NFC East Struggles, Injuries Put NFL TV Schedule In Spotlight

NFC East’s Sidelined Standouts

Following the Giants’ week one win, the team lost quarterback Jaxson Dart for the season the next week vs. the Rams, and then linebacker Brian Burns’s season ended against the Titans. Those absences haven’t prevented them from beating a scuffling Tennessee team or the last-place Cardinals. But the schedule will also get harder.

For Washington, their week four game in London against the Colts was mostly quarterbacked by third-stringer Athan Kaliakmanis. Starter Jayden Daniels has been out since week two, and the Commanders lost experienced backup Marcus Mariota to an early injury vs. Indianapolis.

Wideout Terry McLaurin also sat last week, as did running back Rachaad White. And Washington lost receiver and return man Jaylin Lane for the season as well. The season now potentially rides on if and when Daniels returns healthy.

The Eagles haven’t had QB issues, but have lost numerous key players for stretches already, including Saquon Barkley, Dallas Goedert, Devonta Smith, Lane Johnson (now retired), Zack Braun and Tank Bigsby.

Primetime Possibilities

Those absences – and others – don’t assure losses (just ask the Giants). But they certainly don’t help matters against better foes in key spots (also ask the Giants, who dropped a 28-6 Monday night game to the Rams after losing Dart while Malik Nabers was also hobbled).

For the rest of October alone, the four NFC East teams will play in four different primetime games (including one intra-divisional matchup). November’s Sunday night slate kicks off with the Eagles and Commanders, a week and a half before Washington visits the Giants on a Thursday night – and the Commanders will also host a Monday night game the week of Thanksgiving.

While not a primetime game, Thanksgiving Day will feature the Eagles against the Cowboys. The week of Christmas features three different primetime NFC East games (none against each other). And the first Sunday night game of 2027 will see the Eagles travel to San Francisco.

Adding everything up, the four teams in the division have at least 15 primetime games remaining, with some of those featuring two NFC East opponents. And there could be more still added to that list depending on how the Saturday flex dates sort out as well.

Does It Matter For TV?

Crucially, a lesser win-loss quality of teams is not necessarily lowering the floor for TV audiences during NFL games at this point in time, even if a game including two great teams has the chance to increase the ceiling.

For instance, last week’s Thursday night game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns drew 16.59 million viewers according to Amazon – and that was a 19% jump compared to last year’s week four Thursday nighter, despite neither team being an overly exciting watch (though admittedly, it was a close rivalry game and the Browns are a surprising 3-1 so far).

But if that’s what a lesser (2-2) Steelers team and a questionable Browns team can pull while streaming in primetime with smaller TV markets and potentially smaller fan bases than those NFC East teams, it’s no surprise that the league and its media partners are happy to keep banking on the NFC East clubs.

The questions will come if the division’s relative mediocrity so far becomes a full-season problem for all four teams.

Should that happen while other unexpected stories rise to the top, it could lead to primetime duds. Or more likely, multiple games (non-holiday matchups, anyway) could find themselves flexed out of primetime.

That has the most potential impact on Sunday Night Football, though NFL scheduling procedures also allow it to happen to some Thursday (twice in weeks 13-17) and Monday night games (no limit, weeks 12-17) as well.

Significant impact on those weeknight games could play real havoc with fans’ plans, even if it winds up potentially yielding better primetime TV products.

The state of the NFC East may not change significantly in the coming weeks, either. Philadelphia, New York and Washington all play divisional foes in three of the next six games, and those are largely surrounded by tougher non-divisional opponents as well. Dallas, meanwhile, plays one divisional game (the Eagles), but also faces the 49ers in that six-game stretch.