The NFC East is one of two divisions so far in this NFL season being led by a team without a winning record. At the present time, the 5-5 New York Giants and maybe even the 4-6 Washington Redskins are the best it has to offer.
It does make sense about the Giants. They might be 5-5, but four of their five losses have been by four points or less, three times losing on the final play of the game. This is a team that should be, probably with a better record, based on what their offense can do alone. However, they have needed two dramatic wins (against the Cowboys and 49ers), which means these things kind of even out (completely random, no real numbers behind it) or that the Giants are inconsistent, and there’s no actual way of suggesting they’re better or worse than .500 that way.
The Redskins are probably the inferior team. Not just because of their record, but because they have the lesser quarterback of the two, because they’ve already lost to the Giants this season (32-21) and their losses have been quite brutal ones so far. One thing that’s interesting about the Redskins losses, is that the better defense they face at the time of the game, the worse they look. Their offense, at least right now, isn’t the kind that can force a defense into changing its habits.
The Giants can. They don’t have much of a running game (26th in the NFL with 95 per game) but their passing offense is one of the best in the league, with Manning drowning in great options to throw at, helping the team score 27.3 points per game. The Redskins are more prone to turnovers (Manning has really improved in that aspect, but Cousins makes everyone look like Aaron Rodgers in terms of TD-INT ratio), but the defense they’re facing is prone to giving up big play after big play.
This game is huge for the Giants because it can take care of business for them, almost. Their two losses this season in division play have been to the Cowboys (who they also beat later) and to the Eagles, a team that plays one way most of the season, but has some sort of special power turned on when they face the Giants. They’ve already beaten the Redskins once. A win in the second encounter takes care of that head-to-head for good.
The NFC East is a ratings monster regardless of the year, but while it usually has at least one good to very good team (forget about the three playoff teams in one year thing), this season it’s mediocrity or inconsistency at its best, or worse. Right now, unless Chip Kelly can fix the Eagles, when these two teams get together, it’s the best the most successful division in the Super Bowl era can give us, and it’s not a whole lot.