The National Football League NFC East is having a garage sale this week. You know what a garage sale is, that is when bargain hunters pick over items you saved to buy new and sent in warranty cards for that are now strewn about on your driveway and priced at two dollars.
One of the items that has lost all value are the Dallas Cowboys, who you might have seen on Monday night look like pedestrians on a busy freeway as the visiting Arizona Cardinals mowed them down, 38-10. The Cowboys looked horrible, absorbed their fourth loss in six starts, and are still looking for their first point spread win.
Well, those same Cowboys are leading the NFC East standings … and they are not underdogs this week when they battle another National Football Conference East team, the Washington Redskins, at FedExField. The Redskins upset the Philadelphia Eagles on opening day, their only win of the season, and the Eagles are, you guessed it, another NFC East patsy.
To complete this NFC East round robin we have the Eagles hosting the New York Giants tonight as the NFL kicks off their seventh week of regular season action.
The Giants got their first win of the season, and you know it had to come against an NFC East opponent, when they beat the Redskins last week at home, 20-19. The game ended with Washington attempting a two point conversion in a desperate attempt to win their second game of the season, which, right again, failed.
Only the Dallas Cowboys have won more than one game in this division race that will rekindle conversations about how a team with a winning record in one division can miss the playoffs, when a team with a losing mark, but a division title, can advance. Consider this, no team in the NFC West has a losing mark and the defending conference champions are in last place. If the playoffs started today, the Los Angeles Rams, who have a winning mark and beat the Cowboys on opening day, wouldn’t participate in the postseason and Dallas would.
Now, every team knows the rules before the season begins, and division winners deservedly earn a postseason slot … but if the current trend continue for the rest of the season, well you can hear the barking from the crowd.
Okay, let’s see if there are any bargains at the garage sale worth our bucks?
Well, this is interesting, the Eagles are favored over the Giants in their home game tonight. The reason they are favored is because, wait for it, because somebody has to be if it isn’t a pick ‘em game, like the Cowboys at Washington is on Sunday.
Points alone is not a reason to back a team, and often not a bargain. But here, we’ve got a very interesting trend that makes this an item worth considering at full price.
The Eagles were installed last Sunday as a 6½ point favorite, and the wise guys swooped in on the books like the Swallows will return to Capistrano this week. Their heavy action on the underdog Giants drove the line down to 3½ points, which was an alarm bell for the general public to fly with the Eagles at the reduced spread.
The public is backing Philadelphia at a 70% clip, exactly opposite of what they did last week when they bet against Carson Wentz’s team before they covered the spread against the Baltimore Ravens.
Poor public, whipsawed by the Eagles two weeks in a row, and still looking for a garage sale bargain.
Problem is, sometimes when an item looks like a bargain in a driveway, it doesn’t work when you bring it home. I am tempted to take the visitors with the points tonight, but I have noticed that even the wise guys have dropped out of this competition. I’m joining them while making this contest for viewing only … and given which teams are in action, that is a debatable decision.
We are using the mute button on this NFC East matchup.