Rich Breaks Down the 3-1 New York Giants’ Chances to Win the NFC East This Season

The NFC East is a mess, and the team sitting on top of it is quarterbacked by a guy who just named his own cover band.

Rich walked through the whole division on The Rich Eisen Show, starting with Philadelphia. The Eagles' offense has produced "nothing but bagels" after halftime the last two weeks. Against the Rams, Jalen Hurts hit season lows in targets, completions, yards and first downs when throwing to running backs and tight ends. With Saquon Barkley and Dallas Goedert both out, Goedert before the game and Barkley as soon as it began, those looks went to Tank Bigsby and a freshly re-signed Zach Ertz. For the second straight week, Hurts had zero first downs targeting those positions. DeVonta Smith was out as well.

The result: a 2-2 team with two losses in six days, to the Bears and the Rams, two teams Rich suggested "might wind up playing each other in the NFC Championship game."

Dallas, meanwhile, has GOTI. Rich cannot get enough of it, partly because the Cowboys nicknamed themselves "before playing a down," and partly because it reminds him of his old SportsCenter home run call. The Cowboys took care of business, bouncing back in an aggressive manner after the way things ended in Rio.

In Washington, Marcus Mariota managed only two field goals before getting sacked in the red zone and not returning, and Jayden Daniels is in a hoodie with a brace visible on his non-throwing arm. At 1-2, the Commanders get the team in first place next.

That is the 3-1 New York Giants, and Rich's first question was the right one. "What to make of John Harbaugh's reimagined New York Giants?"

Fully healthy in week one, they took care of the Cowboys and looked like the better team. Then in the week two Monday nighter in Los Angeles, Jaxson Dart was moving the offense "until his left knee moved in a way that was highly unnatural." That was it for him for the season. Jameis Winston looked so out of sorts that the Giants traded draft capital for J.J. McCarthy. Winston stuck in there anyway, held on in the rain at MetLife against Tennessee, and then looked better in week four.

He found Malik Nabers, who "showed up and showed out" with six catches on seven targets for 112 yards and a touchdown, his first 100-yard receiving game since week two of last season.

Then there was the reporter who asked Winston what it is like being a backup trying to get reps. "I'm not the backup here anymore," Winston answered. Rich's translation: "I'm the captain now."

After beating the Cardinals, Winston delivered the quote that launched a band name. "I'm heating up, and I'm starting to get better, better and better," he said. "Last week, I was questioned if I could even throw. This week, I got people talking about the Jameis Winston experience again."

So who opens for the Jameis Winston Experience? Rich had it: "The JJ McCarthy Nine."

The undercard is just as good. Rich noted the league nearly got Winston versus Mariota, a 2015 draft reunion. Instead the Giants may see Athan Kaliakmanis, the kid from Rutgers who came off the bench "just launching bombs." He hit two throws of 40 or more air yards, and the show's researcher found that only one other quarterback, Tyler Shough, has two such completions this season. Kaliakmanis did it in one game. Washington had two all of last season, one by Daniels and one by Mariota. He also threw the first touchdown pass by a Rutgers quarterback since Mike McMahon in 2005.

Rich mapped out the path. The Giants could be 4-1. Then the Saints come in, and Rich remembered Winston telling a team in New Orleans "we're going to eat the W." Then a trip to Houston. "What if they're five and one going into that game?" The defense also earned praise: against an Arizona team that can score, the Giants "bent but didn't break" and took Trey McBride out of the game. And on Arizona's final snap, with no time left, Jacoby Brissett threw a pick six. "They are what they are. They're three and one."

But asked who the favorite is, Rich did not hesitate. "Cowboys." He picked them before the season, and he thinks the Giants, Jameis Winston Experience or not, will have trouble keeping pace with Dallas on the scoreboard. The good news for New York: the Giants have one win over Dallas in the pocket, so a Cowboys win in the rematch only means a split.

The Eagles as a slight favorite on the odds? Rich does not get it. "They're banged up, man." The offensive line is not the same, and that is what "makes an offensive coordinator look clueless and a quarterback look ineffective and a head coach look like he's sitting on a seat that gets hot." He stopped short of writing Philadelphia off, because "when you think they're out, he pulls you back in." But if the players are hurt, "it opens the door for the Giants to walk through."

And the Giants' two meetings with Philadelphia carry a Harbaugh storyline. John Harbaugh got his start on Andy Reid's staff in Philadelphia, which is where the Ravens found him as special teams coordinator. The Giants play at Philly in week nine and host the Eagles at the end of the season.

"Oh my goodness gracious," Rich said. "Oh my word."