The Cowboys and Eagles both received plenty of love as preseason favorites to win the NFC East. Several publications, including Sporting News, picked one or the other to get to and win the Super Bowl.
Going into Week 7 of the 2019 NFL season, however, Dallas and Philadelphia are exactly average at 3-3. The good news for both is they are tied for first place in a weak NFC East ahead of 2-4 New York and 1-5 Washington. The bad news is only one can take control of the division race on Sunday when the Eagles visit the Cowboys on "Sunday Night Football."
Assuming there's no tie, that also means either the Cowboys or the Eagles will drop below .500 ahead of a difficult second-half schedule. Given how good the top halves of the NFC West, NFC North and NFC South are, it looks like there will be room for only playoff team from the NFC East this season.
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So what's wrong with the Cowboys? They started 3-0 because they were able to operate at a high level against three bad opponents, the Giants, Redskins and Dolphins. Then they struggled offensively against the Saints and defensively against the Packers — two very good teams.
Then came last Sunday's ugly, 24-22 loss to the previously winless Jets. Dak Prescott cleaned up the turnover issues that cost the Cowboys against the Packers, but the defense continued to give up big plays in the passing game. The injuries that deactivated starting tackles Tyron Smith and La'el Collins didn't help the offense, and the mid-game quad injury that caused go-to wide receiver Amari Cooper to exit hurt a lot more.
The biggest problem in Dallas is an identity crisis. We thought the Cowboys were a new, wide-open passing team with first-year offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, yet there are more shades of them being conservative and run-heavy with Ezekiel Elliott. We're no longer sure where their schematic strengths and weaknesses lie defensively, either.
Adding it all up, the inconsistency falls on coach Jason Garrett.
So what's wrong with the Eagles? They have had several injuries affect their play, too. Without wide receiver DeSean Jackson, they don't have the speedy downfield threat for Carson Wentz to open up their passing game. At the same time, their depleted secondary is giving up the kinds of huge pass plays they aren't making on the other side. That's exactly how things played out in Sunday's 38-20 blowout loss to the Vikings.
There's also a bit of a coaching conundrum in Philadelphia, as Doug Pederson (passing too much) and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz (blitzng too much) are being too aggressive and further exposing the team's issues.
And as great as Wentz and Prescott have proved they can be in their four-year careers, neither quarterback is playing his best football with the limitations around him.
So some frustrating futility has to give in Week 7. With Jackson not returning, the Cowboys' bend-but-don't-break defense will find more of a comfort zone. We're not sure if the Eagles can adjust to patience with the run, and we're not sure if the Cowboys can go back to being explosive with the pass in a matchup that screams for that game plan.
Beyond Week 7, the Cowboys and Eagles face similar finishing slates. Outside of the division, both teams face the Bears, Bills and Patriots. Inside the division, each has one more game left against the Redskins. The Eagles still have their "free square" against the Dolphins. They also have two with the Giants, while the Cowboys have only one. The Eagles do need to contend with the Seahawks, but the Cowboys have to deal with the Vikings, Lions and Rams.
The Eagles have it slightly easier, but the Cowboys arguably have been the better team when playing at their healthiest, and they'll be closer to that with Smith, Collins and even Cooper all expected to play through injuries on Sunday night.
Regardless, their latest meeting as big as it gets for an early-season game with each team's bye on the horizon.
For the winner, it will serve as a get-well game, a source of renewed confidence and a builder of momentum for the final two months, considering the teams don't play in Philadelphia until Week 16.
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Garrett and Pederson have the ability to fix things in a hurry, and neither coach is a stranger to strong finishes. The Cowboys went 7-1 to close 2018 and take the NFC East while the Eagles won five of their final six to sneak away with an NFC wild card.
But because this is the NFL, things don't tend to work out hunky-dory like that from season to season. Cases in point are 2016, when the Cowboys were the top NFC seed and the Eagles didn't make the playoffs, and 2017, when the opposite happened.
There's still a long way to go after Week 7, but for Dallas or Philadelphia, the difference between 4-3 and 3-4 is now everything.
