Top five reasons Washington Football Team will win the NFC East
Forget Washington’s 20-19 loss against the New York Giants on Sunday. Forget that Ron Rivera’s squad still has the undefeated Steelers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the San Francisco 49ers ahead on their schedule, by far some of the toughest teams any of the NFC East hopefuls have to face down the stretch this season.
The Washington Football Team is going to win the NFC East and make the playoffs for these key reasons:
- They’re the most complete team
Washington’s roster is for all intents and purposes, the best in the NFC East currently. They have a breakout star out wide in second-year wide receiver Terry McLaurin, an improving offensive line, ascending young running back in Antonio Gibson, and a dominant front-seven led by young bookend pass rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat along with Da’Ron Payne and Jonathan Allen.
Sure, Dallas has star power on offense with Amari Cooper, Ezekiel Elliot and CeeDee Lamb. But the offensive line isn’t what it used to be and the coaching has completely cancelled out the talent on the Cowboys’ roster.
The Giants have put together some young talent on defense, but they’re mostly unproven.
Carson Wentz is a one-man show for the Eagles as they prove time and time again they can’t stay healthy.
At key positions, Washington has the best roster in the division and that’s a big part of why they’re right in the mix to win it. Perhaps not as big a part as this, however.
2. The division is AWFUL
The NFC East is terrible, that’s no secret at this point. This team has been no exception so far.
Washington has cycled through what will be 3 starting quarterbacks when Alex Smith takes the field against the Lions this Sunday. The wide receivers outside of McLaurin have underwhelmed most of the season. They’ve lost key players in the secondary. They’ve been swept by the New York Giants.
Even though they’ve started 2-6 and Washington is still only one-and-a-half games back of the Eagles for the lead in the division.
Nine weeks into the season, the NFC East only has two wins outside the division. The team that wins the presumptive No. 4 seed in the NFC is going come down to who can come out with victories against divisional opponents, which brings us to our next point.
3. They’ve Proven They Can Beat the Eagles
Washington’s 27-17 Week 1 win over Philadelphia is arguably the highlight of their entire season (some would argue smacking the Cowboys around was more thrilling).
The win might also be one of the most important, as the Football Team is the only rival to knock off the defending NFC East champions so far this season.
Young and the Washington front 7 gave the Eagles offensive line fits in the opening week and as a whole, the Football Team matches up its strengths with a lot of Philly’s weaknesses.
Washington still has another matchup with the Eagles in the season finale and as the only team in the division to beat Philly so far this season, there’s no reason to think Washington can’t do it again in a game that could wind up deciding the division crown in Week 17.
4. Their Next Three-Game Stretch
For all the tough matchups Washington has to end the year, their next three games are all very winnable.
First up is a 3-5 Detroit Lions team on Sunday who on a two-game losing streak, then a rookie quarterback led 2-5 Cincinnati Bengals, followed by the awful 2-7 Cowboys who Washington just dominated 25-3 all in consecutive weeks.
The Lions can score points, the Cowboys still have plenty of offensive weapons and Joe Burrow looks like a budding star for the Bengals, but make no mistake, Washington is the best of this group of football teams.
This is a stretch where a team with any hopes of making the playoffs needs to go 3-0. And Washington will, largely because…
5. They Have the Best Quarterback in the Division
Alex Smith did not play his best football against the Giants, in his most extended action since returning from his gruesome leg injury that sidelined him since 2018. But he did what Washington’s quarterbacks have struggled to do the majority of this season, and moved the ball for the team.
Despite the uncharacteristic turnovers and lacking some talent on offense, Washington looked like a competent NFL offense and Smith elevated the play of the team around him almost instantly.
To this point, a lack of offense has been Washington’s biggest problem and has probably cost them a win or two. Smith won’t turn Washington into the Kansas City Chiefs overnight, but they’ll be efficient, gain some first downs, score points and rest the hyper-talented players on defense by staying on the field longer.
None of that alone says that Alex Smith is the best quarterback in the NFC East, but look at what he has to compete with.
Dak Prescott is out for the season for the Cowboys and Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci and Garrett Gilbert have struggled to replace him. The Giants are handcuffed to Daniel Jones, who has proven he can’t stop turning the ball over and often single-handedly loses games for New York.
Carson Wentz is objectively a good player and more talented than Smith, but also clearly regressing because of the lack of support around him, as evidenced by his league-leading 12 interceptions.
The 15-year veteran Smith is the oldest of the division’s QBs, but also has proven he has a high-caliber ceiling he can tap into, with 26 touchdowns to just 5 picks in his last full season (2017).
If Smith can even somewhat resemble that player in his historic comeback season, he’ll easily be the best quarterback in the worst division in football; and the reason why Washington hosts a playoff game in January.
