Tag: NFC East Rivalries

Commanders HC Dan Quinn is fired up for Washington-Dallas week

It’s Dallas week. Dan Quinn is fired up.

Dan Quinn remembers well when the Cowboys and Redskins were a big deal.

Quinn was born in 1970 and raised in New Jersey. He has said on more than one occasion that he grew up watching the NFC East.

He recalls the Giants’ Bill Parcells’s two Super Bowl teams, the Cowboys coached by Tom Landry, the Eagles by Buddy Ryan, and the Redskins by Joe Gibbs.

Regarding the Week 12 match-up this week of the Cowboys coming to Washington, Quinn wasn’t shy Wednesday with the media, saying, “For me and for the guys, man, it’s like, Washington-Dallas Week, let’s get down.”

Whether Quinn watched, in particular, the Cowboys at Redskins 1982 championship game, I don’t know. But the fact he referred to this week as “Washington-Dallas Week” reveals in itself that Quinn does have a knowledge of the rivalry and what it was 40 years ago.

The Cowboys won two Super Bowls in the 70s with QB Roger Staubach at quarterback and the “Doomsday defense.”  QB Danny White never had a Doomsday defense when he led the team to three consecutive NFC Championship games before losing all three, the last to the Redskins in 1982.

The Redskins won the NFC East three consecutive seasons (1982-84), and went to four Super Bowls under Gibbs (1981-92) winning three, along the way winning and losing some big games to the Cowboys.

Quinn was asked Wednesday what the game means for the former Cowboys and his message to them.

“I haven’t talked to them much different about that. You probably know from now, I don’t make one [game] too often bigger than another. I just think they’re all really important and we absolutely go after it as hard as we can.”

But of course, Quinn is more than aware that NFL divisional rivals are more intense regular season games.

 

Commanders hoping to break some losing streaks in Week 2

Commanders hoping to end multiple losing streaks on Sunday.

It’s not only Week 2 of the 2024 season, but the Commanders have some really discouraging streaks they need to break on Sunday.

In their home opener, Washington is trying to set a new path regarding home games for the Commanders. Did you realize the Commanders have not won a home game since the 2023 home opener? It was Week 1, and the Commanders defeated the Cardinals 20-16.

Since that 2023 opening-week win, the Commanders have dropped their last seven home games. Those last seven home losses were to Buffalo 37-3, Buffalo 40-20, Philadelphia 38-31, the New York Giants 31-19, Miami 45-15, San Francisco 27-10, and Dallas 38-10.

The Commanders lost their final eight games of 2023, many by lopsided margins. Coupled with last week’s 2024 opener loss in Tampa (37-20), the Commanders have not lost nine consecutive games.

As for the Giants in particular? The Commanders have not beaten the Giants in the last four games the teams have played. In 2023, the Giants won 14-7 at home and then at FedEx 31-19. In 2022, the two teams battled to a 20-20 tie, before two weeks later, the Giants significantly reduced the Commanders’ playoff hopes with a 20-12 win at FedEx. We must return to the 2021 season finale to find the Commanders beating the Giants 22-7 at MetLife in New Jersey.

Playing their NFC East rivals in a home-and-home set of games each year, it is hard to fathom that Washington has not even beaten the Giants at home in Landover since “You know who” was quarterback in 2017. Perhaps it should not be such a surprise, seeing Washington has not posted a winning regular-season record since “You know who” was the quarterback in the 2015 and 2016 seasons (Al Galdi last season began to refer to Kirk Cousins as “You know who”).

Washington trails in the all-time series to the Giants 108-71-5.

NFC East goes 4-0 in Week 2

What a week for the NFC East.

The NFC East won all four of it’s games in Week 2.

The Eagles on Thursday defeated the Vikings 34-28. Sunday, saw the Commanders top the Broncos 35-33, the Cowboys roll the Jets 30-10 and the Giants come back to defeat the Cardinals 31-28.

  •  Commanders 2-0
  • Cowboys 2-0
  • Eagles 2-0
  • Giants 1-1

Commanders: Being down 21-3, Washington stormed back to lead 35-27 and hold on despite a Hail Marry as time expired by the Broncos. The Commanders quarterback Sam Howell has won each of his three NFL starts, Chase Young made his first 2023 appearance a good one and new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy again displayed much confidence in the offensive personnel, calling for the ball to be spread broadly. Washington’s two new guards, Saahdiq Charles and Sam Cosmi, thus far are marked improvements over the 2022 starting guards Andrew Norvell and Trai Turner.

Cowboys: Dallas has outscored its first two opponents 70-10. The defense is intimidatingly good, and the offense dialed it back in the second half of both games, not needing to show much or risk injury. While Dallas was converting half of its 3rd-down plays (9-18), the Cowboys defense severely limited the Jets to a mere 1-10.  The dominant Cowboy defense accumulated three quarterback sacks and won the turnover battle 4-0.

Eagles: The Eagles’ pass defense allowed Kirk Cousins to pass for 364 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Yet, the Eagles won the game. How? Their offense was both explosive and efficient. Jalen Hurts finished 18 of 23 passing for 193 yards. D’Andre Swift rushed for a very impressive 175 yards on his 28 carries (6.3 yards per carry) for one touchdown and a long of 43 yards. The Eagles ran the ball and then ran the ball, generating 259 rushing yards on 48 carries.

Giants: New York found itself down 20-0 to the Cardinals. This meant that in six quarters, the Giants had been outscored by their two opponents 60-0. That is not a typo. But the Giants managed to generate a comeback in which they scored 14 third-quarter points and 17 in the final quarter to obtain their first victory of the 2023 season. Bouncing back from his horrendous Week 1 game, Daniel Jones completed 26 of 37 attempts for 321 yards, two passing touchdowns and rushed for 59 yards in 9 carries, including a rushing touchdown.

Washington in the NFC East during the Daniel Snyder Era

Washington’s numbers against the NFC East under Dan Snyder aren’t pretty.

As we approach the end of the Daniel Snyder era, we can’t help but remind ourselves what were the results of his ownership against the other three NFC East divisional rivals?

No time for subjectivity here in this column. Simply just the facts on this one. So, we will look first at how Washington competed in head-to-head games within the NFC East division during the years 1999 through 2022.

Then in keeping with objectivity, we look at the raw data of how many winning seasons did each team accomplish? How many seasons were they winning 10-plus games? How many playoff births, NFC East division championships, NFC championships, and finally, Super Bowl championships were accomplished by the four NFC East teams during the years of Daniel Snyder’s ownership 1999-2022?

Head-to-Head

Washington vs Dallas 15-33

Washington vs NY Giants 18-29-1

Washington vs Philadelphia 19-29

Winning Seasons

Dallas 12

NY Giants 10

Philadelphia 16

Washington 6

Losing Seasons

Dallas 7

NY Giants  12

Philadelphia 6

Washington 14

Seasons Winning 10+ Games

Dallas 8

NY Giants 7

Philadelphia 12

Washington 3

Playoffs

Dallas 10

NY Giants 9

Philadelphia 15

Washington 6

Division Champs

Dallas 6

NY Giants 4

Philadelphia 10

Washington 4

Conference Champs

Dallas 0

NY Giants 3

Philadelphia 3

Washington 0

Super Bowl Champs

Dallas 0

NY Giants 2

Philadelphia 1

Washington 0

 

 

Commanders and Giants to battle for NFC playoff spot

It’s been a while since Washington and New York have played meaningful December football against one another.

It’s been 7 NFL seasons since Washington and New York played meaningful, important games in December against each other.

The Commanders, on Sunday, go to New York to face the Giants (7-4) who are in the 6th position, one-half game ahead of Washington. The oddity of the Washington schedule is going to be magnified greatly because both teams are unexpectedly in playoff contention as we enter December.

Consequently, Washington will play at the Giants on Dec. 4, enjoy its bye week on Dec. 11 and then turn right around and host the Giants in their next game on Dec. 18. Thus, both games will have large playoff implications, and for both teams.

The last time Washington and the Giants faced each other late in the season with both teams in playoff contention was 2016.  The Giants (10-5) had locked up a spot in the NFC playoffs. They traveled to meet Washington (8-6-1) at FedEx Field. The game meant everything for Washington, who with a win, would qualify for the playoffs. Yet, it was the Giants who from the opening kickoff, played with motivation and purpose, ending Washington’s season with a 19-10 victory.

This season the Giants have lost both of their games within the division, having lost twice to Dallas. Washington is 1-2 within the division, having lost to Philadelphia and at Dallas and defeating the Eagles in Philadelphia. Washington is 4-4 in the conference, while the Giants are 3-4 against the NFC.

If you are interested, Washington has the higher strength of schedule (.515 – .456) and also the higher strength of victory over the Giants (.395 -.381).

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Dallas at Washington: 50 years ago

Washington hopes for a repeat performance against the Cowboys in Week 4.

50 years ago, the 1972 Washington Redskins became the first team in Washington history to play in a Super Bowl.

Playing in the NFC East meant facing Dallas twice during the regular season. The first match-up took place at RFK Stadium in Week 6 on Oct. 22, 1972.

Two things have stuck with me since my childhood about that day. The first was that after church that morning we ate lunch and then watched Game 7 of the 1972 World Series. That was back in the day when kids were encouraged by MLB to watch postseason baseball. All I recall about the game was I was rooting for the Cincinnati Reds at home, but they lost to the Oakland A’s.

When the World Series game had concluded, the 4 p.m. ET CBS national broadcast began the defending Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys at the Washington Redskins.

To this day, I recall being so frustrated thinking the Cowboys were going to blow out the Redskins. Dallas jumped out to a 13-0 lead, and it could have been worse, but the Washington defense held the Cowboys inside of the 10 yard-line twice resulting in two short Tony Fritsch field goals.

But Sonny Jurgensen who only attempted 16 passes on that October day would complete 11 with no interceptions and Washington would come back. Jurgensen connected with Larry Brown for a 19-yard touchdown pass narrowing the deficit to 13-7 at the half.

But Dallas again increased the lead to 13 (20-7) when Walt Garrison scored from one yard. Larry Brown then took a toss to the left side, got a great block from fullback Charlie Harraway, cut back and scored a 34-yard touchdown making the deficit 20-14.

Curt Knight’s 42-yard field goal brought Washington even closer to 20-17. Jurgensen then lead the Redskins on an 80-yard drive in seven plays, the final a 13-yard touchdown run by Harraway.

Washington had twice come back from 13-point deficits to win 24-20. The win elevated Washington’s record to 5-1 and dropped Dallas to 4-2. It was the third consecutive win for Washington.

Commanders Carson Wentz, the pressure, and NFC East quarterbacks

Which NFC East quarterback is under the most pressure in 2022?

Which NFC East quarterback is under the most pressure?

NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” discussed the question for a segment Monday morning. Of course, to no one’s surprise, the four panelists all chose a different quarterback (Dak Prescott, Carson Wentz, Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones) and then supplied their reasoning.

Tom Pelissero, in his reasoning, offered this opinion regarding Washington’s Carson Wentz.

“If we are talking pressure, I have a hard time saying it is anybody other than Carson Wentz. When you are in your third stop in three years, and we know the way things ended in Philadelphia, we know the way things ended in Indianapolis. Then, before you have even played a game, you do an interview where somebody is trying to get under your skin, asking really poorly worded questions. The team president has to get on Twitter and fight over the reporter and threaten access if you are covering/asking questions like that, and he gets in a spat?”

“First of all, this only happens in Washington. Secondly, it only happens surrounding Carson Wentz. There is just this drama that follows him. Carson Wentz, last year, everybody loses sight of the fact that he played pretty well. Set aside those last two games–which, of course, you can’t. Terrible against the Raiders after missing the week with COVID. Terrible the next week against the Jaguars; the whole team played badly against Jacksonville.”

“But those previous 15 games? He was pretty good. He had one or two plays in the game where he was throwing a left-handed interception out of his end zone for no particular reason. But you look at the stats; you look at the tape. He made a lot of plays. This is a good quarterback.”

But you’ve got to be able to calm everything else down around him, and you know the other part of this. The reality of the NFL is that the moment the quarterback who is under pressure and has that drama surrounding them has a bad game or has a bad play, it swells up from underneath.”

“You start to hear about, ‘Why don’t they play Sam Howell?’ Why don’t they play Heinicke?’ They are going to have to deal with that if he does not come out firing. I know that Scott Turner is going to get the absolute maximum out of Carson Wentz. Is that good enough? Can he avoid all of those pitfalls to live up to that pressure this year? That is my question.”