The NFC East still sucks

There’s some bad news and some good news to come out of Week 1 for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The bad news is the Eagles are dead last in their division after blowing a 17 to 0 lead.

The good news is ... the NFC East still sucks.

Not unlike last season, the Eagles will probably have more room for error than they deserve.

UPDATED NFC EAST STANDINGS

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM

Given that 2020 is a real stupid year, it’s only fitting that the Football Team is starting out in first place. They obviously earned that spot after rallying to beat the Eagles, 27 to 17.

Washington’s defensive line is for real, as it should be after pouring all those first-round picks into it. They’re going to challenge opposing offensive lines on a weekly basis.

But Washington still isn’t actually going anywhere if Dwayne Haskins continues to play like he has thus far. He couldn’t lead the Football Team to points when they had to start out in their own territory. He has a 76.9 passer rating through eight career games. Just not impressed. And it’s not like he’ll be getting a ton of help from skill players outside of Terry McLaurin and an offensive line that’s weak on the left side.

Washington will probably win more than three games this year. Still only see them maxing out around seven total.

They’ll be traveling out to the desert to face the 1-0 Arizona Cardinals in Week 2.

DALLAS COWBOYS

The Cowboys lost to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football and it was somehow still Jason Garrett’s fault even though he’s not there anymore. Mike McCarthy is the Cowboys’ savior, after all.

Or not.

From our enemies over at Blogging The Boys:

Where was all of the ingenuity we expected to see? Sure the team went for it on a fourth down, but where was the overall aggressiveness? This felt so much like last year. A lot of the hype surrounding the Cowboys is hardly Mike McCarthy’s fault. But he mentioned relishing the standards that come with this team and they are here for him to deal with head on.

Even the almighty Kellen Moore is taking heat.

At some point we have to have a conversation about how Kellen Moore may not be infallible. While it isn’t realistic to actually expect the Cowboys to score 40 points every week, 17 feels awfully disappointing for the talent on the offensive side of the ball.

Why were there so many runs on first down? We have been led to believe that Moore can make the offense more efficient (because he did), but this was a bit of a tired way of going about trying to move the ball.

What gives?

The Cowboys don’t need to be pressing the panic button after a three-point loss to the Los Angeles Rams. That offense will figure it out at some point, I think. And possibly as soon as this week as they host the 0-1 Atlanta Falcons.

But Dallas clearly isn’t a juggernaut from the jump.

NEW YORK GIANTS

New season, same problems for the Giants: offensive line issues, poor coaching, quarterback turnovers.

I actually think Daniel Jones has some talent and there might be something there to work with. Not unlike Carson Wentz at times, though, he just can’t afford to be so reckless with the ball. The interception he threw in the red zone was crazy because it was only second down and he was acting like it was the final play of the game.

The Giants will travel to play the Chicago Bears in Week 2. If they can’t beat Mitchell Trubisky, they’ll be starting 0-2 for the fourth season in a row. And the seventh time in the last eight years.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

The Eagles’ Week 1 loss wasn’t concerning to the extent where there’s no hope things will ever improve. It’s early and we’ve seen Doug Pederson teams climb out of holes before.

But how much better can things really get? Are they really going from blowing a 17-point lead against Washington to being a strong title contender in the NFC? Especially as injuries and off-field issues amount?

On the one hand, it’s nice to see the division isn’t looking loaded. The Eagles can manage to stay alive even if they have some struggles.

On the other hand, it would be frustrating to see the Eagles only manage to make the playoffs in weak fashion before quickly getting eliminated. What if they’re stuck being a 9-7 team for third year in a row? Would such a finish inspire meaningful change in the offseason?

Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. The Eagles have an opportunity to rebound this week when they host the Los Angeles Rams.