The joke has gone it for years. “But your team plays in the NFC Least”. The NFC East is now reliving their glory years when they dominated the NFL. It took some time but the Least is now the Beast.

Name another division in the NFL that can proudly say they don’t have a team with a losing record. The Dallas Cowboys are 8-1, Washington Redskins are 5-3-1, the New York Giants are 5-3-1 and the Philadelphia Eagles are 5-4. This was not expected, especially from a division with two rookie QB’s and an abundance of youth at the skill positions.

What the Cowboys have done is outstanding. The have one of the best young signal-callers in the league and the NFL’s leading rusher. The Giants still have 2-time Super Bowl winner Eli Manning leading the charge and despite a porous ground game, find themselves in the playoff hunt. The Redskins may be the vets of the division but even with an inconsistent Kirk Cousins under center, he has managed to keep them above .500.

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But, how did this happen?

It didn’t happen overnight. All four teams came to be who they are by taking different paths. The Cowboys got lucky. The Eagles were smart. The Giants showed patience and the Redskins took a gamble. Look at the play of their QB’s. While three are still somewhat unproven , they have shown the ability to win in hostile environments and be the leaders their teams need. Two of the teams has a strong ground game and for the Giants and Redskins, they have pass catchers that more than pick up for the slack.

Stats aside, their biggest strengths is what they have done outside of the division. The NFC East is a combined 8-1-1 against the AFC. If either one of these teams were to make it to the Super Bowl, the safe bet would be to pick one of these four teams. If home field advantage eans anything in the NFL then all teams must stay clear of playing in either of the team’s stadiums. The East is a combined 13-4 at home, two of the top 5 offenses, and two top 10 defenses. But, all the talk may is focused on the success of the New England Patriots and the decline on the Carolina Panthers while the East has been the forgotten story.

Why all the silence?