The NFC East suddenly got very interesting

It’s comforting to know there are things in life you can count on.

The love of a parent. The adoration of a young child. Birds flying in the air, the passing of the seasons, all of these facts of life should bring us comfort in an ever changing and sometimes dangerous world.

Over the last decade, fans of the NFC East could largely depend on two immutable facts of life: the Eagles and Cowboys were always atop the division, while the Commanders and Giants were at the bottom.

We’ve come to expect either the Eagles or Cowboys to win the division every year while we collectively snicker at the struggles of the woebegone Washington and New York football clubs. It’s been comforting to know that, no matter what was happening with the Birds, that the Commanders and Giants were highly likely to fall all over themselves on an annual basis.

Through three weeks of the 2024 season, those long-standing and comforting facts of life could be changing.

Monday night’s 38-33 win over the Bengals in Cincinnati may have served notice to the rest of the division that the Commanders and, more specifically, their rookie QB Jayden Daniels, could be a serious problem this year.

By going 21-for-23 with 254 yards and 3 TDs (2 passing, 1 rushing), Daniels’ 91.3% completion percentage set an all-time single-game record for a rookie. He had more touchdowns than incompletions in this match-up against a presumed preseason AFC Super Bowl contender, as Daniels and wide receiver Terry McLaurin (4 receptions, 100 yards, 1 TD) toyed with the Bengals defense in prime time.

It’s still very early and Daniels will have to respond once the rest of the league gets more tape on him, but he looks like he could have a C.J. Stroud-like impact on the Commanders right now. Washington’s defense is abysmal, but any offense that can score like this is going to be a problem in 2024.

The Giants, meanwhile, aren’t very good, but they do have a couple things going for them.

First, they appear to have found themselves a superstar in rookie Malik Nabers. The No. 6 overall pick in last year’s draft has burst onto the scene through his team’s first three games, hauling in 23 balls for 271 yards and 3 TDs. Last week alone he caught eight for 78 yards with two scores. He gives Daniel Jones an actual live body to throw to.

Make no mistake, Jones still stinks, and the Giants are not a quality NFL team, but when you have a legitimate superstar like this, you can surprise from time to time, just like New York did in their 21-15 win over the Browns in Week 3. If the defense can continue to pile up the sacks like they did last week (8 total, 2 by all-world tackle Dexter Lawrence), the Giants are not going to be pushovers, although they’re probably not winning more than 6-7 games.

Which brings us to the Eagles and Cowboys. Do we really know what these squads are yet?

Dallas began the season by lighting the Browns on fire, 33-17, then followed it up with an embarrassing loss to the Saints, 44-19, and then fell behind 28-6 to the Ravens last week before trying to make things interesting in a 28-25 defeat. Their defense has given up the third-most points through three weeks (89, 29.7 per game) and have allowed 1118 total yards, fifth-most in the NFL (Washington’s has given up 1132 yards, fourth-most).

Not only that, the vibes in Dallas are off-the-charts bad.

And what about the Eagles? They have been a mystery through their first three games, all of them going down to the wire.

After holding on to beat the Packers in Brazil to start off the season, they had a game against the Falcons on Monday Night Football in the bag until they choked it up with awful decisions and worse late-game defense, but bounced back with a gritty last-minute victory over the Saints in New Orleans.

The offense has moved the ball well, even without A.J. Brown, but struggled to score touchdowns inside the red zone. Jalen Hurts’ penchant for killer turnovers has stretched into 2024, but his game outside of that has improved. The defense was pretty good against Green Bay’s young stud Jordan Love, was ghastly against Atlanta and stepped up big-time against the hottest offense in the league through the season’s first two weeks.

They have not looked like the 2022 versions of themselves and have replicated different portions of their 2023 season, but stand at 2-1 atop the division with Washington entering this Sunday’s game in Tampa. They are riddled with injuries at wide receiver (hello No. 1 wideout Jahan Dotson!!!), putting them behind the 8-ball against a solid Bucs team this weekend.

The Eagles or Cowboys still the favorites to win the division, but it’s clear Washington got a lot more interesting with Daniels’ early performance, and I don’t think you can just assume New York will roll over when they appear on the schedule this season.

The NFC East suddenly got very interesting.