Ron Rivera Taking Aim at NFC East Title

Combined, the four teams that make up the NFC East are 3-12-1 through four weeks and no team has more than one win. Suffice to say, the crown is still up for grabs.

That’s why Washington head coach Ron Rivera wants to make a run at it. Rather than let Dwayne Haskins throw five-yard checkdowns on fourth-and-goal, he benched the second-year quarterback in favor of a more familiar guy, former Panther Kyle Allen. Haskins was actually demoted to third-string; Alex Smith is now QB2 in Washington.

“With the division the way it is now, I’d be stupid not to give it a shot,” Rivera said via Yahoo Sports.

Rivera is familiar with Allen. The former five-star recruit spent two years in Rivera’s system in Carolina, including last year when he went 5-1 in his first six starts.

According to Sports Betting Dime, Washington’s odds to win the division were the worst at the start of the season (+1650) but, with the rest of the division showing their true colors throughout the first four weeks of the season, they have improved. As it stands now, one-win Dallas and Philadelphia are tied as favorites (+110), with Washington not far behind at +1000.

The Giants, who are yet to win a game this season and play Dallas in Week 5, are a distant fourth at +4200.

Washington will host the LA Rams in Week 6 while Philadelphia plays Pennsylvania-rival Pittsburgh — both tough matchups. Both Washington and Philadelphia are seven-point underdogs.

Featured image: “WFT head coach Ron Rivera challenges 12 men on the field” by All-Pro Reels is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0