FanPulse: Cowboys fans are most objective of NFC East, Redskins biggest homers, Giants are delusional

It’s not a secret. Every team’s fan base values their team higher than the outside world does. It’s common sense.

Such is true in all sports, at all levels, and with all fans. As we’re rooters of the Dallas Cowboys it’s safe to say that nobody values them (and also criticizes them) the way that we do. We all know that.

Every week our friends at SB Nation use the nifty FanPulse tool in a specific way to learn something unique about a team, division, or particular subset of fan groups. Last week this isolation focused on the status of Dak Prescott’s future, this week it’s focusing on the NFC East as a whole and who the best team in it is in everyone’s minds.

Who is the best team in the NFC East?

Many of you are part of the contingent that comprises BTB’s FanPulse and therefore had to answer this question. For those of you that weren’t you should consider signing up for FanPulse to be part of this polling from now on (click here to do so), but you should also ask yourself that question.

Obviously we think the Cowboys have a legitimate chance with a 2-2 record, but we’d be fools not to acknowledge that the reigning Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles are the favorites at the moment. That level of logic showed up in the polls as Cowboys fans acknowledged belief in Dallas, Philly’s reign, and even that Washington has shown up to an impressive degree so far early on this season.

You’ll note that Cowboys fans are split between Dallas and Philly, Washington picked up the remainder of the vote, which honestly feels a little fair. I know that sounds ridiculous given how the Cowboys have looked most of the time this season, but as far as the four games we’ve seen when have the Eagles looked super intimidating?

Philadelphia barely beat Atlanta in their season opener and then lost to Fitzmagic and the Buccaneers. They rebounded by hanging on to beat the Indianapolis Colts by a narrow margin, but then they dropped one to the Tennessee Titans of all teams. They’re definitely not invincible which is why FanPulse showed their fans lost a significant amount of confidence for the first time this season.

The other NFC East teams only believe in the obvious and themselves

Despite their shaky start, Eagles fans have every right to believe in their team to the end of the earth. They’re reigning champions after all.

Consider though that 95% of Eagles fans believe that their team is the best in the division. Again, confidence makes sense, but only 5% are open to the possibility that it would be anyone else despite Philly’s rough go to start the season. Washington earned the little respect they’re willing to hand out, beating Aaron Rodgers will do that for you.

Grid View

Speaking of Washington, Redskins fans have gone completely all-in on their squad this season. They believe their team is the best in the division by a wide margin and the only team they’re willing to give any scraps to happens to be the last team to hoist the Lombardi. Oh Washington.

Nobody believes in the Giants, the Giants barely believe in themselves (and the ones that do are quite alone)

When you look at the FanPulse data from Cowboys, Eagles, and Redskins fans you’ll note that literally 0% of all three believe in the Giants as the best team in the NFC East. Zero. It’s worth noting that of those three only the Cowboys believe in the Cowboys, but the point here is that literally everyone except New York thinks that the G-Men are a disaster.

The Giants almost agree completely with this assessment as they could only muster 7% of their own fans that believe their team to be the best in the NFC East. To be fair this 7% has to be out of their mind to consider the 2018 New York Giants the best team throughout the division because, well, you’ve seen the Giants.

In fact Giants fans are not only so delusional that a subset of them believes their team to be the class of the division, but as a whole the Giants FanPulse believes their team is better than the Cowboys. Remember that the Cowboys literally beat the Giants three weeks ago and the Cowboys currently have a better W/L record.

FanPulse is providing us with an interesting look at how different fan bases view their teams. A few conclusions can be drawn from the data four weeks in:

• Giants fans refuse to see the truth and will fight for their team till the end
• Redskins fans have completely drank the kool-aid as far as their success is concerned
• Eagles fans continue to see themselves as the alpha and will barely acknowledge anyone else
• Cowboys fans believe in their team to a strong degree (the least of the two-win teams, mind you), also believe in the reigning division/Super Bowl champs, and acknowledge what Washington has done in their three games

It’s hard to be impartial when it comes to sports fandom. Surprisingly it looks like Cowboys fans are handling it the best. Who would have thought?