NFC East: The Renewed Quest for Domination

After a few weeks of mediocrity, the NFC East's teams reaffirmed their domination over other divisions with authority in Week Eight of the NFL schedule.

In the standings of non-divisional matchups, the NFC East stood just percentage points ahead of the NFC South heading into this past Sunday. However, NFC East teams won two key matchups against NFC South teams as part of their 4-0 record against non-divisional opponents on Sunday.

The Cowboys were able to pull out a victory of the Buccaneers by a score of 13-9, and the Eagles defeated the Falcons 27-14. In addition, the Giants also topped the Steelers 21-14, and the Redskins beat the Lions 25-17.

On the season, the non-divisional game record for the NFC East stands at a very impressive 17-5. NFC East teams have won nearly 80 percent of their games against non-NFC East opponents.

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

1.  NFC East:  17-5 (7.77)

2.  NFC South:  14-7 (5.57)

3.  AFC East:  13-7 (2.70)

4.  AFC South:  10-6 (3.75)

5.  AFC North:  7-10 (-1.06)

6.  NFC North:  7-12 (-2.22)

7.  NFC West:  6-15 (-7.57)

8.  AFC West:  5-14 (-8.47)

It is a little interesting that the strength of each division seems fairly correlated with geographic location. The western divisions are the worst in the league, the northern divisions are better than the west but still below average, and the eastern and southern divisions are the only ones above average.

Some of the key non-divisional pairings for Week Nine to look forward to are:

Eagles vs. Seahawks

Redskins vs. Steelers

Falcons vs. Raiders

Buccaneers vs. Chiefs

Dolphins vs. Broncos

Patriots vs. Colts

Jaguars vs. Bengals

Titans vs. Packers

Texans vs. Vikings

There are only two non-divisional games for each of the top three divisions this week. The NFC South has the two easiest games, as the Falcons and Buccaneers both play teams from the AFC West, the lowest-rated division in the NFL. The AFC South has the best opportunity to gain ground in the standings, as all four of their teams play against teams outside of the AFC South in Week Nine.

The toughest non-divisional game this week for teams in the top divisions belongs to the Redskins. The Redskins meet the Steelers on Monday Night Football in a battle of teams with only two losses.

The Steelers have already lost to two NFC East teams this season (Eagles and Giants) for their only two losses and will be looking to avoid going 0-3 against the NFC East. The Steelers also will play the Cowboys in Week 14 to complete their round-robin of NFC East teams.