NFC East: From Joke to Juggernaut

Through the first three weeks of football, the NFC East has definitely proved to be one of the toughest divisions in football.

The Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, and Redskins have all proven that the division crown is going to be tough to claim.

As a passionate Eagles fan, I can't even tell you how happy I was last weekend when the Eagles defeated Pittsburgh. After a heartbreaking loss in Dallas, the last thing I wanted to do was have the Birds' record drop to 1-2 with the way everybody in the division has been playing thus far.

After Sunday's game, I started to think about how I would feel if the Eagles did drop to 1-2.

For all you NFC East fans, I promise you I'm not going to sit here and rant about how awesome the Eagles are and how your teams don't stand a chance this year because we all know that would be a bunch of balogna.

It might seem that all I'm doing is praising the Eagles, but I promise you there is a point to this article.

Back to Sunday's random thought. The scenario had me thinking how a few years ago a 1-2 start to the season would not have scared me as much.

People are going to hate me for saying this but most will agree it's the truth. The Eagles owned the NFC East from 2000-2004.

Not only did they pick up four straight division titles, they also made four straight NFC Championship appearances. (The fact that we had to lose three just to win one is still hurtful to this day.)

Let's take a trip down memory lane back to the 2001 season. This was the first of four straight division titles for the Birds.

The Eagles had made it to the playoffs the previous year, but the Giants won the NFC East title that year. As an Eagles fan, I will admit that the Giants flat out dominated us that game. I had a feeling it was going to be a long game after Ron Dixon returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.

Back to the 2001 season. The Eagles finished with a 11-5 record to win the NFC East crown by three games. This was when the Arizona Cardinals were still in the NFC East. (Anybody else glad nobody in the NFC East has to play Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald twice a year?)

Quarterbacks, along with Donovan McNabb, consisted of Tony Banks, Kerry Collins, Jake Plummer, and Quincy Carter. I know, Collins led the Giants to the Super Bowl and Jake Plummer didn't have the support in Arizona.

In both the 2002 and 2003 seasons, the Birds finished with an impressive 12-4 record to win the NFC East Division titles again. The only teams who came close to the Birds were the Giants and Cowboys. The Giants posted a 10-6 record in 2002 while the Cowboys posted the same record in 2003.

Once the 2004 season hit, it seemed like nobody stood a chance in the division.

The Eagles had made it to three previous NFC Championships despite a "star" receiver.

This was the beginning of the short McNabb-T.O. era. With these two studs, it seemed like nobody would be able to stop the Eagles in the NFC East.

The Birds ended up 13-3 that season, 8-0 in the NFC East. The Eagles even rested most of the starters the final two weeks because they had already clinched homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

Nobody in the division that year came close to winning the division title. The Cowboys, Redskins, and Giants all finished with 6-10 records.

In the 2005 season the other teams in the NFC East started to come around again. The Eagles were the only team in the NFC East that year to have a losing record. The Giants won the division with an 11-5 record, while the Redskins finished 10-6 and the Cowboys finished 9-7.

Even though the Eagles went on to win the NFC East the following year with Jeff Garcia, the NFC East was becoming more competitive each year.

As much as I hate to admit it, the Dallas Cowboys had an amazing season last year as they were crowned the division champs. The NFC East went from one team winning each season to a toss-up.

Did I miss the way the NFC East had worked out over the four seasons the Eagles dominated? Of course I did. Who doesn't love to see their team consistently win? However, this was the first time I realized the NFC East was starting to see more competition. A part of me was excited about it for some reason.

The only reason I could think of for my excitement is that there would be more exciting games each year. That happens to be it.

When the schedule is released each year, the first thing I look for is when we play the Giants and Cowboys. I want every opportunity to beat Eli and T.O. and the glory from my friends who happen to be Giants and Cowboys fans.

There is nothing I love more than calling up my Uncle and rubbing in his face that the Giants lost to the Eagles (even though he has been the one calling me the last few times, which is not a great feeling by the way).

I guess what I am trying to say is look how much the NFC East has progressed over the last couple of seasons. The Eagles' dominant era of the NFC East was filled with some quarterbacks that people can't help but laugh about.

Look at the list of some of the quarterbacks that played in the NFC East over the years: Tony Banks, Kerry Collins, Jake Plummer, Quincy Carter, Shane Matthews, Patrick Ramsey, Chad Hutchinson, Drew Henson, Vinny Testaverde.

I will admit, there are some quarterbacks on that list that I respect. Kerry Collins led the Giants to the Super Bowl and is doing a phenomenal job with the Titans right now. Jake Plummer's career skyrocketed once he finally left Arizona and landed the starting job with the Broncos.

However, if you look at the list of quarterbacks, you can't help but laugh at some of the "flops" that we have seen over the years.

Remember all the hype surrounding Quincy Carter and Drew Henson? I'm not quite sure what Jerry Jones was thinking.

The main point of this article is to look at the strength of the NFC East this season. Through the first three weeks, each of the four teams has a winning record with the Giants/Cowboys sitting at 3-0, and the Eagles/Redskins sitting at 2-1. That is a combined record of 10-2 of the teams in the NFC East, with the two losses coming within division play. (Obviously somebody has to lose!)

The NFC East has gone from a joke to a complete juggernaut over the past few seasons becoming the best division in football.

While browsing ESPN's "Power Rankings" this past week, the top three teams listed were the Cowboys, Giants, and Eagles. When was the last time the top three teams listed in Power Rankings on anybody's list were all within the same division?

When I think about how successful the NFC East has been so thus far, I believe it has to start with the quarterbacks.

Donovan McNabb is finally looking like his old self again, now that he is fully recovered from his ACL injury that he suffered a few years ago. McNabb has posted a rating of 102.1 through his first three games of the season, with five touchdowns and one interception.

Not to mention he has been playing without Kevin Curtis, who is recovering from a sports hernia injury. The Eagles seem to play better when Donovan McNabb stays healthy. As long as McNabb continues to stay healthy, the Eagles will continue to roll.

When the Giants drafted Eli Manning back in 2004, we all knew it was a matter of time before he became a superstar. One phrase explains it all: he's a Manning.

If you're a male with the last name of Manning, there is a pretty good chance that you are going to go on and have a successful career in the NFL. After leading the Giants to a major upset against the 18-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl last year, Eli has nothing but back-to-back Super Bowl Champions on his mind.

Tony Romo emerged out of nowhere. The former Eastern Illinois star is entering his second full season as a starting quarterback for the Cowboys and is already looking like he is going to have another pro bowl year with a rating of 103.2 and eight touchdowns through the first three games. The fact that Romo has a receiver like Owens to throw to helps a little, too.

Along with Romo, Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell is entering his second full season as a starter. So far, Campbell has yet to throw an interception through three games and posts a rating of 100.1. Campbell finally seems comfortable in coach Jim Zorn's new offense and should continue to put up solid numbers.

Each one of these teams has the potential to make the playoffs. Each one of these teams has the potential to be crowned "Super Bowl Champs." In the past two seasons, three teams have represented the NFC East in the playoffs. I expect the same thing from this year.

The NFC East is guaranteed to have intense rivalry games all season. Look at what the Cowboys and Eagles did two weeks ago on Monday Night Football.

The Cowboys and Eagles had a combined eight touchdowns in a game the Cowboys ended up winning 41-37. The 18.6 million viewers was a record for ESPN for a basic television broadcast.

The best part is that the season has already started. Look for plenty of great games out of the NFC East this year, whether it's the Eagles vs. Cowboys, Giants vs. Redskins, or Cowboys vs. Redskins. Either way it is hard to tell who will take the crown of NFC East Champion this year.

I could easily sit here and rant about how the Eagles will win in it. As much as I may want that, you and I both know that it's not as easy as it sounds.

However, after writing this long article, I'm obviously going to say I do strongly believe the Eagles will come out on top of the NFC East as long as we can stay healthy.

The game last Monday night against the Cowboys proved that the Birds can play with the best.  The Eagles' defense made a statement against the Pittsburgh Steelers as they continued to sack Roethlisburger throughout the afternoon.

If the Eagles do happen to win the NFC East this year, good for them. However, we all know it's not going to be easy for any team to win it.