NFC East: Suddenly a Tight Race
A couple of Weeks ago it looked like the New York Giants had a stranglehold on the NFC East. That’s no the case now. With seven games left on the schedule, the entire division is within two games of the lead in the all important loss column. The Giants are on a two game losing skid and now even the 3-6 Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins are still in it. Today, the Giants are idle, so the Eagles, Redskins and Dallas Cowboys at 4-5 have a chance to gain a half game in the standings.
Cleveland Browns at Dallas Cowboys- The Browns offense is terrible. But they have a good defense. They have been hanging in there all season with a lot of tough teams, they just don’t have the firepower on offense to pull many of them out. But teams who play defense are always in the game and that makes them a threat. Oddsmaker has the Browns +7.5 -110 or +310. Over/under is 43.5. It would be just like the Cowboys to stumble around and lose to a 2-7 team just when they have a chance to climb back to within a game of the division lead. We’ll take the Browns +7.5 and the under on this one. The Cowboys will probably still win the game, but it will be a close one.
Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins– The winner of this game is still breathing at two games out. The loser can start looking towards the draft in the spring. While it’s unlikely that even the winner will eventually make the playoffs, stranger things have happened. You win this week and you live to fight on for another week. The Eagles are +3.5 -110 or +165. The Redskins are -3>5 -110 or -195. The Over/under is 44.5. Philly has a rookie starting at quarterback this week in Nick Foles. This is a tough time for a rookie to make his first start. We will go with the Redskins -3.5 even though they have lost eight straight games to rookie quarterbacks. That string has to end right? We’ll also take the under.
Dallas and Washington have a very short week this week as they will face each other on Thursday in the Cowboys traditional Thanksgiving Day game. This a huge chance for one of them to get two quick wins and put some heat on the Giants before they play their next game a week from today against the very good Green Bay Packers in Green Bay. This is why football season gets really good this time of the year.
