Cowboys up next in bid for repeat in ever-revolving door of NFC East champions

The Dallas Cowboys are the latest team through the ever-revolving door of NFC East champions.

They'll have to finish ahead of Philadelphia's “Dream Team” if the division is going to have a repeat winner for the first time since the Eagles won four in a row from 2001-04.

Dallas overtook Philadelphia last season with a third consecutive 12-5 record and trip to the playoffs, but only because the Eagles lost five of six after a 10-1 start, then made it six of seven with a loss at Tampa Bay in the wild-card round.

The Eagles plucked running back Saquon Barkley from New York, giving the Giants' No. 2 overall pick from 2018 a three-year deal with $26 million guaranteed.

That wasn't the only addition from a division rival. Philadelphia acquired Washington's 2022 first-round pick, receiver Jahan Dotson, to be the third option behind A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Add tight end Dallas Goedert, and quarterback Jalen Hurts appears to have everything he needs to atone for last season's collapse, which kept Philadelphia from being that elusive repeat NFC East winner.

“All our players in this room have talent. But the best teams have something else. They have something else, and it’s the culture,” said coach Nick Sirianni, who could be on a hot seat despite guiding the Eagles to the Super Bowl two seasons ago. “I think sometimes you can lose sight of that, of like, ‘Hey, we’re not just going to win games because we’re talented.’ It takes everything.”

While the Eagles decided to keep Sirianni, there are two new coordinators in former Dallas play caller Kellen Moore on offense and Vic Fangio on defense. They also have to fill a void in the middle of the offensive line after six-time All-Pro center Jason Kelce retired.

“My message to the team (was) I’ve been on very talented teams pretty much my whole career,” said Hurts, who played at Alabama and Oklahoma. “Talent wins you games. It’ll take you very far. But it don’t last. Teams is what wins championships. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Try, try again

The late-season surge by the Cowboys ended up being meaningless when they lost at home 48-32 to Green Bay in the wild-card round.

For the first time since the franchise's fifth Super Bowl title to cap the 1995 season, Dallas was in position to host multiple playoff games. Instead, the Cowboys became the first No. 2 seed to lose to a seventh seed since the playoffs expanded in 2020.

Dallas is at 28 seasons and counting without even reaching the NFC championship game, and is the only franchise with three consecutive 12-5 seasons and no conference title games to show for them.

After All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb ended his preseason-long holdout by agreeing to a $136 million, four-year contract, coach Mike McCarthy was asked about the process of having his players playing their best in December and January.

McCarthy, another coach on the hot seat, bristled just a bit at the assumption of being in playoff position late.

“We keep talking about playoffs and things like that, but I don’t know when the hell it became easy to win 12 games in a season,” McCarthy said. “So we really got to get back to winning week in and week out.”

Quarterback Dak Prescott is entering the final season of his $160 million, four-year contract for his ninth try to do what Tony Romo couldn't in the decade before him — get Dallas past the divisional round.

He has his old backfield mate again in Ezekiel Elliott. The two-time rushing champion who was Prescott's fellow star rookie when the Cowboys won 11 consecutive games in 2016 returns after a season in New England. Elliott was let go in a cost-cutting move last year.

New coach, new QB

Dan Quinn replaced Ron Rivera as coach in Washington after spending the previous three seasons as Dallas' defensive coordinator. Quinn's first draft pick, at No. 2 overall, was 2023 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels of LSU.

New general manager Adam Peters overhauled the roster and one of the additions was linebacker Bobby Wagner. The six-time All-Pro spent 11 of his first 12 seasons in Seattle, and Quinn was the defensive coordinator for two of those.

Daniels will have a rebuilt offensive line in front of him, but a strong running back combination of Brian Robinson Jr. and free agent pickup Austin Ekeler behind him, along with elite receiver Terry McLaurin.

“I love each of the years because not every year is exactly the same,” Quinn said. “But you only get one first shot with a whole new group, and we’re not going to miss that shot.”

All eyes on Jones

Daniel Jones could be entering a make-or-break year with the Giants based on the financial considerations of cutting or keeping the sixth-year quarterback next spring.

The former Duke player could make the decision easier with a return to 2022 form, when he led the Giants to their only playoff berth since 2016 and earned a $160 million contract. New York tried to help him by drafting former LSU receiver Malik Nabers sixth overall.

That playoff trip, which included a wild-card victory, was in coach Brian Daboll's debut season, but the fickle nature of the NFL could have him on the hot seat with a stumble similar to last season's 6-11 record. Daboll has taken over play calling from offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.

The Giants will have to get used to life without Barkley, although they had some training on that with the frequency of the former Penn State star's injuries. They also have to replace safety Xavier McKinney, who signed with Green Bay after playing every defensive snap for New York and was the second-leading tackler.

Co-owner John Mara wants to see improvement in the Giants' 100th season, but isn't sure how to quantify that.

“I want to walk off the field at the end of the season feeling like we are moving in the right direction, (like) we’ve got a great foundation here and there’s every reason to be optimistic moving forward,” Mara said.

Predicted order of finish

Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Commanders.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Schuyler Dixon, The Associated Press