Former NFL Head Coach Herm Edwards delivered a quote on October 30th, 2002 that will apply to the game of football forever.
“You PLAY to WIN the GAME!”
NFL seasons can yield many different personal achievements: Pro Bowl and All-Pro Selections, leading the league in yards or touchdowns, even the league’s MVP award all are accolades that only one person can receive.
Wins are the statistic that TEAMS value most. Wins are what it’s all about. Like Coach Edwards said, wins are why you play the game.
The NFC East is arguably the most difficult division in the National Football League, and it is certainly the most historic. The division owns the most Super Bowl titles of all eight divisions with 12 and it has had some of the most iconic games throughout history between its rivals.
Like a great cupcake and brownie, we’re going to combine these two ideas today. Who wins the most in the toughest division in football? That’s what matters, right? You can lay claim to your team’s player leading in this or that category, but the team with the most wins is the one that plays in January. Which NFC East team is, simply put, the best at winning football games?
This isn’t Mrs. Blackwell’s history class so I’m not going to go back to the beginning of time here. To establish a sense of fairness I chose a year where the majority of these four teams’ current nucleus was already or about to be in place… 2011.
- Jason Garrett began his tenure as the Dallas Cowboys Head Coach.
- The New York Giants won their second Super Bowl under Tom Coughlin.
- The Philadelphia Eagles were two years away from the Chip Kelly era.
- The Washington Redskins were a year away from the Robert Griffin III era.
I’m sure that all of you are going to totally agree with everything I say so there’s no use in putting it off! Let’s get started.
Washington Redskins
| Year | Overall Record | Division Record |
| 2011 | 5-11 | 2-4 |
| 2012* | 10-6 | 5-1 |
| 2013 | 3-13 | 0-6 |
| 2014 | 4-12 | 2-4 |
| Total | 22-42 | 9-15 |
*Playoff team
You’d think that in a world with seven Fast and the Furious movies that those would be the worst thing that we could ever lay eyes on, right? Enter… the Washington Redskins.
Trying to win football games as the Washington Redskins is like trying to grill hamburgers with spaghetti noodles. Their record isn’t exactly the worst one in the NFL in that span, but it’s not too far away from it.
The only year on here that the Redskins were even watchable was obviously 2012. RGIII was a rookie and for once in Washington, the sky was not falling. They put together 10 wins, including 7 in a row to end the season.
What happened? Well the Robert Griffin III experiment did. The front office got rid of Mike Shanahan after 2013’s unimpressive 3-13 campaign. Jay Gruden was able to come in and summon enough talent to lead them to an improved 4-12 last season.
There’s a lot of pressure on this team, and this quarterback, to not be completely terrible in 2015. They significantly trail their NFC East rivals since 2011 in overall wins, division wins, and in playoff wins… the Redskins have 0 in that stretch.
New York Giants
| Year | Overall Record | Division Record |
| 2011*^ | 9-7 | 3-3 |
| 2012 | 9-7 | 3-3 |
| 2013 | 7-9 | 3-3 |
| 2014 | 6-10 | 2-4 |
| Total | 31-33 | 11-13 |
*Playoff team, ^Super Bowl Champions
The New York Football Giants, baby. They are the only NFC East team to bring home a Lombardi Trophy in this stretch, earning their World Championship in the 2011 season.
The 2011 Giants immortalized themselves as the NFL’s best, and there’s no one that can take away from that. Since then? …pretty mortal.
Coach Tom Coughlin has two rings to his name so he’s not necessarily the person to doubt within the NFC East, but the Giants have dwindled since their Super Bowl run in 2011. In terms of overall and division wins since 2011, the New York Giants are 3rd within the NFC East; however, they easily have the most playoff wins with 4 total and 1 big one in Indianapolis.
The Giants have one of the NFL’s most exciting players in Odell Beckham Jr., but how did his big-play making ability translate in the win column last year? In his 12 games the Giants were 4-8.
“BUT WHEN ODELL TAKES OVER THE GAME IS WHEN THE GIANTS WIN!”
Are you sure? Beckham topped 100 yards 7 times in 2014… only 3 of those games were victories. In fact his top two yardage performances were losses, one of which was against the division rival Eagles! Wins are what count, remember?
The Super Bowl victory in 2011 is impressive, that’s obvious; However, since then the New York Giants haven’t done much in the NFC East. With Victor Cruz coming back from injury this year they may have a shot, but if the Giants are relying solely on Odell Beckham Jr., it might not work out.
Philadelphia Eagles
| Year | Overall Record | Division Record |
| 2011 | 8-8 | 5-1 |
| 2012 | 4-12 | 1-5 |
| 2013* | 10-6 | 4-2 |
| 2014 | 10-6 | 4-2 |
| Total | 32-32 | 14-10 |
*Playoff team
One year ago the talk was all about how the Dallas Cowboys and their three straight 8-8 seasons were the epitome of mediocrity. Can somebody, anybody, please tell me what 32-32 spells out? I was the Spelling Bee champion in fourth grade so I think I can handle this: M-e-d-i-o-c-r-i-t-y.
Seriously though the Eagles have hardly been mediocre over the last four years. They are coming off of back-to-back 10 win seasons, the first two in the Chip Kelly era, and look to be a contender in 2015.
You know, however it plays out, the Chip Kelly experiment in Philadelphia is going to make for a fascinating sports documentary someday. Philly has the second most wins in the NFC East since 2011 and is tied for the most division wins, the stronger half of their tenure being under his watch.
The other side of that coin is that even as I type this I worry that somehow, someway, Chip Kelly is going to find a way to trade me away… and I’m not even on his team! He personifies mad scientist more than anyone else in recent history and is all-in with his current squad.
Breaking the rules a bit here, Chip Kelly is 20-12 overall and 8-4 against the division. The Eagles have, like the Redskins, 0 playoff victories in the overall time since 2011…despite an appearance in 2013.
The 32 overall and 14 division wins are impressive. The Eagles have managed to be a contender in the division for the last four years, but with so much turnover on their roster can they improve on that to become the best team in the division?
Dallas Cowboys
| Year | Overall Record | Division Record |
| 2011 | 8-8 | 2-4 |
| 2012 | 8-8 | 3-3 |
| 2013 | 8-8 | 5-1 |
| 2014* | 12-4 | 4-2 |
| Total | 36-28 | 14-10 |
*Playoff team
Overall wins since 2011… 1st in the division. Division wins since 2011… tied for 1st in the division. You PLAY to WIN the GAME.
The Dallas Cowboys Run The NFC East.
You’re smart, I know that. I’m not fooling you with some fancy card trick or rabbit out of my hat. The most wins in the NFC East over the course of this analysis belong to America’s Team… who are coincidentally the reigning NFC East Champions.
The Cowboys have built a team that can challenge for a Super Bowl title all while still remaining in contention for the NFC East crown year after year. That is incredible.
In 2011, 2012, and 2013 all 16 games of the Dallas Cowboys’ regular season mattered. That can not be said for any other team in the NFC East in any season. Each other team had a drop off season, or multiple seasons, where their fans did their Christmas shopping knowing full-well that the playoffs were mathematically impossible. Not the Cowboys.
Since the dawn of the Jason Garrett era the Dallas Cowboys have bested their division brethren. It should be noted here that the Super Bowl victory that the Giants had in 2011 is the ultimate trump card, but even then what the Cowboys have accomplished is untouched by the others.
Beyond the overall and division records the Cowboys, not factoring in the 2011 Giants run, have the lone playoff victory. The Giants haven’t been to the playoffs since 2011, the Redskins lost to the Seahawks in 2012, and the Eagles lost to the Saints in 2013… while the Cowboys bested the Lions in last year’s wildcard round.
The best regular season of all four teams, across all four seasons, also belongs to the Dallas Cowboys. Their 12-4 performance in 2014 is two games better than the next best, 10-6, that the Redskins had in 2012 and the Eagles did in 2013 and 2014. Not to mention that the 2014 Cowboys are tied for the best single season division record with the 2011 Eagles and 2012 Redskins at 5-1.
A lot has been said in terms of whether the Cowboys can repeat on their 2014 success. What you should take away from this is that in 2014 the Cowboys repeated on their 2011, 2012, and 2013 success. They have for four straight years continued on the path that they have methodically built.
The 2015 Dallas Cowboys season is 38 days away. Look forward to then as the Cowboys will pick up where they’ve left off for the last four years and continue to run the NFC East.
