State of the NFC East: Jumbled division still gives Giants a chance

With Week 2 in the books, we are officially two sixteenths -- or 12.5 percent if you don't fancy fractions -- of the way through the 2015 NFL season. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the season is still young and we have a ways to go yet.

But we are starting to get a picture of the state of the NFC East. It's still early, so the picture is fuzzy and out of focus, but its there, and getting clearer with every game.

So what does the NFC East look like after two weeks of NFL action?

Well, it looks a little something like this:

Dallas Cowboys (2-0)

Deservedly or not, the Cowboys are in the drivers' seat of the NFC East. They were the beneficiaries of a couple officiating faux pas and a 4th quarter collapse by the Giants to win on opening weekend. By the end of week 2 the Cowboys have lost Dez Bryant and Tony Romo to a pair of broken bones. Meanwhile their once feared running game has produced 171 yards on 53 attempts, or 3.2 yards per carry.

Washington Redskins (1-1)

Does anyone know where Robert Griffin III is? The answer has been on the bench, or playing safety for the scout team. Despite that, Washington is in 2nd place in the NFC East. They jumped out to an early lead in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins, but couldn't maintain their momentum after Jarvis Landry broke a 48-yard punt return for a touchdown.

In Week 2, Washington jumped all over the feared front seven of the St. Louis Rams to the tune of a 17-0 lead at half-time, and finishing with 182 yards rushing on 37 carries (4.9 yards per carry). Meanwhile Kirk Cousins efficiently did enough to win, completing 23-of-27 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown.

New York Giants (0-2)

The New York Giants have shown shown enough to potentially be considered the class of the NFC East. The Giants went into the fourth quarter of each of their first two games with a 10-point lead, while dealing with a variety of injuries to both sides of the ball. In the season opener, the Giants' defense limited the Cowboys to 81 yards rushing, while their defense jarred the ball loose four times, recovering three.

In the second game, the Atlanta Falcons had no answers Eli Manning, Odell Beckham and Shane Vereen. Beckham came away with the best game of his young career, while Vereen had one of the best games of his career as well. For his part, Eli Manning's 292 yards passing were enough to pass the legendary Johnny Unitas on the all-time yardage list. -- he is 312 yards from passing Joe Montana, and 683 yards from passing Kerry Collins.

Unfortunately, the Giants have also displayed the kind of mental errors that, while to be expected from young players, kill games and seasons. First a colossal job of clock mismanagement cost the Giants their first game, then a variety of mental mistakes cost the Giants their second loss.

Philadelphia Eagles (0-2)

These are not Andy Reid's Eagles, or the team that took Chip Kelly to the playoffs in his first season as an NFL head coach.

After getting complete control over his roster, these are Kelly's Eagles. Beginning in free agency, Kelly aggressively rebuilt his roster with a series of moves that had the NFL world asking "What is Chip Kelly doing!?"

After two weeks of football ... ee still don't know.

The Eagles' offense plays fast, that much is still true. However a that offense -- quarterbacked by Sam Bradford, who Kelly worked out a convoluted trade for -- has looked like anything but the juggernaut running at Ludicrous Speed that it was in preseason. Instead, they have looked inept.

2015 leading rusher DeMarco Murray has 11 yards on 21 rushing attempts in two games, and Bradford has four interceptions.

To sum up the Eagles' Week 2 loss: By the end of the game the Cowboys were missing their franchise quarterback, their franchise wide receiver, were quarterbacked by Brandon Weeden, were averaging 2.9 yards per carry,had more than 100 yards in penalties, and still were up 20-3 before a garbage-time touchdown by Bradford.

Final Thoughts

There is still a lot of football to be left to played.

Now, whether or not that is a good thing? I'll have to get back to you on that one ... Ask again sometime around Thanksgiving.

But as of right now, the NFC East is a mess.

The good news is that if the Giants can get a respite from the injuries stealing all their talented players and figure out how to close out a game, they have shown glimpses of a team that can still seize control of the division. However, until the Giants show that they can stop giving games away with penalties and mental mistakes, it's impossible to count on them for anything.

But the good news is that the rest of the division might just be giving them the time to figure it out.