The NFC East once again came out of Sunday with an 0-fer.
The Cowboys, Eagles and Giants all lost on Sunday, pushing the division’s record to 0-5-2 over the past two weeks. If the Commanders lose to the undefeated 49ers tonight at Levi’s Stadium, the NFC East will become the first division in NFL history to go winless in consecutive weeks when all teams in the division played, per ESPN.
The NFC East is literally staring down a historically bad stretch.
The Cowboys look listless under Brian Schottenheimer. How an offense with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Javonte Williams and others can go for such long stretches of impotence boggles the mind. The defense is bad; that is understood at this point. The bigger problem is that the offense is sinking into its own pit of despair. On Sunday, the Cowboys’ D actually got enough stops to make things interesting against the Packers, but the offense was to blame in the 23-13 loss. We know Jerry Jones doesn’t like to make mid-season coaching changes, but things are going to get burning hot for Schotty if he doesn’t get things adjusted in a hurry. The NFC East is still winnable.
The Eagles’ offense could be unsalvageable with Monday’s stunning news that Jalen Hurts will likely miss the rest of the season due to blood clots in his lungs. Tanner McKee looked like a preseason quarterback early on Sunday against Carolina. The NFL is played in millimeters; McKee missed by feet at times. He found a groove late by feeding DeVonta Smith, but if he regresses to who he was early in the tilt and struggles under pressure, the Eagles’ offense will continue to fly listless. In addition, the line issues offer little hope that the attack will turn things around this season.
It will be interesting to see how Howie Roseman handles the next few weeks before the Nov. 10 trade deadline. Does the Eagles general manager make a move for a veteran replacement at QB? Does Philly ride with McKee even if the backup struggles? Does 2026 become a reboot season, where the franchise ultimately just hopes to get everything back on track in 2027? After parting with Cam Jurgens to compile picks, shelling out for a stopgap QB could run counter to the stockpile plan. On the other hand, Roseman has to look at the rest of the division and feel like he still has a shot at winning it if he can get competent QB play.
The Giants jumped out to a 10-point lead on Sunday and then watched the doors get blown off, as Jameis Winston did his usual jack-o’-lantern act. John Harbaugh then turned to J.J. McCarthy, who helped spark a late run that fell short. The Big Blue coach declined to say who would start Week 7 against Houston. Will he stick with Winston for at least another week, or see what McCarthy can do with an entire game? I will say, McCarthy was lucky he only threw one INT. It could have easily been three. He looked more comfortable and took command of the offense better than he did in Minnesota. But the Giants were in scramble mode after falling behind 34-10, so J.J. had little pressure to be perfect. We know what we’re getting from Winston. He can move the ball, but it will come with some ugly errors. Does Harbaugh believe McCarthy can provide more upside for a division-leading team? I sense some Giants fans would like to give J.J. a shot now, but I could see Harbaugh preferring to stick with Winston for a road game in Houston before making a potential change over the Week 8 bye.
The Commanders are the last hope to get the division off a fortnight schneid. Coming off an embarrassing tie with the Giants last week, all Dan Quinn’s team needs to do is knock off an undefeated 49ers squad that boasts the early MVP front-runner. No big deal.