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Could be a six-game season for the Eagles & rest of the NFC East

Quick thought exercise. . .

How many of these games do the Redskins win? Vs. Steelers, at Lions, at Bengals, vs. Packers, at Cardinals, vs. Panthers.

The Lions, perhaps? Any others? If they lose five of them, that puts them three losses away from 8-8, and that's before we even consider their two other non-division road games (in Baltimore and Chicago), plus a home game against the Vikings.

I bring this up not to bury the Redskins, but to remind myself that everything we've spent the last month projecting will not happen in a vacuum. It will happen in the context of the NFC East. And that's as big of a reason as any to think that this Eagles season might not be dead on arrival.

Granted, Doug Pederson and the gang don't have an easy go of it either. They essentially play the same slate of games as Washington. They host the Falcons instead of the Panthers and they travel to Seattle instead of Arizona. But even if they lose the same number of non-conference games as the Redskins, that's kind of the point. In that scenario, it's s six-game season for a playoff berth. And all of us have watched this division long enough to understand that anything can happen in those six games.

The Giants have the most favorable schedule: at Green Bay and at Pittsburgh look like losses. A home game against the Bengals will be a tough win. Otherwise, they play the Rams in London, the 49ers in San Francisco, at the Browns, at the Vikings and host games against the Saints, Ravens, Bears and Lions. If there's a runaway winner in the NFC East this year, it has to be the Giants, no?

You might've had the Cowboys as a possibility before you found out Tony Romo could miss half the season. Even with Romo, a home game against the Bengals and road games in Green Bay and Pittsburgh would've been tough. Now, it's tough to know what to think about any of it, even Weeks 3 and 4, when they host the Bears and then travel to San Francisco.

Cowboys before the bye: vs. Giants, at Redskins, vs. Bears, at Niners, vs. Bengals, at Packers.

Cowboys after the bye: vs. Eagles, at Browns, at Steelers, vs. Ravens, vs. Redskins, at Vikings, at Giants, vs. Bucs, vs. Lions, at Eagles.

As we turn our attention toward the regualar season, I have the Giants as my favorite. But they went 6-10 last year, so I'm not sure we should be penciling them to win any of these games. One thing is clear, though: while there is plenty of reason to be pessimistic about the Eagles' chances for a playoff berth, given what we seem to know about the roster, there is also some reason for hope, given what we know about the rest of the division.