Four Reasons Why the Dallas Cowboys Can Still Win the NFC East
The Dallas Cowboys are well and truly alive in the 2025 playoff race.
If their stunning comeback victory against the reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles on Week 12 didn’t confirm that, then their riveting triumph against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving certainly did.
Cowboys Down the Chiefs, Bears Maul the Eagles
With both teams’ respective seasons seemingly on the line, it was America’s Team who stepped up to the plate, storming past Patrick Mahomes and Co. to not only keep their postseason dreams afloat but also reignite belief in the team’s championship credentials. Dak Prescott looked like a man carving his legacy in real time: 320 precise yards, two touchdowns, and zero sacks allowed against a defense built on blitzes and big-play bravado.
And in a league where momentum often turns on a dime, the Eagles—perched for so long atop the NFC East—crashed spectacularly. The following night, Lincoln Financial Field echoed with the kind of boos reserved for grand stage disappointments as a battered, reeling Philadelphia defense was steamrolled for a staggering 281 rushing yards by Declan Doyle‘s Bears run design. The Eagles trudged off 24-15 losers, their grasp on the division suddenly imperiled, and the air thick with the sense of an era’s ending.
The odds providers can certainly sense a turning of the tide. While the latest Bovada NFL odds ensure that the Eagles remain a mighty -900 favorite to win the division, those odds have lengthened somewhat in recent weeks. Should they lose again in an upcoming crunch MNF clash on the road against the playoff-seeking Chargers, the +650 Cowboys will suddenly be within striking distance. So, can Dallas actually complete the comeback of all comebacks and win the NFC East? Here are four reasons why we think they can.
Pure Momentum
Few forces in football are as powerful—or as contagious—as an offense that suddenly finds the throttle.
Since emerging from their Week 10 bye, the Cowboys have undergone a transformation that almost defies belief.
Gone is the team that muddled through that miserable 27-17 defeat to the Cardinals on week nine; in its place, a turbocharged attack averaging 29.3 points per outing over three straight statement wins.
HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS 🔥
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) November 28, 2025
pic.twitter.com/9Th2UjAakI
Prescott has rediscovered his rhythm at the campaign’s most critical juncture. Against both Philadelphia and Kansas City, he slung for 598 yards combined, routinely torching pressure looks and showing an ability to improvise on scramble drills rarely seen since his rookie year. The CeeDee Lamb–George Pickens combo now ranks among the NFL’s most unpredictable—routes sharp as razors, and the ability to turn short throws into breakaway sprints. Add in Javonte Williams, whose 4.8 yards per carry provide ballast against light defensive fronts, and suddenly, Dallas operates with a multiplicity that leaves coordinators guessing—and usually wrong.
Victories over both of last season’s Super Bowl teams in the space of four days are more than résumé fillers; they’re evidence of a side that now expects, rather than hopes, to win shootouts and grinders alike.
Philadelphia’s House of Cards
The Eagles’ famous Super Bowl LIX victory over the history-seeking Kansas City Chiefs back in February suddenly feels like a lifetime ago. As opposed to the team that mauled KC on the grandest stage, the current crop of Birds resembles the team that collapsed in 2023, as opposed to the one that claimed the Lombardi last season.
Their 10-1 opening two years ago ended in a spectacular 1-6 nosedive and a quick playoff exit after a wildcard round drubbing against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, back-to-back defeats against both the Cowboys and Bears have set alarm bells ringing once more.
As the Bears trampled tackles and chewed up clock across 281 painful rushing yards, the Eagles’ identity as a defense-first bully was exposed as a thing of the past, not even a full season on from their finest hour. Jalen Hurts, whose stoicism once anchored Philadelphia’s swagger, is now being criticized for being too conservative. And all of this comes just one week on from throwing away a 21-point lead at Jerry World, somehow conspiring to lose 24-21 and blowing the race for the division wide open.
Dallas now sits a mere 1.5 games back—a figure that matters most given the Cowboys’ head-to-head tiebreaker. No franchise has repeated as NFC East champs in two decades, and if the Eagles continue on their current plight, that record could well remain intact.
Defense Reforged
The narrative pivot in Dallas is as much about defense as anything cooked up behind center. Early 2025 saw a unit prone to missed tackles and coverage busts, but the month since the bye has painted a different portrait: 20.3 points allowed per game, and a newfound hunger for disruption.
The midseason returns of DeMarvion Overshown and Shavon Revel Jr. have transformed the second level and the secondary alike—athleticism, range, and an ability to erase yards after the catch that was missing in September. Yet it’s the orchestration at the line—engineered by deadline gems Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson—that has recalibrated this group. Williams, double-teamed on more than a third of pass snaps against Kansas City, was still a destructive presence, notching six pressures and collapsing pockets. Logan Wilson’s football IQ and sideline-to-sideline vision freed up Jadeveon Clowney to secure two sacks on the mercurial Mahomes.
Against Mahomes, Dallas forced five punts and limited Travis Kelce to 45 yards—a tactical flex matched only by their late-game composure. No longer a liability, this is a unit built for January football.
December Dawns
There’s a heritage in Texas for finishing strong. Whether myth or measurable, December has often been kind to Dallas, and numbers from recent seasons make a compelling case. Division titles in 2021 and 2023 both came courtesy of 7-2 late surges—turning playoff hopes into banners and expectations into reality.
Why does this matter now? In short, the Cowboys are healthy, hot, and focused. Prescott has avoided the late-season injury curse; his O-line, previously piecemeal, has matured into a protection wall, surrendering just 1.8 sacks per contest since the turning point. Defensive communication—the silent killer of so many would-be contenders—has snapped into unison. They’re not just surviving; they’re dictating tempo on both sides of the ball.
The locker room knows the script: this is the season’s crucible, and its biggest games are still to come.
With the tiebreaker and all the intangibles leaning blue, the psychological edge belongs, once again, to Dallas.
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