Dec 18, 4:51 PM EST
Column: NFC Not Just Bad, It's Awful
By DAVE GOLDBERG
AP Football Writer
Seattle, the defending NFC champion, has lost two straight and has San Diego coming to town Sunday. The Seahawks could finish 8-8 and still win the NFC West.
The New York Giants, once 6-2, are now 7-7. Yet if the playoffs started this week, they'd be in.
And Carolina, one of the preseason favorites in the NFC, is 6-8, coming off a 37-3 loss to Pittsburgh and ... still alive.
The NFC is not just bad this season. It's awful.
"There were times when we played like we were a team full of rookies," said Tiki Barber, whose Giants lost a showdown with the Eagles on Sunday. "We have done that to ourselves. We have no one to blame other than to look at each other. I think we were an underachieving team."
"We were half asleep," New Orleans coach Sean Payton said after his team lost to Washington (5-9), at home no less, clinching the NFC South because Atlanta and Carolina also lost but falling back in its effort to get a first-round bye.
Underachieving team, underachieving conference.
Sleeping team, sleeping conference.
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