Another sign of how treacherous the South is: Home teams are a jaw-dropping 11-0 in interdivisional games. Translation: If you go play on the road in the NFC South, be prepared for a long flight back home.
The NFC East, despite having three really good teams, has not been as near as competitive.
For the greater part of the season, the Giants dominated divisional play, knocking out the Redskins, Cowboys and Eagles in convincing fashion. However, their last two losses have come to division foes in back-to-back weeks—the Eagles and then the Cowboys.
The Cowboys have also played extremely well within the division, losing only two games—one to the Redskins, a two-point game that they had a chance to win at the very end, and the other coming to the Giants, a game in which they were manhandled; however, they made up for that on Sunday night.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Eagles have not fared so well in division play. Their only win came two weeks ago versus the G-Men in the post-Plaxico Burress era.
With that being said, the Giants are the only East team that has clinched a winning interdivisional record, a major reason why they locked up the NFC East so early; the Cowboys have a shot at ending the season with a winning record inside of the Beastly East if they can beat the Eagles in the final week, while the Eagles could get to .500 if they win out by beating the Redskins (a likely 'W') and Cowboys (a fight for the final wild-card spot?).
The ultra-competitive NFC South, on the other hand, may not be clinched until the final week of the season.
So far, here’s what we have established: The South is the more cutthroat of the two divisions and has more wins, while the East teams have a much tougher strength of schedule. Another major factor the teams in the Beastly East have going for them: recognition.
Whether or not you want to admit it, the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants get more media attention than just about any three teams in the National Football League. The Cowboys boast the title of “America’s Team,” and are ESPN’s favorite topic to discuss, week-in-and-week-out (hence Ed Werder residing at Texas Stadium!).
On a similar note, the Eagles seem to be a glutton for drama, and Sal Paolantonio seems to always be reporting live from Philly. Perhaps the Giants are the only team of the bunch that deserves this kind of recognition, by virtue of being the defending Super Bowl champs.
If the Cowboys, Eagles, or even Redskins won the Super Bowl, ESPN would have nothing else to talk about for an entire year!
Unlike the teams that make up the NFC South, all four teams in the East are BIG MARKET teams—New York City, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Dallas (or the whole state of Texas, whichever way you want to look at it).
All four are major, metropolitan areas and their teams are able to reach out and create huge fan bases. As a matter of fact, the quadruplet of teams in the NFC East have four of the largest fan bases in the NFL, along with the Steelers, Packers, and bandwagon Patriots fans. Ever wonder why there’s a prime-time, nationally televised matchup featuring two NFC East rivals every single week (or at least it seems like that)?
The South, on the contrary, doesn’t have teams from grand metropolises. None of the four cities representing this division—Charlotte, Tampa, Atlanta, New Orleans—can be found in the top 10 on the list of the most populated cities in the United States.
Charlotte’s the closest thing at No. 19. Sadly, these four teams often get overlooked because not a single one is a “big-market team.” After all, an NFC South team has made it to the NFC Championship Game five of the last six years (last season’s Giants/Packers matchup being the only exception).
On top of that, all four teams have been in the mix somewhere in that six-year stretch, and a team from the South is likely to go to the NFC title game again this season.
So, now the moment of truth: Exactly which division reigns supreme over all others? It’s already been established that the NFC’s Super Bowl candidate will probably hail from either the Beastly East or the Dirty South, and I would bet money that two teams from each division will end up making the playoffs (don’t ask me which four teams it will be—that is wide open for debate!).
The NFC has been no stranger to headline games in 2008, so why not let this argument be settled on the gridiron, under the bright lights on prime-time television with John Madden and Al Michaels calling the show?
That’s right–Sunday night’s matchup between the Giants and Panthers, the top teams in their respective divisions, is perhaps the most highly anticipated game of the season, and it’s only fitting that the winner gets home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, as well as all the marbles in the head-scratching, brain-busting "which-is-the-best-division-in-the-NFL" sweepstakes.
Until then, let the debating rage on!
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