NFL’s Most Annoying Fans - NFC East

This is a running feature at ECB. We'll be rating NFL Fanbases by annoyingness and picking a winner for each division. After that, we'll select wild card teams, and have ourselves a little playoff. If you have suggestions for upcoming divisions or wildcard selections, send them to [email protected]. So far we have given you the AFC West, the NFC West, the AFC South, the NFC South, the AFC North, the NFC North, and the AFC East. Who will join the Raiders, Cardinals, Jaguars, Panthers, Ravens, Packers, and Patriots fans as the most annoying fans in their division? Today we present the NFC East.  Later this week we’ll announce the Wild Card winners.  We’ll try to do the Annoying Fan playoffs at the same time as the NFL playoffs.

Dallas Cowboys

After achieving great success in both the 70’s and the 90’s, most Cowboys fans you run into today are bandwagoners.  What’s worse is that they combine they have all the bad qualities of an entitled fanbase augmented with Texas arrogance.  Also, “HOW BOUT DEM COWBOYS?” may be the most annoying fan catchphrase in the NFL (with stiff competition from “Who Dey?” and “Da Bears” - really, if you’re replacing the letters th with a d, your catchphrase is annoying).  Small wonder then, that a Cowboys loss unleashes incomparable levels of schadenfreude across the country.

New York Giants

Essentially the football version of the Yankees, somehow New York’s premiere NFL franchise hasn’t managed to produce nearly the level of annoyance as its baseball counterpart.  Fans of the G-Men (ugh, OK, I’m annoyed), project that familiar New York sense of superiority, except when it comes to Eli Manning, whom they hate, except when they love him.

Philadelphia Eagles

We’ve all heard the stories of throwing snowballs at opposing fans, booing Santa Claus, and the jail cell inside the stadium.  No one questions that Eagles fans are assholes.  But are they annoying? 

In short, yes.  The love-hate affair with Donovan McNabb makes the Giants Fans’ relationship with Eli Manning look like a stable marriage.  Eagles fans are obnoxiously loud when they’re winning (anyone who has ever been to a sports bar on a Sunday has grown to hate “Fly, Eagles, Fly”), and obnoxiously loud when they’re losing (yelling at Andy Reid and McNabb).

Washington Redskins

Jeremy called Redskins fans manic-depressive, and I think that hits the nail on the head.  No other fanbase is quite as delusional during the free agent period, and no other fanbase gets depressed as quickly.  Fans of most other teams normally wait until the season starts to begin kvetching about the coach/players/owners, but Skins fans start at the draft, continue through the pre-season, and right on into the regular season. 

Every year they change a coach or sign a big name free agent, which is just enough to whip the fans back into a frenzy for a few months before they come crashing back down to earth for the next depressive episode.

The Big Winner

This was the toughest division to pick, with all four teams making a strong run, but Cowboys fans are the clear winners.  Bandwagon fans + Texas = uncontrollable urge to commit violence.