Around the NFC East: week 5

by JasonB on Oct 12, 2009 1:01 PM EDT in Philadelphia Eagles News

Time for another check in on our rivals around the NFC East after week 5 in the NFL.

The Dallas Cowboys won an overtime game on the road against the winless Chiefs that probably raised more questions than answers for them. For now, Dallas fans are happy with any win no matter how ugly. They're hoping the bye week they have coming up will help fix some of their problems.

The Giants rolled to a predictable blowout win at home against the pitiful Oakland Raiders. The game didn't tell us too much that we already didn't know about the two teams which the Eagles will face in two of the next 3 weeks. The Giants look really good and the Raiders look absolutely terrible. Giants fans are happy to see the "junior varsity" portion of their schedule over. I think I referred to this part of the Eagles' schedule as "extended preseason." Look at us on our NFC East high horses!

The Redskins are spiraling downward toward that list of the bad teams in the NFL. Jim Zorn's job is likely in serious jeopardy after the Skins blew a 17-2 lead on the road in a loss to the previously winless Carolina Panthers. Washington fans don't have much hope for a turnaround with Hog's Haven saying, "it's clear the Redskins are not just a bad team about to break out, they are a bad team, period." The Eagles play the Skins on Monday night in two weeks.

NFC East Standings

	W	L	PF	PA
New York Giants	5	0	151	71
Philadelphia	3	1	127	86
Dallas	3	2	122	98
Washington	2	3	73	82

(updated 10.12.2009 at 4:13 AM EDT)

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Not sure how any Cowboy fan can be even slightly satisfied with that win...

Those 2 teams both tried as hard as they possibly could to give away that game, and eventually the Chiefs did the better job. Dallas is the worst 3-2 I’ve seen in years.

by JimmyK on Oct 12, 2009 1:28 PM EDT reply actions

i for one am ready for our JV schedule to be over as well

Brent Celek is the man

by 700 Level on Oct 12, 2009 1:31 PM EDT reply actions

I kinda like the JV schedule. It’s nice and stress-free, I don’t feel as ancy switching to other games on the Sunday ticket during commercials, and I don’t break anything in the house.

by JimmyK on Oct 12, 2009 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m finding it harder and harder to argue that the NFC East is the toughest division in football with the way the Cowboys and Redskins are playing … and that doesn’t bother me at all.

Jim Johnson 1941-2009

"The 0-2 pitch, swing and a miss! STRUCK HIM OUT! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of baseball! And let the city celebrate! " - Harry Kalas 1936-2009

by Whodie126 on Oct 12, 2009 2:01 PM EDT reply actions

Lot of the divisions this year is crap.

It’s a two-man race in most of the NFC divisions. It’s Eagles and Giants in East, 49ers and Cardinals (maybe?) in West, and Falcons and Saints in South. North has Packers, Bears, and Vikings, only divisions in the NFC with three as least average teams…

Same thing with the AFC. AFC East, it’s pretty much between Jets and Pats, South is completely Colts’ divison, and AFC West, Broncos and Chargers only team in the race. (I’m not sold on the Broncos until week 17 is over. I’m waiting for them to just fall apart…). AFC North, Bengals (!), Ravens, and Steelers are all in the race.

RIP Jim Johnson, best ever.

by Imp on Oct 12, 2009 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

amazingly

the NFC North might be the best division 1-4 in the NFC. The Lions are loads better than the Bucs and Rams right now, and they beat the Redskins. Hard to imagine that a team which has lost something like 21 of their last 22 games is probably the best last place team in the conference.

"[The Giants] beat us down. We were beat by a grown-man team, a team we want to be like one day. They came in here and took it to us. Out-manned us, out-gunned us. ... It wasn't even close." - Raheem Morris, 9/27/09

by cjmulrain on Oct 12, 2009 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I'll take the Lions over the Skins

At least the Lions are currently playing something that can be described as ‘football’ on Sundays.

by cwel87 on Oct 12, 2009 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Yup...

I miss the days when we’d be 12-4, 13-3… and the rest of the division was 6-10.

by JimmyK on Oct 12, 2009 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions

I really hoped Dallas lost… That would’ve put them three games back behind the Giants and 1.5 games behind us.

As for Redskins… Uh, who cares?

RIP Jim Johnson, best ever.

by Imp on Oct 12, 2009 2:01 PM EDT reply actions

Eagles only team in the NFC East allowing more than 20+ per game…weird

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Oct 12, 2009 2:20 PM EDT reply actions

Not really, when they gave up 56% of those points (48) in one game vs New Orleans.

by JimmyK on Oct 12, 2009 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't sleep easy thinking about this squad yet.

We’re getting pretty fat off these wins from Carolina (1-3), Kansas City (0-5) and Tampa Bay (0-5). This should continue in the following weeks versus Oakland (1-4) and Washington (2-3).

The one good team we faced in New Orleans (4-0) slaughtered us. I’ll have a good gauge of how good our team is AFTER the November 1 game versus New York (5-0).

by andyreidswaistline on Oct 12, 2009 2:39 PM EDT reply actions

I agree that our competition hasn't been great so far...

But you can say the same for the 5-0 Giants. Everyone pretty much can agree the Skins and the Cowboys are not the type of teams we thought they would be this year and those are the two best teams who the Giants have beat. In both teams defesne though you can only play who is on your schedule. I know the Saints game was one sided, but we were in it in until the second half started and the mistakes came flying in. Without McNabb in that game I can’t even honestly say they are a better team at this point because think of when the rally started. The Ellis Hobbs fumble still would have happened but does McNabb throw that same pick that Kolb laid out in the possession right afterwards. I don’t think he does. The game fell apart in the second half but in the first half it was a very close matchup against a team that is clearly very good this year.

by IgglesFanDeployd on Oct 12, 2009 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions

We’ll see how the Giants fair this weekend when they play the Saints. Their wins have been impressive. Dallas and Washington did put up fights against them. Given the momentum of those 2 teams, we can honestly say they’re worse teams now then they were in weeks 1 and 2.

I’m just saying that I don’t know how good our team is yet. I’m certainly optimistic.

by andyreidswaistline on Oct 12, 2009 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Not only the interception argument

But I think McNabb would have done more with the first-half possessions we had as well. I just don’t see a justification that we can truly use that game as a measurement stick.

And, like you said, you can only play the teams you’re scheduled to play – and we’re getting ourselves strong victories against the scheduled teams, barring the penalties.

The penalties really need to stop, though.

by cwel87 on Oct 12, 2009 5:18 PM EDT up reply actions

hahaha at the caption for the Zorn pic

Here’s a guy that doesn’t know what to do! (Imagine that in a Madden impression voice)

by maximdim on Oct 12, 2009 3:43 PM EDT reply actions

I know that we have played a lot of easy teams but i still think that we are a great team. in our wins we put away the other teams early, like a good team is supposed to do. as opposed to the skins or the cowboys who have struggled with a very easy schedule.

by eaglesinmd on Oct 12, 2009 4:26 PM EDT reply actions

I'm still waiting

for the Iggles to cough one up against the Skins. That game will be a lot closer that we’d like to think. In fact, I think there’s a good chance we’ll find a way to lose it. Lots of them, actually.

by DLawrence on Oct 12, 2009 7:42 PM EDT reply actions

Evenly matched

I see the Giants and Eagles as very evenly matched teams who have both done what they have needed to do with the teams that they faced on the day.

Yes the Giants have not been tested for the last 3 weeks so it will be interesting to see how they go against the Saints next week. Given your schedule I see us both being 6-1 when we play at the Linc to start November.

D Jackson and Maclin have certainly added a lot of speed to your WR which makes it a very dangerous group to cover. On our side Manningham has given us some speed and Nicks has the size and strength to become a WR who can deal with your corners.

I fully expect one of our two teams to be playing in the NFC Championship game.

by G Fan in England on Oct 13, 2009 4:17 AM EDT reply actions

It's really dumb

The NFL (nor really any other league other then the NBA, somehow) hasn’t yet figured out to give the two best teams that qualify for the playoffs the top two seeds, regardless of divisions, and then go down from there.

Sure, every division is guaranteed a playoff; I can live with that. But that nonsense that happened last year with the Cardinals hosting the Falcons and us is absurd. If anything, having the no. 1 seed in our division makes it harder to get the record we did, since we had to play them twice.

This is going to irritate me to no end this year with the Eagles and Giants being the two best teams in the NFC – one of them will likely have the 1 (or at worst the 2) seed, and the other will be a 5th seed wild card. Makes no sense.

by cwel87 on Oct 13, 2009 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions