Daniel Jones and the New York Giants knocked off the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, meaning the top two teams in the NFC East each have just three wins on the seasons with the Eagles sitting at 3-5-1 and the Giants at 3-7. The two other teams in the division — the Cowboys and the Washington Football Team, have two victories apiece.

In a normal season, with the Cowboys just one and half games back from the division lead, the expectation would be for Dallas to do everything in its power to take the NFC East crown and get back into the postseason after a disappointing 2019 campaign. It just makes sense for America's Team to be playing playoff football.

This is far from a normal season, though.

The injury bug has not been kind to the Dallas Cowboys in 2020.

Injuries have piled up for the Cowboys in a major way this season. Starting right tackle La'el Collins was placed on injured reserve prior to the season starting because of a hip injury. That was just the beginning of a long list of injuries for America's Team.

Tight end Blake Jarwin was lost for the season in week one after tearing his ACL on the team's second offensive series of the season, and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch was sidelined for multiple weeks due to a collarbone injury suffered against the Rams. Left tackle Tyron Smith was shutdown for the season. Defensive Tackle Trysten Hill tore his ACL and rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs recently suffered a fracture in his foot.

That is a long list of injuries for Dallas and a big reason why the team has underperformed in year-one of the Mike McCarthy era. The biggest loss for the Cowboys this season, however, has to be quarterback Dak Prescott.

Prescott went down in week five after suffering a compound right ankle fracture and dislocation against the Giants. Not having the franchise quarterback behind center would hurt any team, but that is especially true with the Cowboys.

Prescott was on pace to shatter the NFL's single-season passing record before going down and was the primary reason why the Cowboys had a chance to win any of its first five games. His improvement as a passer from 2016 to now has been remarkable, and Prescott is expected to make a full recovery when he returns to the field in 2021.

While the NFC East in reach for the Dallas Cowboys, so is a top-5 draft pick.

If the Cowboys had their franchise quarterback — even with the long list of other injuries on the team — it would likely be smart for this team to aim for a playoff berth. But with Prescott sidelined until next fall, the odds are long that the Cowboys could knock off, say, the Arizona Cardinals or Los Angeles Rams with Andy Dalton or Garrett Gilbert behind center.

Therefore, aiming for the best possible draft pick is the smartest route for this team to take for long-term success.

A top-five pick would do one of these two things for the Cowboys: land a blue-chip player at a position of need — such as offensive line or defensive back, for example — or allow the team to potentially trade the selection for a package of picks from a quarterback-needy team looking to secure the second or third best quarterback in the class behind Trevor Lawerence.

Either option, and especially the second, would give the Cowboys the best chance to maximize its potential with Dak Prescott as its franchise quarterback. Prescott has emerged as a borderline top-five passer in football, and the offense looked to be among the best in the league with him at the helm. The offense has a great chance to be very explosive once number four returns to the field next season.

Defensively, the Cowboys have been extremely underwhelming for the majority of the 2020 campaign. Blown assignments, poor effort, and overall laughable play have plagued Mike Nolan's unit all season long. That side, that side of the ball has improved over the last fee weeks while turning in strong performances against the Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers in consecutive weeks.

Trevon Diggs was starting to come on strong for the Cowboys before suffering a potential season-ending injury against the Steelers, but there are still plenty of question marks in the Dallas secondary. Alabama defensive back Patrick Surtain II is perhaps the biggest name to know at this point in the draft process.

Surtain played alongside Diggs in Tuscaloosa for Nick Saban and is widely considered to be the top corner prospect in the 2021 draft class. The 6-foot-2, 202-pound defensive back has totaled 21 tackles, grabbed one interception, and defended two passes through six games for the Crimson Tide this season.

If the Cowboys cannot trade back — or if Surtain gets pushed down the board because of a run on quarterbacks — he would be a potential very strong option to pair with Diggs at the cornerback spot.

The goal in the NFL is to win football games, but the Cowboys would be better suited to focus on landing a top draft pick in April's draft that could land them an important piece or two rather than chase a rather meaningless division title in 2020 that would see them get crushed in the postseason and pick in the late teens.

Featured image via Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports