It may not take much to win the NFC East

Week 3 of the NFL season started Thursday night with an NFC East game that was almost as unwatchable as that penalty-filled, mistake-marred mess the Eagles and Cowboys staged four days earlier at Lincoln Financial Field.

We did at least learn one thing from the New York Giants' 32-21 win over Washington at the same stadium where the Eagles will attempt to save their season Sunday against the New York Jets: Washington remains the team most likely to finish at the bottom of the NFC East.

That coach Jay Gruden's team is no longer an overwhelming favorite to be the worst is simply a testament to how bad the NFC East appears to be. Lose to the Jets and start a season 0-3 for the first time in the 21st century, and the Eagles will likely battle to stay out of the basement all season long.

Under normal circumstances, Dallas would have taken early control with back-to-back division wins over the Giants and Eagles to start the season. But with Tony Romo out for the next seven games and Dez Bryant expected to sit the rest of September and possibly October, there's no telling what the Cowboys' record will be by the time they get to their Thanksgiving game against Carolina.

The schedule is not kind to the decimated Cowboys. Brandon Weeden, Romo's replacement at quarterback, faces Atlanta this week, and, like the Cowboys, the Falcons have already beaten the Eagles and Giants. The following week Dallas plays at New Orleans, and even though the Saints appear to be a team in decline it is still not easy to win in The Big Easy.

Home against New England, away against the Giants, and home against Seattle follows for Dallas before the Eagles get to play the Romo-less Cowboys Nov. 8. It's conceivable the Cowboys could go 2-5 in their seven games without Romo despite owner Jerry Jones' claim that "you won't see a more gifted passer" than Weeden.

The Giants, the first team in NFL history to open a season by blowing consecutive double-digit, fourth-quarter leads, nevertheless remain a viable contender. With Romo out, Eli Manning is unquestionably the best quarterback in the division. Unlike Dallas, the Giants do not have to play either Seattle or Green Bay. Still, the Giants have plenty of flaws.

That brings us to the Eagles. At 0-2, they might be the most disappointing team in the NFL. Coach Chip Kelly gave his team a face-lift because he did not think consecutive 10-6 seasons were good enough to get him where he wants to go.

The irony is that 9-7 might be good enough to win the NFC East in 2015.

It is too bad Pope Francis is not fielding questions from reporters during his visit to Philadelphia because it would be great to know how he felt about God's relationship with the Seattle Seahawks, the Green Bay Packers, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers.

In case you missed it, Rodgers mocked Wilson after the Packers' win Sunday night by saying, "I think God was a Packers fan tonight." That was in response to Wilson's claim that God had been a Seahawks fan last January when Seattle rallied for an NFC championship victory that did indeed appear to involve some kind of divine intervention.

"I don't think God cares a whole lot about the outcome," Rodgers said shortly after the NFC championship game on a Milwaukee radio show. "He cares about the people involved, but I don't think he's a football fan."

Wilson disagreed during media day at the Super Bowl.

"I think God cares about football," the Seahawks quarterback said. "I think God cares about everything he created."

We do know that Pope Francis cares a lot about football. He's a huge fan of Club Atletico San Lorenzo de Almagro, a premier league team in Pope Francis' native country of Argentina. Believe it or not, the New York Post reported last month that Donald Trump is trying to buy the South American soccer team.

God does work in mysterious ways.

According to ProFootballTalk.com, NFL teams received a memo recently urging them to refrain from making public statements about officiating. The memo warned that violators will be disciplined.

Hopefully the league also sent a memo to the officials telling them if they see something borderline it would be best to keep their flags stuffed in their pockets. The sea of yellow we are seeing in so many NFL games is becoming annoying and disrupting the flow of play.

You wouldn't expect a guy who cut his teeth as a defensive assistant to be the head coach who has decided that going for two early in games is better than settling for an extra point after a touchdown. That, however, is the path chosen by Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin. After each of the Steelers' first two scores last week against the 49ers, they passed for two points. Pittsburgh is 3 for 3 on two-point attempts and 7 for 7 the last two seasons. The rest of the league is 6 for 13 this season.

It seemed ridiculous when, at the start of training camp in 2005, Eagles coach Andy Reid led the injury report with punter Dirk Johnson's sports hernia rather than the gunshot wound to the stomach that defensive end Jerome McDougle had suffered the night before. On the other hand, at least Reid acknowledged it happened. You get the feeling that in a similar situation, Chip Kelly would tell us he had not heard anything about that, but he'd surely have an answer by the next day, week, month, or year.

Top Sunday early afternoon game: Cincinnati at Baltimore

The Ravens have never started a season 0-3, but they find themselves going against a hot team and a hot quarterback in their home opener. Cincinnati's Andy Dalton has thrown five touchdowns without an interception. Baltimore's Joe Flacco, on the other hand, has a 75.7 passer rating that is just slightly better than Sam Bradford's 72.3.

Top Sunday late afternoon game: San Francisco at Arizona

The high-flying Cardinals have put up a league-high 79 points, thanks in large part to the connection of 36-year-old Carson Palmer to 32-year-old Larry Fitzgerald. The 49ers looked terrific in their opener against Minnesota, but more like the team everyone expected in a lopsided loss at Pittsburgh.

Sunday night game: Denver at Detroit

Peyton Manning has looked pedestrian in the Broncos' first two games and has already been sacked seven times, but his team is 2-0. The Lions, meanwhile, will try to bounce back from consecutive road losses with a defense that is not nearly as ferocious without Ndamukong Suh.

Monday night game: Kansas City at Green Bay

The Chiefs are coming off an inexplicable fall-from-ahead home loss to Denver as Andy Reid returns to the place where his NFL coaching career started. Though the teams seldom play, the Chiefs have never lost at Lambeau Field, posting a 3-0-1 record at the NFL's most storied stadium.

bbrookover@phillynews.com

@brookob