The NFC East is Worse Than Usual
Each year in the NFL, one of the biggest mysteries is whether or not the NFC East division winner will actually have a winning record. Typically, the winner of this division has a record of ranging from 7-9 to 12-4. In the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 season, the Cowboys and Eagles had a record of 13-3 when they won the division. A 13-3 record hasn’t been seen since then.
This season, the NFC East is off to one of the worst starts. After week six, there is a combined five wins between the teams. The New York Giants in particular just got their first win of the season this week over division rival The Washington Football Team. It is expected for teams to start off slow, but not an entire division.
The injury bug has struck this division hard. In week two, the New York Giants star running back Saquon Barkley tore his ACL ending his season, as he was one of the many NFL stars to be injured that week. The Philadelphia Eagles have been plagued once again with the injury bug. The Eagles so far have lost two players for the season, have put seven players on temporary IR (Injured Reserved), have ten players who are questionable to play this Thursday against the Giants, and just lost Zach Ertz and Miles Sanders for a few weeks.
We all know what happened to the Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Dak Prescott. Other than Prescott, their offensive line is all banged up and they lost starting Tight End Blake Jarwin for the season. They also lost defensive tackle Trysten Hill for the season and linebacker Sean Lee is expected to come back later on this season. The only team that has for the most part escaped the injury bug is the Washington Football Team.
With all of that being said, five wins amongst four teams through six weeks of the season is astonishing. Every year the NFC East is joked about among fans, and this season, it really is looking like that the division winner is going to have about six or seven wins and most likely will be limping into the postseason.
-Matt Burnett (@mattthew_jordan)