| Conference | National Football Conference |
|---|---|
| League | National Football League |
| Sport | American Football |
| Founded | 1967 |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Most recent champion(s) | New York Giants (8th title) |
| Most titles | Dallas Cowboys (21 titles) |
The NFC East is a division of the National Football League's National Football Conference. It currently has four members: the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys, and Washington Redskins.
The division was formed in 1967 as the National Football League Capitol Division, keeping with the theme of having all of the league's divisions starting with the letter "C." The division was so named because it was centered around the capital of the United States, Washington, DC. In 1967 and 1969 the teams in the NFL Capitol Division were Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington and the expansion New Orleans Saints, which had been replaced by the New York Giants for the 1968 season.
Although the St. Louis Rams are geographically farther east than Dallas, the Cowboys remained in the NFC East and the Rams stayed in the NFC West because of long-standing rivalries: the Cowboys with all three other teams in the East, and the Rams with the San Francisco 49ers in the West.
NFC East teams have a combined 19 NFC wins and eleven Super Bowl victories, the highest marks of any division in the NFL. Each of the current NFC East's four teams has won at least three NFL titles during their existence; however, only Philadelphia has yet to win a championship in the Super Bowl era. The division features a number of prominent rivalries such as the Cowboys–Redskins rivalry and Eagles–Giants rivalry. Because the division's teams are in some of the United States' largest media markets (New York No. 1, Philadelphia, No. 4, Dallas-Fort Worth No. 5, and Washington No. 8), the NFC East receives a high amount of coverage from national sports media outlets.[1] In the early 1990s the division claimed four consecutive Super Bowl champions, as the Cowboys won two and the Giants and Redskins took one each, all against the Buffalo Bills (those same three teams won seven out of ten Super Bowls, from 1987–1996).
ESPN's Chris Berman often calls this division the "NFC Patrick" due to its geographical similarity to the old Patrick Division of the NHL, now known as the Atlantic Division.
The Eagles are the only division team to play in the central city of their market:
All the AFC East teams also play in the suburbs (in fact, the New York Jets share a stadium with the Giants). The only team not from either East division to do so is the Arizona Cardinals, a former NFC East team now playing in the West (they originally played in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, but moved to another suburb, Glendale, in 2006).
Contents |
1967
The Eastern Conference respectively divided into the Capitol and Century Divisions. Dallas, Philadelphia, and Washington moved in. Also, New Orleans Saints are enfranchised.
1968
New York moved in from Century Division, New Orleans moved to Century Division as well.
1969
New York moved back to Century Division, New Orleans moved back from Century Division as well.
1970–1987
The Capitol Division became National Football Conference's East division (called "NFC East"). New Orleans moved to Coastal Division (renamed National Football Conference's West division, or NFC West for short), moved in from Century Division (renamed AFC Central) are N.Y. Giants and St. Louis.
1988–1993
St. Louis moved to Phoenix.
1994–2001
Phoenix Cardinals renamed Arizona Cardinals.
2002–present
Arizona moved to NFC West in 2002.
| Season | Team | Record | Playoff Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| NFL Capitol | |||
| 1967 | Dallas Cowboys | 9–5–0 | Lost NFL Championship |
| 1968 | Dallas Cowboys | 12–2–0 | Lost NFL Divisional Playoffs |
| 1969 | Dallas Cowboys | 11–2–1 | Lost NFL Divisional Playoffs |
The Philadelphia Eagles remain the only team in the NFC East not to win a Super Bowl. The Cowboys lead with five, followed by the Redskins and Giants, tied with three. In overall NFL history, however, the Giants lead with seven league championships, followed by the Redskins and Cowboys with five each, then the Eagles with three.
* – A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games. Thus, the league used a special 16-team playoff tournament just for this year. Division standings were ignored.
** – advanced to that season's NFC Championship Game (the Cowboys lost to the Washington Redskins in 1972 and to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1980; the 1986 Redskins lost to the New York Giants; and the 2008 Eagles lost to the Arizona Cardinals)
*** – advanced to that season's Super Bowl
**** – won that season's Super Bowl
| Team | Division Championships |
Playoff Berths |
Super Bowl Appearances |
Super Bowl Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Cowboys | 21 | 30 | 8 (V, VI, X, XII, XIII, XXVII, XXVIII, XXX) | 5 (VI, XII, XXVII, XXVIII, XXX) |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 8 | 19 | 2 (XV, XXXIX) | 0 |
| New York Giants | 8 | 15 | 4 (XXI, XXV, XXXV, XLII) | 3 (XXI, XXV, XLII) |
| Washington Redskins | 61 | 15 | 5 (VII, XVII, XVIII, XXII, XXVI) | 3 (XVII, XXII, XXVI) |
| St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
1 Even though the Redskins had the best record in 1982, the NFL ignored division champions because of the players' strike.
2 Known as the St. Louis Cardinals until 1987, and the Phoenix Cardinals from 1988 until 1993. These numbers only reflect the Cardinals' time as a member of the NFC East, as the team realigned to the NFC West before the 2002 season.
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