Mailbag: Are lean years ahead in NFC East ?

(Editor's Note: Time to check the mail! The DallasCowboys.com staff writers answer your questions here in 'Mailbag' presented by Miller Lite.)

Seeing the Eagles and Commanders in the NFC Championship Game is tough to take. Are the Cowboys really that far behind their division rivals? Are we looking at some lean years ahead in the NFC East?– Mark Miller/Oklahoma City, OK**

Kurt: During the summer, DallasCowboys.com ran a series of 20 Questions the team was facing heading into the 2024 season. One of those was, Have the NFC East teams closed the gap? In my mind, yes, the Eagles, Commanders and Giants had closed the gap some, but perhaps in reality it was the Cowboys who actually closed the gap for them. As the saying goes, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse.

With that said, I don't think we're necessarily looking at lean years ahead. In fact, a case can be made that Dallas is actually more talented than Washington (Philadelphia is another story). There were just so many factors working against the Cowboys this season – a new defensive coordinator, relying on two rookie offensive linemen to step right in, attempting a running back by committee, the list goes on and on.

Then throw in the injuries. Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb, Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence, DaRaon Bland. It wasn't just the quantity of walking wounded, but also the quality of star players standing on the sideline. It's tough for any team to recover from those blows.

Of course, the Cowboys will be facing some of these same issues in 2025 with a new coaching staff, questions about returning players and new players altogether. But as we've seen before in the NFC East, things can turn around very quickly. Dallas has work to do, but with a strong core in place, this team can (and even should) contend for the division title again next season.

Nick: If there are lean years ahead for the Cowboys, it's not going to be because of the NFC East. I don't think that's accurate and history doesn't suggest that at all. Just look at the recent trend in NFC East winners changing every year since 2004. We haven't seen a repeat winner in over 20 years, which means it's obviously a cycle that goes back and forth and that's exactly how the NFL is designed.

Obviously, the Eagles are on a different level than the Cowboys. We have seen that in two games this year. Dallas played them somewhat even in the first half but got blown out by the end. Now, both of those games were without Dak Prescott but I still don't think he makes up that kind of difference.

As for the Commanders, I still don't think they're better than the Cowboys this year. Again, records are one thing but the matchup is another. In both games, the Cowboys faced Washington, they were the better team and probably should've won both games. But they didn't, and there is something to be said for the late-game heroics.

One thing we've seen in the last 20 years is that the NFC East winner can't seem to handle the first-place schedule. I think Washington is in good shape because they have cap space and still have a good, young QB on a rookie deal. But I don't think the Cowboys are going to be down for a long time, that's just not how it usually goes in this league.