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The New York Giants and Washington [insert new name here] are each mired in long-time dry spells — Washington more so than New York — but the NFC East has remained somewhat competitive through the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles, of course, have won the Super Bowl as recently as 2017, while the Cowboys have had just one losing season (2015) since 2010.
Despite that, John Breech of CBS Sports recently ranked the NFC East as the worst division in all of football.
If you need a quick refresher on how bad the division was last year, just consider this: Every team had a losing non-divisional record, no team hit double-digit wins and three of the four coaches in the division got fired. Also, Washington, a team that went 3-13, somehow tied for the second-best record in non-divisional games, going 3-7 (The Cowboys also went 3-7 while the Eagles led the division with a 4-6 record).
Overall, the NFC East finished with a 12-28 non-divisional record last season, which was the worst record for any division since 2016 when the NFC West also finished 12-28. The NFC East’s record was also just two losses away from tying the 2008 NFC West for the worst record of any division since divisional realignment in 2002.
The non-divisional record certainly isn’t a good look for the NFC East, and given the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it will have on teams with new coaching staffs, Breech doesn’t expect it to get much better here in 2020.
Due to coronavirus, the NFL canceled OTAs and mini-camps this year, which hurts some teams more than others. The teams impacted the most are the ones with new coaches who will be trying to install new offensive and defensive systems, and as you read above, three of the division’s four teams will be going into the season with a new coach. Basically, the players in Washington, Dallas and New York are going to be getting a crash-course on their new play books during training camp, which kind of feels like a recipe for disaster.
It’s hard to argue with the logic here. Given that three of the division’s four teams must learn completely new systems on the fly, there are going to be some serious struggles to start the season.
However, when it comes to both Washington and New York, there are reasons for optimism. Don’t expect either team to play as poorly as the pundits would have you believe.
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