The race is on in the NFC East, but the Cowboys are now the team to beat

Ralph Vacchiano

NFC East Reporter

The Philadelphia Eagles might still win the division race. All they have to do is win their last four games, and their remaining schedule is pillowy soft. But that thought might feel irrelevant to them at the moment.

Because what happened on Sunday night was clearly a changing of the guard.

Even though the defending NFC champions haven’t been dethroned yet, that feels like only a technicality — and maybe an inevitability — after what the Dallas Cowboys just did to them on national TV. They made a thundering statement with an emphatic 33-13 win over the Eagles, showing everyone that even though they’re both now tied atop the standings, it’s the Cowboys that are now the best team in the NFC East.

In fact, it’s the second time this season the Cowboys have played the Eagles and been the best team on the field.

They lost that first game in Philadelphia, of course — 28-23 back on Nov. 5 — though they out-played the Eagles that day too, and came just inches short of a win. But they more than made up for that at AT&T Stadium in Dallas by dominating the Eagles in every phase of the game.

It started, of course, with Dak Prescott, who has started it all for the Cowboys (10-3) in the seven-week roll they’ve been on since their bye week and might now be the favorite in the race for the NFL MVP. He had another terrific performance, completing 24 of 39 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns. And he not only led the Cowboys to three touchdowns on their four drives in the first half, he led them to points on seven of their nine possessions overall.

It helped that the Cowboys had the super leg of rookie kicker Brandon Aubrey, who hit both a 59- and a 60-yard field goal in this game (and two others from 50 and 45 yards). But the Cowboys kept moving the ball on Philly’s once-vaunted defense by spreading the ball all over the field. Prescott got contributions from CeeDee Lamb (6 catches, 71…

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Publish date : 2023-12-11 05:03:50

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