A pause for some consideration

We are all excited about the Giants first half, but we should probably moderate our glee with some analysis.

Everyone is pumping up the NFC East as the best division in football and touting the Giants as the best team in that toughest division. On the surface there is reason to accept the strength of the division; the cumulative record of the NFC East against the rest of the league is 18-6 which by any leasure is pretty impressive. However, we should take a look under the numbers, since your record is always determined by the quality of your opponents. This year, the NFC East is playing the pitiful NFC West. The NFC West is a division that has the Cardinals sitting on top at 5-3 and every other team in the division: Rams, Seahawks and 49ers are a miserable 2-6. The NFC East also plays the AFC North this year which has two good teams at the top in the Steelers and the Ravens but has two very beatable teams at the bottom in the Browns and the Bengals. I am not saying that those other divisions are like playing Pop Warner football, but the record of that NFC East might be slightly inflated and would not seem as powerful if the the opponents were, for example the NFC South and the AFC South this year.

In particular, while the Giants played poorly and lost to the Browns, they have cleaned up against the NFC West and have 3 of their 7 victories against the 2-6 teams in that division. Giants have beaten the Steelers, Redskins and Cowboys, three teams that are over .500, but the tough part of the schedule is coming up and duplicating their first half 7-1 record over the second half of the schedule is extremely unlikely for the Giants.