Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys: Who runs the NFC East?

The Philadelphia Eagles are improving, but Dallas remains the team to beat.

This is where Philadelphia fans may disagree, so let’s get it out of the way. How can a Dallas team that lost embarrassingly at home still be at the top of the division and these power rankings despite the fact the Eagles are currently playing better and almost beat one of the best teams in the NFL?

The answer is quite simple. Again, as encouraging as moral victories are for a team’s morale, the win-loss total is all that matters. Any team will gladly take an ugly win over a good-looking loss. If the season ended today, and the best teams in each division advance to the playoffs, ‘Big D’ would be in the tournament, and the ‘Birds’ would be watching the postseason from home.

Here’s the bright side. With the way that both squads are playing, Philly will likely overtake Dallas at some point. The Eagles’ offense is improving while the Cowboys couldn’t muster much production without Dak Prescott.

Dak isn’t the only player that this Dallas team is missing. Right tackle La’el Collins has been out since training camp. Left tackle Tyron Smith is out for the season and right guard Zach Martin left the game versus the Cardinals with a possible concussion. Their wide receiver corps is still one of the best in the league, but they can’t do much if they don’t have someone that can throw the ball to them.

Things aren’t getting any better on defense and the unit was as unreliable in Week 6 as they’ve been all season long. They gave up 38 points and remain as the worst defense in the NFL. The table is set for the Eagles to take over the top spot in the NFC East very soon.