Will the Cowboys keep the historic NFC East streak alive in 2023?

If there is one thing that is synonymous with the NFC East, it is chaos. There has not been a repeat division winner since 2004 when the Philadelphia Eagles did it. That's right, for the past eighteen years, anytime a team won the division, they would not win it the following year. It's one of the […]

Tyler Browning

Sep 3, 2023 2:38 PM EDT

If there is one thing that is synonymous with the NFC East, it is chaos.

There has not been a repeat division winner since 2004 when the Philadelphia Eagles did it. That's right, for the past eighteen years, anytime a team won the division, they would not win it the following year.

It's one of the more impressive streaks in sports when you think about it. There have been some talented teams that you can argue should have won the division in back-to-back years; however, they failed. There was the 2016 Dallas Cowboys, for example, which went 13-3 for the No. 1 seed in the NFC in Dak Prescott's rookie year. Or the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, which won the Super Bowl only to not defend the division title in 2018.

In a recent bold prediction article, PFF predicted the streak would stay alive and the Cowboys would not only win the NFC East but get the one seed in the entire conference. Considering they're two of the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, it figures whoever wins it could do it with the best record.

This is quite the prediction, mainly just because of how loaded the Philadelphia Eagles are. Jalen Hurts is at the top of his game, they have two premier receivers in AJ Brown and Devonta Smith. On top of those they just had a top ten pick in the NFL Draft and were able to add the best player according to many in the entire draft, in Jalen Carter. Not to mention, they have continuity despite losing two key coordinators.

It would appear that PFF is predicting a Pac-12-type scenario where they do enough self-cannibalization so that the famous NFC East streak lives to see another day.