There are three elite teams in the NFC this season, and two of them reside in the NFC East. While there is still three quarters of the season to go, it would be something of a shock if the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys or San Francisco 49ers don’t represent the NFC in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas in early February.
Apologies to the Detroit Lions, who have made great strides this season and could present a challenge to any of the elite teams.
The Eagles may be the most mysterious of the best teams in the NFC, because they have a perfect 4-0 record but their play has often been rather inconsistent.
They have struggled in 3 of their 4 victories, and they could have lost the season opener against the Patriots or their Week 4 game against the Commanders. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, who was a revelation last year, has not had the same impact this season. Hurts is the 12th-ranked quarterback in the NFL with 959 passing yards and he has an ordinary 5-3 touchdown to interception ratio.
Wide out A.J. Brown is a powerful pass catcher who can be difficult to bring down after the catch. He has 29 receptions for 414 yards and 7 plays of 20 yards or more. Running back D’Andre Swift has rushed for 364 yards and an eye-catching 6.2 yards per carry.
Even though Hurts, Brown and Swift can all dominate, the Eagles offense has not put it together yet. The same holds for the defense, which may be the most talented unit in the league. The Eagles rank 16th with 323.8 yards allowed per game. Stars like Fletcher Cox and Haason Reddick need to do a lot more at this point.
The Cowboys have looked like world beaters in three of their first four games, as they have overpowered the Giants, Jets and Patriots. However, they took the Cardinals for granted in Week 3 and suffered an embarrassing loss in that game.
The Cowboys have gamebreakers on defense in Micah Parsons, Leighton Vander Esch and DaRon Bland, but is Dak Prescott an elite-level quarterback? He has a pair of game breaking receivers in CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks as well as a solid running game, but Prescott has the tendency to turn the ball over.
Prescott has only thrown one interception to this point after tossing 15 last year, and he may have overcome this issue. However, it will take more than four games to prove that is the case.
The 49ers are the best and most consistent team in the NFL to this point in the season. They have remarkable depth at the impact positions, as they have already survived injuries to wideouts Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk in winning all four of their games.
Brock Purdy continues to write a brilliant story, and he is completing 72.3 percent of his passes for 1,019 yards with 5 TDs and 0 interceptions. Running back Christian McCaffrey looks like a legitimate MVP candidate and George Kittle may be the best tight end in the NFL not dating Taylor Swift.
The San Francisco defense ranks fifth in the league while giving up 284.3 yards per game and they have a pair of dominant linebackers in Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw who are both punishing tacklers. Nick Bosa can be a game-changing pass rusher and cornerback Charvarius Ward (4 passes defensed and 1 interception) is one of the best cover men in the league.
The Niners have been the best team in the NFL through 4 weeks, as the only game they have been pushed hard came in their Week 2 30-23 victory over surprising Rams.
The Niners host the Cowboys in Week 5, and that will be an early-season Game of the Year. It will provide a preview of how the NFC’s elite teams will fare throughout the rest of the season, and it is clearly a can’t miss encounter.
