NFC East: The Quest for Perfection

It is not difficult to notice how dominant the NFC East division has been in the NFL in recent years.  Last season, the NFC East sent three teams to the playoffs for the second straight year.  They had no teams finish with a losing record, boasted the overall No. 1 seed in the NFC, and ultimately had one of their teams win the Super Bowl.

This year, the division looks even stronger.  No team in the NFC East has lost a game to a non-NFC East opponent.  Their 4-0 record against non-divisional opponents includes an average margin of victory of a whopping 21.5 points.  This was helped greatly by two thrashings of the Rams, once by the Eagles and once by the Giants.

Through the first two weeks, no other division has gone undefeated against non-divisional opponents.  Although I have not researched it, I feel confident saying that no division has ever had all of their teams go undefeated against non-divisional opponents. 

That would be nearly impossible.  It would be nearly four times as impressive as the Patriot’s undefeated regular season from a year ago, because it requires four teams to go undefeated.

If ever there was a situation for it to happen though, the NFC East is set up perfectly. 

They play cross-conference games against the AFC North.  After the first two weeks of the season, it looks like any team in the NFC East could easily defeat the Bengals, Browns, or Ravens.  The only team that would be difficult to beat is the Steelers. 

In addition, the rest of the NFC is fairly weak outside of the NFC East.  So each non-divisional match-up for the NFC East will involve one of four very good teams and then usually a weaker team.

So can the NFC East go a perfect 40-0? 

No.  But it would be incredible if they did.  And they certainly can have an extremely high non-divisional game winning percentage as a conference. 

The games for this week will provide a strong test for the NFC East.  All four teams play against non-NFC East opponents. 

The Giants play the Bengals, the Redskins have the Cardinals, the Eagles take on the Steelers, and the Cowboys meet the Packers. 

The only easy win there should be the Giants over the Bengals.  The Cardinals, Steelers, and Packers are all undefeated at this point, meaning it will difficult for the Redskins, Eagles, and Cowboys to all win their games.

If the NFC East can continue their streak of perfection through this week’s games, then I may start giving them a chance to run the table.

Through the two weeks of the season, here are the standings for the eight divisions in non-divisional games:

Rank	Division	Record	Average Margin
1	NFC East	4-0	21.5
2	AFC East	3-1	3.5
3	NFC South	3-1	3.25
4	AFC North	2-1	6.67
5	AFC South	2-3	-4.2
6	NFC North	1-3	-0.75
7	NFC West	1-3	-16.5
8	AFC West	0-2	-4.5