NFC East 2021: Cowboys Flop, but Eagles Loss Maintains Status Quo

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NFC East 2021: Cowboys Flop, but Eagles Loss Maintains Status Quo

Nothing went right in Dallas for the Cowboys in Week 9. But while their blowout loss to the Denver Broncos was demoralizing, the damage was mitigated by other happenings in the NFC East.

The division’s top two teams going into the week were the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams suffered home losses yesterday; a field goal in the final seconds lifted the Los Angeles Chargers to a 27-24 victory and dropped the Eagles to 3-6.

With Washington on its bye week the New York Giants were the only other NFC East team in action. They took advantage of three Derek Carr turnovers to win 23-16 at home, improving to 3-6 and getting out of the division basement.

But even with the Giants’ victory, Dallas’ cushion in the division remained the same thanks to the Eagles’ loss. Still an impressive 6-2 midway through the regular season, the Cowboys are the only team above .500 and still have three more wins than the next-closest rival.

NFC East Standings

(Division Record in parentheses)
  1. Dallas Cowboys 6-2 (2-0)
  2. Philadelphia Eagles 3-6 (0-1)
  3. New York Giants 3-6 (0-2)
  4. Washington Football Team 2-6 (1-0)

The Week 10 schedule sets up for the Cowboys to keep and even improve their lead. Assuming they figure out what went wrong against Denver, Dallas has a very winnable home game against the 4-4 Atlanta Falcons.

Washington returns to action with a much tougher opponent. They will host Tampa Bay in a rematch of last year’s Wild Card game. Both teams will be coming off a bye, and the Football Teams is much shakier opponent this year than when the Bucs last defeated them.

Meanwhile, the Eagles head west to face the Broncos. Will yesterday’s big win give Denver some momentum to ride? We certainly hope so!

The Giants will be on their bye this week.

Cowboys fans may still be licking their wounds a bit, but take comfort in what the team’s accomplished so far. Their ticket to the playoffs is still looking good as the rest of the division flounders.

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Cowboys fan since 1992, blogger since 2011. Bringing you the objectivity of an outside perspective with the passion of a die-hard fan. I love to talk to my readers, so please comment on any article and I'll be sure to respond!

4 Comments

  1. VAM
    This "status quo" mentality basically says it's acceptable to stay at the same level of performance of the bottom feeders in the NFC LEAST division, because we didn't lose any ground. The mentality should be just the opposite, win when the others lose. Put another nail in their coffins, and give them LESS hope of mounting any kind of comeback. Hope the team doesn't have mentality..
  2. VAM
    We hear about teams needing to be humbled, which may be true. But this loss was NOT a humbling IMO, it was an embarrassment. Not scoring till the 56th minute, being shut out 30-0 till GARBAGE TIME, is a disgrace, especially at HOME. Really no excuse from the Broncos, that had not beat a good team all year. TUTX88, agree, that was "CRAP" on Sunday. They better bounce back.
  3. WY
    Definitely needed a game like this to humble themselves. Hopefully they get back on track next week against Atlanta, but more importantly, hopeful Tyron Smith is able to come back. Steele was abused the entire game at LT proving once again how important TS is to this team. Dak never looked comfortable and the running game wasn't sharp (evident by the 4th and 1 stop as well as the tackles for loss running to the outside). Unless Steele improves during practice I'm afraid this is going to become a common theme until TS can get back in there. Or.... maybe have a TE help out or chip the end with a RB? Unusual not to see any adjustments for Steele's struggles in the second half. Hopeful this was just a blip on the radar.
  4. ThrowuptheX88
    The boys were on cloud nine feeling untouchable, feeling they could clap the Broncos even with Rush, and especially with Dak, they thought they could just show up and level them, and when a NFL team thinks that way, they ALWAYS GET HUMBLED That said, the same thing happened to several other top teams this week, Bills losing to Jags 6-9 Packers losing to Chiefs granted it was wo A-Rod but still 7-13 Rams losing at home as well in a game that wasn't close vs. Titans wo D Henry So i guess if there's a week for us to blow a game, it's this one as most everyone blew it this week (except Cards, htf does 49ers get blown out by Colt McCoy ?) Now it's time to move on to ATL, they're coming off a big win vs. Saints, I'm interested to see how our team bounces back from that crap on sunday

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