"The NFC East is an enigma," Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason
said on Sunday after his team's 44-42 loss to the Eagles. Wrong.
Enigma suggests mysterious, not woeful, which is what this
division has become. Tennessee is 7-6 and likely to finish out
of the AFC playoffs. Tennessee is 4-0 against the Least, and its
average margin of victory in those games was 15 points. From
1982 to '95, NFC East teams won eight Super Bowls, an
unprecedented era of dominance since the title game was first
played in 1967. Here's what has happened over the last few
years: The division's playmakers aren't producing, and the
offensive lines, once the strength of teams in Dallas, New York
and Washington, are horrible. When the line is inconsistent, a
team is like a yo-yo, as the Redskins have discovered.
Washington belted Jacksonville and Detroit but has lost at home
to Baltimore and St. Louis.
Three weeks ago the Eagles were playing for next year. This
Sunday, with a win over the Giants at the Vet, Philadelphia
would be tied for first and thrust into the stunning role of
division favorite with road games against the Falcons and the
Redskins left. It's remarkable that a team playing for 1998 just
before Thanksgiving could be hosting a first-round playoff game.
Welcome to football's most mediocre division.
Issue date: December 8, 1997
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