NFC East: The Quest for Domination, Week Six Preview

Last Sunday, the NFC East continued their domination over other divisions as the Giants pounded the Seahawks 44-6 and the Cowboys defeated the Bengals 31-22. 

On the season, the NFC East teams combined have only one loss to a non-NFC East team.  This came in week four when the Bears had a big goal-line stand at the end of the game to defeat the Eagles by a score of 24-20.

The overall record for non-divisional games for the NFC East teams is 10-1, and they have an average scoring difference of 14.45 points in those games.  No other conference has an average margin higher than 5.86 points per game.

Here are the updating conference standings for non-divisional games heading into week six (Rank, Team, Record, Average Margin):

1.  NFC East:  10-1 (14.45)

2.  AFC East:  8-3 (2.36)

3.  NFC South:  9-5 (5.86)

4.  AFC South:  4-4 (-1.25)

5.  AFC North:  3-5 (0.13)

6.  AFC West:  3-6 (-5.67)

7.  NFC North:  4-9 (-4.08)

8.  NFC West:  3-9 (-10.83)

Only three of the eight conferences have winning records against teams outside of their own division, and only four have positive average scoring margins. 

Some of the key non-divisional match-ups for this week to look forward to are:

Redskins vs. Rams

Eagles vs. 49ers

Cowboys vs. Cardinals

Giants vs. Browns

Patriots vs. Chargers

Dolphins vs. Texans

Jets vs. Bengals

Saints vs. Raiders

Falcons vs. Bears

The NFC East has all four of their teams play non-divisional opponents this weekend.  While winning four games, even when favored, is never a given, the NFC East teams could very well get four victories this coming week. 

The only way for another division to overtake the NFC East in the standings would be a collapse by one or more of the NFC East teams.  All other divisions have at least three non-divisional losses and should have plenty more to come.

The AFC East has three non-divisional match-ups this weekend and should have a lesser chance of going undefeated than the NFC East, even though they have less games.

The NFC South may need to win both of their non-divisional games this week to avoid falling temporarily out of reach of the NFC East and AFC East.