Only one team in the NFL this season can finish unbeaten within their division. The Dallas Cowboys have made it look easy in crushing their NFC East rivals.
Even before the Dallas Cowboys embarrassed the Washington Football Team on Sunday night in Arlington, Mike McCarthy’s team had captured the NFC East. Nevertheless, Dak Prescott and company made easy work of their longtime rival. The Cowboys opened up a 42-7 halftime lead and rolled up an impressive 389 total yards in the process.
Dallas would wind up with a 56-14 victory and swept the season series for the second time in three years and by a combined 83-34 score. Two weeks earlier in Landover, the Cowboys came up with a 27-20 triumph.
Speaking of taking two, McCarthy’s club did the same to the New York Giants. A 44-20 home triumph in Week 5 was followed by a 21-6 win in Week 15 at MetLife Stadium. And back on a Monday night at Arlington, the ‘Boyz made it look easy in pushing around the Philadelphia Eagles, 41-21.
The five wins over their longtime NFC East rivals add up to a combined score of 189-81. In those contests, the Cowboys’ offensive unit has come up with 18 touchdowns. Perhaps more impressively is the fact that the Dallas’ defense (4) and special teams (1) have reached the end zone a combined five times.
That’s three interception returns, a fumble return, and a blocked punt recovered in the end zone for a TD. All told, 14 of the club’s NFL-high 33 takeaways have come in the Cowboys’ five divisional victories. The emergence of second-year cornerback Trevon Diggs and the play-making ability of rookie linebacker Micah Parsons have elevated Dan Quinn’s defensive unit.
The Cowboys host the reeling Arizona Cardinals this week before heading to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles in the final regular-season Sunday of 2021. Will they manhandle the Birds for the second time this year?
And it’s worth noting that the last NFC East team to go 6-0 vs. their division rivals was indeed the Eagles in 2004. That season, Andy Reid and company wound up in Super Bowl XXXIX. Stay tuned.