NFC East makes history with back-to-back winless weeks

The NFC East has traditionally been the marquee division in the NFL with established big brands with histories of success.

The division that features Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington and the New York Giants is the only one in the league where all four teams have won a Super Bowl, with its 14 combined titles being four more than the next best division.

But no division has ever had a two-week run as bad as the NFC East.

None of the teams in the division have won a game the past two weeks, marking the first time ever that every team in a division played in back-to-back weeks and none won. Making that feat even more unlikely is the fact that Washington played the Giants in Week 5 but that game ended in a tie, leaving no winner and contributing to the 0-6-2 mark the past two weeks.

All four teams lost this week, with Dallas losing to Green Bay, Philadelphia to Carolina and New York to New Orleans on Sunday, and Washington against San Francisco on Monday night. That left the Giants in first place with a 3-2-1 record.

It marked the 51st time since the 2002 realignment when all four teams in a division lost in the same week and the seventh for the NFC East. The NFC West has the most 0-4 weeks in that span with 10, while the AFC East and West have the fewest with two each.

In all, NFC East teams are 5-11 in non-division gams with the .313 winning percentage matching the AFC South for the lowest in the league.

There are 16 teams with winning records through six weeks, including all eight teams in the NFC and AFC North. Those two are the only divisions since realignment to finish a season with all four teams posting winning records. The NFC North did it last season and the AFC North in 2023.

NFC North teams are 13-3 (.813) in non-division games to tie for the second-best record through six weeks in non-division games since 2002, behind the 2007 AFC South (11-2, .846).

Two-way Travis Hunter reaches end zone

Jacksonville’s Travis Hunter showed off his two-way prowess in London.

After playing almost exclusively on defense the first five games, Hunter made a big contribution at receiver against Houston with four catches for 59 yards and a touchdown to go along with an interception on defense.

Hunter became the first player since Brian Dawkins on Sept. 29, 2002, also against Houston, with a touchdown catch and an interception in the same game. Only three other players have done that in the Super Bowl era, with Keyshawn Johnson doing it in a 1998 divisional round playoff game against Jacksonville, Roy Green in 1981 against Washington and Jim Houston in 1966 against Philadelphia.

It was far more common in the pre-Super Bowl era with the feat happening 53 times from 1948-65.

Brock Purdy hits top spot in career passer rating

Brock Purdy officially took over the top spot for career passer rating in the NFL.

Purdy passed the 1,500 attempt threshold to qualify for career leaderboards on Monday night and has a 105.6 passer rating to top previous leader Lamar Jackson’s 102.7.

The passer rating stat was created in the 1970s to create a single number to grade quarterbacks from different eras. The rating uses four statistics — completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown passes and interceptions — to give a number on a scale of 0 to 158.3.

The rating favors more modern quarterbacks as the current style of play has led to a higher completion percentage and far fewer interceptions than when the stat was created.

Only one of the top 25 current players on the leaderboard — Hall of Famer Steve Young — began his career more than 30 years ago, with players such as Jimmy Garoppolo and Tua Tagovailoa ranking ahead of all-time greats such as Joe Montana and Dan Marino.

Cardinals find their home away from home

The Arizona Cardinals feel right at home at SoFi Stadium.

After getting their first win of the season on the road in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Cardinals got win No. 2 on Sunday against the Rams in their return to the Los Angeles area.

Arizona became the second team to win two road games at SoFi in the same season with Seattle also doing it in 2022. While the Cardinals are 2-0 there, the Rams and Chargers have combined for a 1-5 record, with the Rams having the only other win in Week 2 against the New York Giants.

The Cardinals became the 29th team to win two road games in the same stadium in a regular season with the other 27 coming against the New York Giants and Jets at Shea Stadium, Giants Stadium and MetLife Stadium.

The win for Arizona was also noteworthy because the Cardinals did it with six field goals by Chad Ryland and no touchdowns. It was the first time they won a game without a touchdown since beating Tennessee 12-7 on Dec. 10, 2017. The last time the Rams lost without allowing a TD came in a 12-6 loss to the Cardinals on Dec. 11, 2014.

Alvin Kamara joins exclusive club

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara joined an exclusive club when he reached the 5,000-yard receiving milestone in a win against the New York Giants.

Kamara already had more than 7,000 yards rushing in his career and joined Marshall Faulk, Marcus Allen, Tiki Barber, Christian McCaffrey and Lenny Moore as the only players with at least 5,000 yards rushing and receiving.

Kamara has done it all with New Orleans, joining Barber and Moore as the only players to reach that milestone with one franchise.

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