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    After Week 6, the NFC East Reshuffles and Deals Washington a Winnable Hand

    By Jamie Mottram | October 14, 2008

    horse-balls.jpgIt was a tough week for the formerly dominant NFC East — Cleveland crushed New York on Monday Night (Horse Balls!), St. Louis won in Washington, Dallas lost at Arizona and Philly had trouble in San Fran — and, suddenly, there’s not much of a difference between that quartet and, say, the NFC South.

    But, after the first third of the season, there is a big difference between the NFC and the AFC. There are 11 teams at .500 or better, hunting for the six NFC playoff spots. In the AFC? Just eight. Unlike last year and 2005, when the Skins squeaked in with nine and 10 wins, respectively, this is not a season for dicking around. It’s a season where a team with 10 wins, like Cleveland in the AFC last year, will probably be left out cold.

    One way to work around the uncertainty of the Wild Card is to, as the Major League Indians would say, “win the whole fucking thing.” And by “thing,” I mean NFC East.  Right now, it stacks up like this:

    1. New York (4-1)
    2. Washington (4-2)
    3. Dallas (4-2)
    4. Philadelphia (3-3)

    The Skins look good, right? And especially so in light of preseason forecasts. They’re in second thanks to the tiebreaker over Dallas, one game ahead of Philly and a half-game back of New York. But not so fast, my friends. Look at point differential:

    1. New York (+57)
    2. Philly (+44)
    3. Dallas (+34)
    4. Washington (+9)

    Of course, a win is a win, and a two-point win at Dallas is just as good as, if not better than, a 38-point drubbing against Seattle, but point differential tends to catch up with a team. Or at least I think it does. I read that somewhere. What’s more important is the schedule from here on out. The Redskins have already played all three NFC East road games, and they have the most teams currently under .500 left to play:

    1. Washington (6; Cleveland, Detroit, Seattle, Baltimore, Cincinnati, SF)
    2. Dallas (4; St. Louis, SF, Seattle and Baltimore)
    3. Philadelphia (4; Seattle, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland)
    4. New York (2; SF and Baltimore)

    Add it all up and what does it mean? Well, a) the Giants have had the easiest schedule to-date and now have the toughest from here on out b) Philly is better than their record indicates c) Dallas is in it but on thin ice with injuries and TO and Pacman boiling over and d) the Skins’ schedule gives them a decided advantage.

    There’s no knowing how this plays out, but if they just win the whole fucking thing it would be the best season Washington’s had since Gibbs 1.0. And they’ve got as good a shot as anybody.

    Topics: Dallas Sucks, Jinx, New York Sucks, Philly Sucks, Redskins | 2 Comments »

    2 Responses to “After Week 6, the NFC East Reshuffles and Deals Washington a Winnable Hand”

    1. StetSportsBlog Says:
      October 14th, 2008 at 10:36 AM

      Washington does have a chance, but I wonder if opposing coaches not having steady film on the Zorn Star’s tendencies will catch up to them later in the season.

    2. Chris Mottram Says:
      October 14th, 2008 at 11:37 AM

      This is a shot at our team, but whatever: The Giants schedule has been a joke thus far. Their stretch against Pitt, Dallas and Philly coming up in weeks 8, 9, 10 should be a good indicator of how good they are.

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