With six games left in the NFL regular season, the NFC East is officially a two-horse race between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, and there's a pretty good chance the loser of that race will miss out on the playoffs altogether.
So let's take a look at the remaining schedules for each team and try to project each team's close to the season and who will come out on top in the division and clinch a playoff berth and a home playoff game.
Cowboys: at New York Giants (3-7); vs. Philadelphia (7-3); at Chicago (4-6); at Philadelphia (7-3); vs. Indianapolis (6-4); at Washington (3-7).
Eagles: vs. Tennessee (2-7); at Dallas (7-3); vs. Seattle (6-4); vs. Dallas (7-3); at Washington (3-7); at New York (3-7).
Each team has four division games remaining, including two in three weeks against each other in a bit of a scheduling oddity. The games against the Redskins and Giants have to be wins for either team to stay alive in the hunt, and the Cowboys' game in the Meadowlands next week against the Giants would be a bit scarier if the Cowboys weren't coming off a bye.
The real wild card here is the Cowboys' Thursday night game at Chicago in a couple of weeks to close out a three games in 12 days stretch. If the Cowboys see the Bears team of most of the season, they'll be fine. If they see the Bears from Sunday and from early in the season, it'll be tough. Assuming Dallas and Philly split their two games, I'm going to project the Cowboys beat the Colts at home and go 5-1 down the stretch, while the eagles will lose to Dallas and Seattle to finish 4-2.
If that happens, of course, the Cowboys were finish the season 12-4, which would be pretty amazing. They'd win the NFC East, likely get a first-round bye depending on tiebreakers with Green Bay, and either way would host a playoff game.
