Cowboys Given Longshot Odds To Win NFC East
Cowboys Given Longshot Odds To Win NFC East originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
FRISCO - In an attempt to close the NFC East gap between themselves and the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys replaced Mike McCarthy with Brian Schottenheimer as head coach and traded for talented-but-temperamental receiver George Pickens.
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To dethrone the defending champs who throttled them in last season's NFC Championship Game, the Washington Commanders made bold trades for an elite dual-threat weapon in Deebo Samuel and a Pro Bowl left tackle in Laremy Tunsil.
And to simply attempt to become relevant, the New York Giants signed free-agent veteran quarterback Russell Wilson and drafted pass-rush star Abdul Carter.
But considering the Eagles' dominance in 2024, will the most schizophrenic division in all of professional sports continue its bizarre personality in 2025?
In one of America's strangest sports streaks, the NFL's highest-profile, most successful division has produced a different winner for 20 consecutive seasons. No team has repeated as NFC East champions since the Eagles won back-to-back titles in 2003-04. In contrast, each of the NFL's seven other divisions have experienced a repeat winner as recently as 2021.
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*AFC East: Buffalo Bills 2020-23.
*AFC South: Tennessee Titans 2020-21.
*AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals 2021-22.
*AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs 2016-24.
*NFC South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2021-23.
*NFC North: Green Bay Packers 2019-21.
*NFC West: San Francisco 49ers 2022-23.
*NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles 2003-04.
To put it in perspective, the last time the NFC East - a flagship quartet that has spawned a litany of Hall-of-Fame players and coaches and in which every team has won at least one Super Bowl - had a repeat champ, the ...
*Eagles were coached by Andy Reid and fueled by Donovan McNabb throwing to Terrell Owens.
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*Redskins split quarterback starts between Patrick Ramsey and Mark Brunell in old RFK Stadium.
*Cowboys had a distinctly New York flavor in old Texas Stadium with coach Bill Parcells and quarterback Vinny Testaverde.
*Giants had a first-year coach in Tom Coughlin who replaced veteran quarterback Kurt Warner with a rookie named Eli Manning.
Over the last 20 years, the league's most fickle and competitive division has been won seven times each by the Cowboys and Eagles, and three times each by the Giants and Commanders.
Bleacher Report believes the Commanders gained ground on the Eagles, naming them the "biggest winner" of the NFL offseason. And in February, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott flatly downplayed the thought of any Philly division dynasty.
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'I feel like we compete with the Eagles and beat them, for the most part, when we've played them,' Prescott said. "I don't want to say 'Check the record' when they're the guys holding the trophy right now. Credit to them, they've earned it and deserve it by all means. But yeah, very close.'
Despite the chirping and the aggressive maneuvers this offseason, oddsmakers are expecting the Eagles to finally break the cycle and again win the division. Easily.
At ESPN bet, Philly is the heavy favorite at -145, followed by the Commanders (+225), long-shot Cowboys (+600) and miracle-hoping Giants (+3000).
Including playoffs, the Eagles went 6-1 against the East last season. They beat the Cowboys by a combined 75-13, the Giants by 48-16 and scored 114 points in three games against the Commanders.
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The evidence says the Eagles will repeat. History suggests otherwise.
Related: Inside Why Jerry Jones Predicts Cowboys Can Win NFC East
Related: Eagles Weird Obsession with Cowboys Proven By Science
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
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