Closing the NFC East Playoff Circle

By Dave “Large” Larzelere
When the Giants play Dallas on Sunday, it will be an historic occasion for two reasons: marking the first playoff game ever between the Cowboys and the Giants, and the last piece of the playoff-history puzzle for the mighty quartet of the current NFC East. All of the other possible playoff head-to-heads between these four franchises have occurred at least once before.
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In the Super Bowl era there have been ten such games. Two of the possible matchups have happened only once -- the Redskins and Eagles (1990) and the Redskins and Giants (1986). Otherwise, the Cowboys and the Redskins have met twice in the playoffs, and the Eagles have played both the Giants and the Cowboys three times apiece.
Four of the ten games were NFC Championships; three were divisional playoffs and three wild cards. Amazingly, the best game of the lot went down just last year with the Eagles’ wild card win over the Giants on David Akers’ last-second field goal. Of course, that distinction is scant recompense for Philly fans, as the Eagles remain the only team of the group without a Super Bowl victory.
Here’s the complete list of Super Bowl-era playoff games involving two of the four current NFC East teams:
1972 NFC Championship - Washington 26, Dallas 3
1980 NFC Championship – Philly 20, Dallas 7
1981 Wild Card - NYG 27, Philly 21
1982 NFC Championship – Washington 31, Dallas 17
1986 NFC Championship - NYG 17, Washington
1990 Wild Card - Washington 20, Philly 6
1992 Division – Dallas 34, Philly 10
1995 Division – Dallas 30, Philly 11
2000 Division – NYG 20, Philly 10
2006 Wild Card – Philly 23, NYG 10↵