Eagles

Ranking NFC Teams as a Threat to the Eagles After an Insipid Opening Weekend

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Sep 8th, 2025 · 11:56 AM EDT

---

We’ve had a chance to see every NFC team in action through Week 1, save for the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, who play on Monday Night Football.

Admitting an Eagles bias, it did not feel like any particular NFC team looked amazing on Sunday. The Packers had the most impressive win, while nobody jumped off the page to really send any kind of figurative message to the defending champs. As such, we’ll rank them this way, from one through 13, in terms of who seems like the biggest threat to the Eagles at this point:

1. Packers: Dominant performance in a 27-13 win over the Lions. Jordan Love looked sharp and Micah Parsons slid right in with no issues. This scoreline was generous because Detroit was hardly in the game.
2. Commanders: Not much competition from the Giants, who stink, but Jayden Daniels had a very Jayden Daniels-like game. Almost 300 total yards of offense and a TD with no turnovers. Jacory-Croskey Merritt had a good rookie debut and Deebo led the team in targets (10), receptions (7), and yards (77).
3. Lions: Got their doors blown off at Lambeau. The early theory is that they’re gonna fall off with both of their coordinators taking head coaching jobs, but we’ll need more than one loss to make a proper determination. Therefore, we leave them at #3 on the list.
4. Buccaneers: Escaped with a 23-20 win against the Falcons thanks to a late Baker Mayfield drive and rookie Emeka Egbuka’s clutch touchdown. Somewhat of an underwhelming performance from Tampa, but opening with a division road game is never easy.
5. Rams: Tough defense and a turnover to get the job done. You just wonder how much Matt Stafford can shoulder this year, and whether or not they can stay healthy and get that offense to the next level.
6. Niners: Felt like a typical Niners game. Gutted it out and squeaked by while also losing George Kittle to injury. It feels like a continuation of 2024, when they were banged up in perpetuity and just never could get themselves motoring at full bore.
7. Cowboys: They’re just not a significant threat. Dak will keep them in a lot of games with his arm and that receiving corps, but they aren’t a Super Bowl contender.
8. Seahawks: Pretty gross loss. Feels like a game they should have won. Threat level? Nonexistent.
9. Falcons: They showed some flashes and seem to be moving in the right direction. Tough loss though considering TOP and how the defense played, plus the late field goal miss.
10. Cardinals: Controlled the pace in an expected win over the Saints. Kyler Murray was efficient but unspectacular after waking up with some sort of illness. They have Carolina in Week 2 so we’re not gonna learn much about them until they play the Niners and Seahawks in weeks 3 and 4.
11. Saints: Rebuilding team. Spencer Rattler looked half decent out there. Interesting home game vs. the Niners this coming weekend.
12. Giants: Russell Wilson just doesn’t have it anymore. It’s simply a question of when they decide to hand the keys to Jaxson Dart, because Russ is just keeping the seat warm.
13. Panthers: It appears as though Bryce Young is not it.

Thoughts? Sort of a jumble there between four and eight, and we need to see more of the Lions, but it feels like the Commies and Packers have to be at the top. Even then, the Eagles went 4-1 against those teams last year, beating both in the playoffs while only losing in Washington without Jalen Hurts on the field. There was nothing that we saw on Sunday that was truly concerning. Maybe the Vikes or Bears come out looking like the 2001 Rams on Monday night, but that’s highly doubtful. Green Bay is gonna be tough out in Lambeau in November, Washington is the division rival of concern, and Tampa is always a team to keep an eye on. The NFC West looks like a cluster right now, but perhaps the Rams emerge.

Otherwise, this is the Eagles’ Conference and everyone else is playing catch up.