroit = hello, 7-1.

and Dallas is Dallas. they’ll win 12 games because they’re too talented not to. Philly will bounce back, they’ve just had a ridiculous schedule so far. they’ve played four probable playoff teams (Dallas, Washington, Chicago, Pittsburgh) in their first five.

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on Oct 6, 2008 10:11 AM EDT 0 recs

NFC East

was like this in 86 too ( at least the 4 teams left) with Dallas Washington and the Giants right up at the top and the Eagles not far behind.
Great Post Hepennypacker: we needed a fairly friendly post from "enemy territory " as it has been quite ugly here for a week. George Cronin will probably agree with the fact that the division is a lot like: Ali/Frazier/Foreman , it’s a game of styles and individual match ups where all are good/different and able to beat each other.
SB , yeah Washington has definately got their act down, they are not going away I fear.

We're only gonna score 17 points?

by big blue wrecking crew on Oct 6, 2008 10:30 AM EDT 0 recs

'91 was pretty good too

The defending Super Bowl champion Giants went 8-8, with 5 of their losses inside the NFC East. The Eagles were 10-6 with 3 of their losses inside the NFC East, the Cowboys were 11-5 (their first good season with the Aikman/Emmit/Irvin core), with 3 of their losses inside the NFC East, and the Super Bowl Champion Redskins were 14-2 with both losses coming inside the NFC East. Of course in both ’91 and ’86 the damn Cardinals brought down the quality of the whole division, winning 4 games both years. Boy do I miss playing them twice a year…

by cjmulrain on Oct 6, 2008 10:44 AM EDT up 0 recs

Ali/Frazier/Foreman

Yep, I agree. I think Foreman would’ve beaten Ali if he’d trained properly for the heat. He was trained to fine and came in too light. He was exhausted after two rounds.

by george cronin on Oct 6, 2008 4:55 PM EDT up 0 recs

Somebody's going to be hurtin' for certain

When they are 10-6 or 11-5 and DON’T make the playoffs. That’s going to sting.

by MJ20 on Oct 6, 2008 1:17 PM EDT 0 recs

Hard to say

I’m inclined to give super team status only to those in the era before free agency, if only because it was easier to keep the depth, mid 80’s ‘Skins and Iggles were talented and deep, they were just missing a piece or two, and the AFC central at that time was pretty good too, but the Giant’s apparent depth, the Cowboy’s first string talent and the ’Skins jelling make a good case for it.

It would seem Campbell and Zorn are starting to click (and good for Campbell, nobody should have to learn 6 offenses in 7 years).

But the Iggle’s are at the edge of the pit, they’ll be dangerous but they haven’t found any talent at receiver, (have they used any high draft picks on ‘em in the last year or two? , I don’t think so) Andy Reid’s ass is showing again. How someone loses 3 consecutive NFC championship games and keeps his job is a curious thing. The look on Mcnab’s face yesterday was one of confusion and despair. The Iggle’s determination to keep the lowest payroll in the league has to be a factor here. Even though they loosened up this year I bet there are a lot of guys that feel under appreciated over there, and that fans the flames when adversity strikes.

by The Pale Scot on Oct 6, 2008 1:22 PM EDT 0 recs