National Football Conference East Division

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. The New York Giants replaced the Saints in 1968; the Giants took the place of the Saints permanently with the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, which led to the division's current name. With the merger, it also added the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite relocating to Arizona in 1988, the Cardinals continued to play in the NFC East until the 2002 re-alignment when they were moved to the NFC West. However, at the request of the Cardinals, the Cowboys and Cardinals continue to face each other on an annual basis in the preseason. The agreement was not honored in 2007 for undisclosed reasons.Fact|date=December 2007

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 Super Bowl appearances and eleven wins, the highest marks of any division in the NFL. Each of the current NFC East's four teams has won at least three NFL championships during their existence, however only Philadelphia has yet to win a championship in the Super Bowl era. Given the division members histories and intense rivalries, many sports analysts and fans regard the NFC East as the toughest division in the NFL. One possible peak of glory for the division came in the early 1990's, when the division claimed four consecutive Super Bowl champions, as the Cowboys won two and the Giants and Redskins took one each. During that same era, those same three teams won seven out of ten Super Bowls, from 1987-1996.

Division champions

As NFL Capitol Division

As NFC East

{| class="wikitable"
- bgcolor="#efefef"! Season !! Team !! Record !! Playoff Results
-
1970 || Dallas Cowboys || 10-4-2 || Lost Super Bowl V
-
1971 || Dallas Cowboys || 11-3-0 || Won Super Bowl VI
-
1972 || Washington Redskins || 11-3-0 || Lost Super Bowl VII
-
1973 || Dallas Cowboys || 10-4-0 || Lost NFC Championship Game
-
1974 || St. Louis Cardinals || 10-4-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1975 || St. Louis Cardinals || 11-3-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1976 || Dallas Cowboys || 11-3-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1977 || Dallas Cowboys || 12-2-0 || Won Super Bowl XII
-
1978 || Dallas Cowboys || 12-4-0 || Lost Super Bowl XIII
-
1979 || Dallas Cowboys || 11-5-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1980 || Philadelphia Eagles || 12-4-0 || Lost Super Bowl XV
-
1981 || Dallas Cowboys || 12-4-0 || Lost NFC Championship Game
-
1982* || Washington Redskins || 8-1-0 || Won Super Bowl XVII
-
1983 || Washington Redskins || 14-2-0 || Lost Super Bowl XVIII
-
1984 || Washington Redskins || 11-5-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1985 || Dallas Cowboys || 10-6-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1986 || New York Giants || 14-2-0 || Won Super Bowl XXI
-
1987 || Washington Redskins || 11-4-0 || Won Super Bowl XXII
-
1988 || Philadelphia Eagles || 10-6-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1989 || New York Giants || 12-4-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1990 || New York Giants || 13-3-0 || Won Super Bowl XXV
-
1991 || Washington Redskins || 14-2-0 || Won Super Bowl XXVI
-
1992 || Dallas Cowboys || 13-3-0 || Won Super Bowl XXVII
-
1993 || Dallas Cowboys || 12-4-0 || Won Super Bowl XXVIII
-
1994 || Dallas Cowboys || 12-4-0 || Lost NFC Championship Game
-
1995 || Dallas Cowboys || 12-4-0 || Won Super Bowl XXX
-
1996 || Dallas Cowboys || 10-6-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
1997 || New York Giants || 10-5-1 || Lost NFC Wild Card Playoffs
-
1998 || Dallas Cowboys || 10-6-0 || Lost NFC Wild Card Playoffs
-
1999 || Washington Redskins || 10-6-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
2000 || New York Giants || 12-4-0 || Lost Super Bowl XXXV
-
2001 || Philadelphia Eagles || 11-5-0 || Lost NFC Championship Game
-
2002 || Philadelphia Eagles || 12-4-0 || Lost NFC Championship Game
-
2003 || Philadelphia Eagles || 12-4-0 || Lost NFC Championship Game
-
2004 || Philadelphia Eagles || 13-3-0 || Lost Super Bowl XXXIX
-New England won Tom Brady MVP
2005 || New York Giants || 11-5-0 || Lost NFC Wild Card Playoffs
-
2006 || Philadelphia Eagles || 10-6-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs
-
2007 || Dallas Cowboys || 13-3-0 || Lost NFC Divisional Playoffs

###@@@KEYEND@@@###
* * 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; Washington had the best record of the division teams and won the Super Bowl

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. However, the Giants hold the better winning percentage (3-1, .750), followed by the Cowboys (5-3, .625), then the Redskins (3-2, .600). The Eagles are 0-2.

Wild Card qualifiers

:"Since 1970"
*1970 - "None"
*1971 - Washington Redskins
*1972 - Dallas Cowboys**
*1973 - Washington Redskins
*1974 - Washington Redskins
*1975 - Dallas Cowboys***
*1976 - Washington Redskins
*1977 - "None"
*1978 - Philadelphia Eagles
*1979 - Philadelphia Eagles
*1980 - Dallas Cowboys**
*1981 - New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles
*1982 - No Division (Just NFC Conference)*
*1983 - Dallas Cowboys
*1984 - New York Giants
*1985 - New York Giants
*1986 - Washington Redskins**
*1987 - "None"
*1988 - "None"
*1989 - Philadelphia Eagles
*1990 - Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins
*1991 - Dallas Cowboys
*1992 - Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins
*1993 - New York Giants
*1994 - "None"
*1995 - Philadelphia Eagles
*1996 - Philadelphia Eagles
*1997 - "None"
*1998 - Arizona Cardinals
*1999 - Dallas Cowboys
*2000 - Philadelphia Eagles
*2001 - "None"
*2002 - New York Giants
*2003 - Dallas Cowboys
*2004 - "None"
*2005 - Washington Redskins
*2006 - Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants
*2007 - New York Giants****, Washington Redskins

* - 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 NFC Championship (the 1972 and 1980 Dallas Cowboys lost to the Washington Redskins, and Philadelphia Eagles, while the 1986 Redskins lost to the New York Giants)
*** - advanced to that season's Super Bowl
**** - won that season's Super Bowl

Total playoff berths

{| class="wikitable"
- bgcolor="#efefef"! Team !! Division Titles !! Playoff Berths
-
Dallas Cowboys || 19 || 28
-
Philadelphia Eagles || 7 || 16
-
Washington Redskins || 6 || 15
-
New York Giants || 6 || 12
-
St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals¹ || 2 || 4
###@@@KEYEND@@@###¹ Known as the St. Louis Cardinals before 1988. Realigned to the NFC West during the 2002 NFL season.