How the NFC East is won by the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 18

Before the Philadelphia Eagles took on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17, the situation was clear: victory would put them in control of their own destiny in the NFC East going into the last week of the regular season, regardless of what the Dallas Cowboys did.

However, the Cardinals, who had only three victories all season going into the game, refused to comply.

Arizona upset the defending NFC champions 29-10 in the last two quarters to win an unlikely

35-31, upending Philly’s hopes of securing the No. 2 seed in the conference. Arizona trailed 21-6 at the half, but never gave up.

Even though Dallas and Philadelphia have identical 11-5 records going into Week 18,

the Cowboys lead the NFC East because they had the advantage in the fourth

tiebreaker—which accounts for conference records—between the two teams. Against NFC opponents, Dallas is 8-3, while Philadelphia is 7-4.

Head-to-head record, division record, and record in common games played

were the first three tiebreakers, and they were all decided by ties.

And that is bad news for the Eagles because, going into Week 18, the

Cowboys are now in charge of their own fate in the division. However, there is still hope for Nick Sirianni’s team.

As Philadelphia recently discovered, nothing is certain in the NFL.

Let’s examine what must occur on Sunday in order for the Eagles to win the NFC East.

Let’s take ties out of the picture for a second: the Eagles must defeat the

New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon in order to win the NFC East for the second time in a row. A loss gives Dallas the division.

Barely two weeks ago on Christmas Day, Philly defeated New York 33-25 in their first encounter.

The awful news is as follows. The Eagles will also need the Cowboys to

lose to the Washington Commanders in order to win, which could be difficult given that Ron Rivera and company haven’t triumphed since Week 9. That too was in opposition to the New England Patriots.

Thus, things aren’t exactly great for Philadelphia.

To bring ties back into the picture, these are the two scenarios in which the Eagles win the NFC East.

Eagles defeat the Giants + Cowboys either lose or draw with the Commanders, OR Eagles defeat the Giants + Cowboys fall short against the Commanders

With the Cowboys only 3-5 on the road compared to 8-0 at the welcoming confines of AT&T Stadium, Philadelphia’s sole hope is that they are playing away from home.

The NFC East champion will earn the No. 2 seed in the conference going into the NFL Playoffs, regardless of whether club wins the division. The runner-up moves up to the No. 5 spot and will face the NFC South victor on the road to start the postseason.

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