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Photo: Brian Murphy, used with permission

Defining the NFC East

Greg Trippiedi opened a story a few days back with the question “what is NFC East football.” Something Madden said after the Redskins-Giants game last night gave an answer.

Big John alluded to the long term mutual animosity the rivals have for each other. So, while Redskins-Cowboys and Eagles-Giants might be “special” rivalries, the teams feel about the same towards every other East team. It’s as though every NFC East rival is an arch-rival.

That comes from long-term storied histories with accompanying long-term memories. We are talking about teams founded in the 1920s and ’30s; teams that have been in one location for most of their histories. New York [1925], Philadelphia [1933] and Dallas [1960] are in their founding locations. The Redskins moved to Washington from Boston in 1937.

NFC East football is more about the fans than the football. It’s about a fanbase that cheers for the team their grandfathers cheered for. You don’t just become fans of these teams. You are born into fan families.

Only the NFC North, with Chicago, Green Bay and Detroit, can claim the same. The Vikings entered the league in 1960 with the Cowboys.

As to NFC East-style football, it’s popularly thought to be run-oriented offenses with physical defenses that supposedly plays better in the damp, raw east coast December weather.

Like most stereotypes, it’s full of holes. The Eagles under Andy Reid are nothing but a passing team. The Dallas defense is as much finesse as physical. You can’t distinguish NFC East style from Pittsburgh, or Jacksonville, or any other team focused on fundamental football.

But, in the NFC East’s golden age from the early eighties to the mid-nineties, Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells produced hard-hitting, ball-controlling, stingy teams that cemented the image. In the nineties, Emmitt Smith was the spark plug of the Cowboys triplets.   

Between the 1982 and 1996 season, the NFC East appeared in nine Super Bowls, winning eight of them. The Super Bowl winner was either the San Francisco 49ers or whoever won the NFC East. There were two exceptions; the ‘85 Bad News Bears and the Raiders of Super Bowl XVIII. [We don’t discuss that one in my household.]
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Isn’t it interesting that the bottom two NFC East teams should rise up and slap around the division leaders in the same weekend?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, NFC East. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.