NFL Playoff Predictions: NFC East Champion Will Drop Postseason Opener

The only team in the NFC East that would have any chance of winning a game in the playoffs was eliminated today. The Giants beat the Jets, eliminating the Eagles. When the Giants host the Cowboys next week, it will only be for the right to get beaten on Wild Card weekend by the Falcons or Lions. 

It doesn't matter who wins the East, or even whether they face the Lions or the Falcons. The home-field advantage will not help. Both the Falcons and Lions are simply better teams than either the Giants or Eagles. 

The matchups are there. I have no confidence that either of those defenses could do anything against Matt Ryan, or Matthew Stafford, especially when you consider the weapons at their disposal. Neither the Cowboys or Giants have reliable enough defenses to go against a receiver like Roddy White, Julio Jones or Calvin Johnson to do any damage. 

More importantly, neither team has the offense to win a shootout. They'll put up points, but not anywhere near enough. 

The NFC East has been the division that no team wants to win all year long. There hasn't been a single exception to that. 

From week to week, the Giants and Cowboys have alternated having a stranglehold on the division. Without fail, they have dropped their ensuing game, completely flipping the script. 

Someone is going to win that division. Like the NFC West last year, it has to happen. But unlike the NFC West last year, this champion won't go anywhere.

The teams they will face don't have the glaring flaws that the Saints of 2010 had. Both the Falcons and Lions are capable of making the occasional defensive stop. The Saints didn't have that skill. That's an important distinction. 

The NFC East has been a mediocre division all year. The scariest team right now is the Eagles, but they consistently shot themselves in the foot all year. They're not going to the playoffs. They don't deserve to go to the playoffs. 

Neither the Cowboys or Giants belong either, but one of them will have to go. Still, once there, their true abilities will be exposed by legitimate playoff teams.

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