For 59 minutes, the Dallas Cowboys seemed poised to take over the lead in the NFC East.

A minute later, they were in last place, beaten when the Seattle Seahawks scored 10 points in the final 40 seconds.

Nothing is a surprise this season in a division where all four teams are over .500 — with New York, Philadelphia and Washington at 4-2 and the Cowboys at 4-3.

There may never have been an NFL Sunday EVER when one division turned around so quickly.

The Eagles seemed about to fall to San Diego when two obscure special teams players, Quentin Mikell and Matt Ware, combined to block a field-goal attempt (Mikell) and return it for the winning touchdown (Ware.)

New York was getting pushed all over Giants Stadium for most of three quarters by Denver, which led 23-10 with 10 minutes left. Then Eli Manning led two late touchdown drives to give the Giants a 24-23 victory, capping it with a 2-yard TD pass to Amani Toomer.

The Cowboys led 10-3 for what seemed like forever in Seattle. But the Seahawks tied it with 40 seconds left, Drew Bledsoe threw a pass that was picked off by rookie defensive back Jordan Babineaux and Josh Brown kicked a 50-yard field goal on the final play for a 13-10 win.

Washington was the only one to have things easy, beating hapless San Francisco 52-17.

It's early so far, but certain patterns seem to be developing in a division where all four teams have significant strengths and all have exploitable weaknesses.

"At some point, we have to make plays. We can't just leave it up to the offense to win it for us at the end," said Michael Strahan, the leader of a leaky New York defense.

It allowed Denver to rush for 191 yards on Sunday, but hung in long enough to let Manning do what seems to be becoming a habit — coming out of his shell to lead fourth-quarter TD drives, two on Sunday.

But the other teams seem just as baffling.

Dallas can't hold late leads — the debacle in Seattle was the third time this season that they've lost one in the final minutes.

In the second week of the season, the Cowboys led Washington 13-0 with 3 minutes and 46 seconds to go. Then, Dallas allowed Mark Brunell to throw TD passes of 39 and 70 yards to Santana Moss and lost 14-13.

Then last week, leading the Giants 13-6, the Cowboys allowed a hitherto ineffective Manning to lead two long fourth-quarter drives. One ended with a fumble at the 1-yard-line, the second went 52 yards in just two plays to tie it in the final minute. Dallas won 16-13 in overtime, but probably would have lost if they hadn't won the coin toss.

The Eagles, seeking their fifth straight division title, can't — or just don't — run.

Donovan McNabb threw 54 times on Sunday, completing a team-record 35 passes. But Philadelphia ran just 14 times for 24 yards. The Eagles can't keep doing that without getting a banged-up McNabb even more banged up.

The Giants? They have a lot of offense, but can't seem to get things together until late.

Yes, Manning has been Elwayesque the last two weeks and looks worth every bit the draft picks the Giants surrendered to take him No. 1 overall last season. But it would be nice if it got going before it is absolutely, positively necessary. And it would be nice if the defense, which entered this game next-to-last in yards allowed, could stop someone before it has to.

"The best thing I can say about that is that we got some three-and-outs when we had to," coach Tom Coughlin said.

It appears this pattern will continue all season.

Washington will be at New York next Sunday and Philadelphia goes to Denver, the third straight NFC East opponent in four weeks for the Broncos, who almost blew a lead at home against the Redskins two weeks ago and won on a deflected 2-point conversion pass.

In fact, Denver is as wacky as the NFC East teams — last week, the Broncos, now 5-2, led New England 28-3 and ended up winning 28-20.

"We've got to learn how to finish," cornerback Champ Bailey said after Sunday's loss. "It was obvious last week we didn't get it done. This week, it snuck up on us. It caught up with us."

Said like an NFC East guy.

Come to think of it, Bailey was a Redskin for the first five years of his career.

Old habits die hard.