The NFC East could come down to the Cowboys and Eagles matchup in Week 14

The next opponent on the schedule for the Dallas Cowboys is the New Orleans Saints. We all know that.

Similarly, we’re all well-aware of how good New Orleans has been this season. They’ve won 10 games in a row, have only lost one contest, and have one of the more explosive offenses across the NFL these days.

While positivity is always welcome, it makes sense to ponder the idea that the first-place Dallas Cowboys will drop their Thursday Night Football matchup to Sean Payton, Drew Brees, and the rest. It doesn’t make you a bad fan to say or think this.

It’s for this reason that the New York Giants failing to beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday was not so fun to watch. An Eagles loss would have gone a long way, and now we might be two weeks out from a duel for the NFC East crown in the rematch against them.

Who scares you more? Washington or Philadelphia?

Intending to give only the proper amount of disrespect to the Washington Redskins, they aren’t really part of this discussion to me. They’ve lost their quarterback for the season and while Colt McCoy did look somewhat effective at times on Thanksgiving the overwhelming likelihood is that they find a way to Washington things up.

Say you think Washington is still a threat within the division, mathematically they are so you’d be right, who are you afraid of more? Them or the Philadelphia Eagles? While the Eagles have a far more difficult schedule ahead of them the Redskins still have the lesser-quality team. It’s the Eagles that have more potential as a squad in my opinion, which is why next week’s rooting guide (this week’s hasn’t worked too well) will include a preferred Washington win. The Eagles are the scarier team, despite how not-so-great they’ve looked recently.

State of the NFC East after Week 12

Things have changed a lot in the NFL’s most storied division. A week ago the Cowboys had just beaten the Atlanta Falcons and we were all processing the Alex Smith injury. Such is life in the NFL, but there is still a lot of football to be played.

NFC East standings through Week 12:

1. Dallas Cowboys: 6-5 overall, 3-1 in division
2. Washington Redskins: 6-5 overall, 2-1 in division
3. Philadelphia Eagles: 5-6 overall, 2-1 in division
4. New York Giants: 3-8 overall, 0-4 in division

NFC East remaining schedule:

December 9th’s Cowboys and Eagles game will likely decide the NFC East

As previously mentioned, it’s very possible that the Cowboys drop their game on Thursday night to the Saints. It’s also possible that the Eagles will win their second game in a row against Washington a few days later. This would set up for a huge Week 14 game between Dallas and Philadelphia, who would both be 6-6, oddly mirroring the path the Cowboys took in 2014 to a degree.

There will still be games to be played after the matchup in question, there are even one for each team before it, but that game could likely be what decides the division when it’s all said and done especially if you do believe that Washington will continue folding with their new quarterback. The last time the Cowboys hosted the Eagles was the worst loss in AT&T Stadium’s history and this next time could be the next-biggest game in the Jason Garrett era (since every one seems to have that flare).

Before the Cowboys kicked off on Thanksgiving there were five common NFC East games that would be played over the course of three weeks. We’ve now seen two of them and both Dallas and Philadelphia have grown in the win column. The Cowboys don’t have the ability to impact the division in the same way this Thursday night, but the Eagles and Redskins do. A week later it will reach the final stages when Dallas hosts Philadelphia and Washington hosts the Giants.

Obviously all of this is subject to teams A or B winning and if they do this or that the number and type of outcomes shift dramatically. For now we’re going off of what is potentially and probably maybe the most likely thing to hopefully happen.

Buckle up, friends. The ride is only just beginning.