Every division in the NFL sends at least one team to the playoffs but, after an embarrassing showing in Week 5, it’s hard to say that anyone from the NFC East deserves it.
No team in the NFC East was able to pick up a win in Week 5 despite the odds.
One team lost at home to a winless team with an undrafted QB, another lost despite taking the lead with eight seconds left and the two other teams faced each other – and each blew it in OT.
This past Thursday, the Cowboys got things going in the wrong direction.
Dallas seemingly had no answers on defence – an all-too-common occurrence – against a Jalon Daniels, who was making his second career NFL start.
Last year, the Cowboys defence ranked historically bad and, despite making near wholesale changes, is now even worse. Per NFL analyst Aaron Schatz, the 2025 Cowboys had the third-worst defence by DVOA since 1977 at 22.7%. Through five games this season, they’re at 24.8%.
In the words of that unidentified employee in the bowels of AT&T Stadium: “Embarrassing.”
Onto the Eagles, who not only took over the spotlight of shame from Dallas, but snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the Jags in London.
Despite kicking off with eight seconds remaining in their game after taking a 17-16 lead, the Eagles still managed to blow it.
Ameer Abdullah returned the kickoff to the Eagles’ 39-yard line, which happened to be the absolute perfect spot. If he ran a couple of yards further, time may have expired. If he was stopped short, the field goal attempt would’ve been that much harder.
It’s hard to pin blame on anyone other than the players who failed to make the tackle, but that plane ride home must’ve been a brutal one.
Who blew it worse in OT: Giants or Commanders?
Rarely do you see a game in which both teams completely blow it in overtime, as the Giants and Commanders did.
The Giants already had gotten the ball into field-goal range when running back Cam Skattebo had a bone-headed blunder, fumbling the ball at a time when victory had almost assuredly been sealed.
But, having been given that lifeline, the Commanders completely fumbled it in their own bone-headed way.
Perhaps unaware of how overtime works in the NFL, star quarterback Jayden Daniels scrambled with the ball with just seconds remaining and then, instead of showing any urgency to spike the ball, let the clock expire for a tie.
No one has seemingly taken real blame for the mix-up, but it’s the type of situation that will be remembered every time fans see that last ‘one’ in their record.
And Micah Parsons – who excelled under Dan Quinn while they were both in Dallas – has thrown Daniels under the bus this week, as have many others.
But while Quinn reportedly isn’t on the hot seat right now, it has to be getting very warm after that sort of showing against a division rival.
And with the Commanders’ record of 1-3-1 and the next portion of the schedule looking very daunting, we wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some sort of move made.
What trends should we be watching?
It should come as absolutely no surprise that the Rams cut kicker Harrison Mevis the day after he had his overtime field goal attempt blocked against the Bills. With a career-long of just 52 yards, that doesn’t cut it in today’s NFL.
Perhaps the funnier bit is the player that L.A. brought in to replace him: Blake Grupe. You see, Mevis tipped the scales at 243 pounds while Grupe stands just 5-foot-7 and weighs in at 156 pounds.
Elsewhere in overtime mishaps, thanks to Tua Tagovailoa’s blunder, the Falcons made some unfortunate history on Sunday night.
Atlanta became the first team in NFL to have four different QBs throw an interception in a season, with Tagovailoa joining Cooper Rush, Jack Strand and Michael Penix Jr.
Even worse: Each of the Falcons QBs threw a pick within their first 10 attempts.
It’s getting harder and harder to defend Justin Herbert and the Chargers for their awful start to the season. Herbert has statistically gotten off to the worst start to a season in his career, putting up a passer rating of just 70.2 through five weeks. His previous worst start came last year, when he posted a passer rating of 91.2.
The Chargers reportedly aren’t entertaining any sort of trade rumours involving the QB, but something clearly has to change.
One QB that certainly has fully turned things around is Drake Maye. After all that huffing and puffing over his terrible start to the season, the NFL runner-up has now posted massive numbers in the Patriots’ past two wins, throwing for 643 yards and seven TDs.