It’s safe to say that there haven’t been a lot of positives so far this season when it comes to the four teams in the NFC East.
The NFC East has long been regarded as one of the more powerful divisions in the league. But that reputation has certainly taken a hit in recent years and three weeks into 2020, the combined showing by the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington Football Team has been nothing short of disastrous.
A little history. Be it four of five teams and six or eight divisions, the NFC East (with a combined 13 Super Bowl titles, most of any division) enjoyed a span of 41 seasons (1970-2010) in which it was the only division in the league that had not been won with less than 10 victories.
That all changed in 2011 when the 9-7 Giants (who gave up more points than they scored no only grabbed the top spot in the NFC East but wound up winning Super Bowl XLVI. Four years later, Washington captured the division with a 9-7 record, and this past year, the Philadelphia Eagles reached the NFL postseason for the third consecutive year, winning the NFC East with a 9-7 mark. A course, the Birds also won Super Bowl LII and were crowned 2017 NFL champions. So it’s not been all bad news for this quartet as of late. But three weeks and a total of 12 games into 2020, it’s been an abysmal start for this party of four.
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Where to begin? It appears that the biggest issue seems to be the bevy of mistakes these teams are making on a weekly basis. And more times than not, it’s been putting their defensive units in a rough position.
Here’s a number that is pretty astounding. Through the first three weeks of action and a total of 48 games, the 32 NFL team combined for a total of 122 turnovers, basically less than four per team. Break it down a little further and the four NFL East teams – the Eagles (8), Giants (7), Washington (7), and the Cowboys (6) – have 28 of those miscues and the other 28 clubs being guilty of 94 turnovers.
Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott has had his ups and downs, completing 67.1 percent of his throws for 1,198 yards and five scores while running for three touchdowns. But he also has exactly half of Dallas’ half-dozen turnovers. Second-year Giants’ signal-caller Daniel Jones has turned over the ball twice in each of the team’s first two contests. Philadelphia’s Carson Wentz has served up two interceptions in three straight games and has lost one of his three fumbles. And Washington’s Dwayne Haskins comes off a rough outing at Cleveland and now has more turnovers (5) than TD passes. This quarterback quartet has also been sacked a combined 36 times.
There’s obviously plenty of blame to go around for a division with a combined 2-9-1 record after three weeks of play. Perhaps things will be different on Sunday with all four clubs in action. But it’s been a forgettable start for once was a very memorable group of teams.
