NFC East is NFL’s best — and most surprising — division

Nobody thought the NFC East would be more than a speed bump for good teams. Turns out, it’s the home of three playoff contenders.

What would the parlay odds have been on the following back in August: the New York Giants being 5-1, the Philadelphia Eagles being the NFL’s lone unbeaten through six weeks, and Cooper Rush winning at least four of his five starts filling in for Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys?

Tough to say, but a few greenbacks would have turned into a small fortune.

As the calendar heads for Halloween, the NFC East is inarguably the league’s best division. The Eagles look the part of legitimate Super Bowl contenders with an MVP candidate in third-year quarterback Jalen Hurts.

In New York, the Giants have erased 14- and 10-point deficits in the last two weeks against the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens respectively, running their record to 5-1 while first-year head coach Brian Daboll looks like a home run hire and a potential Coach of the Year.

Then there’s Dallas, who looked dead on arrival after Prescott broke his thumb in Week 1 during a 19-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Left for dead, the Cowboys reeled off four consecutive wins before losing to the Eagles on Sunday night.

The NFC East is no joke in the 2022 NFL season

Going into Week 7, no other division has more than two teams above .500. Hell, the NFC South and AFC North don’t have one. The worst team, the Washington Commanders, are one of only two last-place teams to have at least two victories.

And, more bad news for the rest of the league? Look at who the Eagles, Giants and Cowboys have to play going forward. Yes, they’ll beat up a bit on each other, but the NFC East got the good fortune of facing the NFC North and AFC South.

Out of Philadelphia’s final 11 regular-season games, the Eagles only play two teams with records more than a game above .500; the Cowboys and Giants. Dallas and New York are in the same situation, just add in the 5-1 Minnesota Vikings.

Barring injuries or total meltdowns in the lackluster NFC, all three are going to make the playoffs.

In the summertime, the NFC East was considered a weakling.

Come autumn, they’ll dealing out some punishment, and if you could find that parlay somewhere, one hell of a payout.