What NY Giants loss means for NFC East Race
Philadelphia Eagles NFC East Standing and Playoff Chances
The Eagles have been the most disappointing team in the NFC East this year. The reigning division champs have completely fallen apart this year from top to bottom. Starting with an ugly, embarrassing Week 1 loss to Washington, nothing has gone right for them all season long.
A major reason why is the shocking regression of their starting quarterback, Carson Wentz. Wentz’s play has hurt the Eagles’ offense weekly and he was finally benched in Week 13 for the rookie, Jalen Hurts. Hurts will look to provide a spark and offer a different explosive and speed element to this offense that has been lacking significantly all year.
This team looks light years away from their miraculous Super Bowl run just four years back. That 2017 season now feels like an eternity ago.
The Eagles sit at the basement of the NFC East in sole last place. They are 3-8-1 thanks to a tie earlier in the year with the Bengals. They trail the division leaders in NY and Washington by a game and a half. Philly split the season series with NY and they play Washington in Week 17 still. They are 2-2 in the division with games to play vs Dallas and Washington still.
They take on the Packers Sunday as huge underdogs in Hurts’ NFL debut as a starter. A loss would all but eliminate them from their unlikely playoff chances and a win would give them some life. With the win, they’d move back up above Dallas by a half-game lead for 3rd place in the NFC East. They’d still be only a half-game out on NY and either a half-game or a full game back from WFT pending their result today.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the NFC East is as wide open as ever. Yet again, no team has seized the opportunities in front of them yet to create distance in the division. The NY Giants and WFT impressed last week with two huge upsets, two of the most unlikely of the 2020 NFL season.
It will likely come down to the Week 17 contests pitting Dallas-NY and Philly-Washington. Washington can take sole control with a win today or drop back into a tie and 2nd place with the Giants. This has been a crazy year and it doesn’t look like the ending of the NFC East race will be any different.