Watch the Redskins @ Cowboys, live on Sky Sports Action from 9.30pm on Thanksgiving Thursday
Wednesday 21 November 2018 19:54, UK
The NFC East has long been considered the division in the National Football League.
Like its biggest challenger, the NFC North (formerly known as NFC Central), it hosts three of the seven longest-running, most historic NFL franchises. But, what sets it apart is the 13 Super Bowl winners that have come from the East. The North accounts for only five, while the next-best challengers are the AFC's East and North divisions with eight each.
The Dallas Cowboys, nicknamed 'America's Team' - an indication of their standing in the sport - top the pile, with five Vince Lombardi trophies to their name, the New York Giants have four, Washington Redskins three, while the long-suffering Philadelphia Eagles finally got off the mark with their first last year.
So, is it the NFL's best division?
"I know it used to be," says Rob Ryan, former Dallas defensive coordinator in 2011 and 2012. "Now it is kind of up and down. But these teams hate each other."
The success each team in the East has enjoyed, or hasn't as the case may be, has bred jealousy, hatred, and a win-at-all-costs determination to succeed.
That determination is embodied by the team owners, particularly in Dallas and Washington, who meet on Thanksgiving Day on Thursday night, live on Sky Sports Action from 9.30pm.
Dan Snyder's reign in Washington, certainly in the early years, was characterised by reckless spending on big-name players - often in the twilight of their careers, lacking in sufficient motivation or drive - or on prospects undeserving yet of such a payout.
His desperate spending hasn't reaped results. Since purchasing the team in 1999, Snyder has presided over a combined losing record of 135-173-1. That's in stark contrast to Dallas figurehead since 1989, Jerry Jones.
Jones has overseen three Super Bowl wins, albeit early in his tenure and, over the years, has become almost as famous as the Cowboys brand itself, to the extent that the team's Dallas facility is often nicknamed 'Jerryworld'.
Jones is a vocal critic of his team, one with a renowned ruthless streak for the firing of his coaches and players over the years.
"This is the game that got me fired in Dallas," Coach Ryan recalls about the meeting with Washington to end the 2012 season. "They scored four touchdowns on us and we threw two interceptions.
"I know how it is; it's a heated rivalry. The owner can't stand the Redskins, so he wants this one bad."
2012 was the second of three consecutive seasons where the Cowboys finished a painfully average 8-8, losing out on the East title to a different divisional opponent in a final-week qualifier of each season.
It's indicative of Dallas' downward trend since they last tasted success in a Super Bowl in 1996. 13 years without a playoff win followed, and while the Tony Romo-led Cowboys ended that streak in 2009, the team are still fighting for relevance in a division that has somewhat left them, and the Redskins, behind.
Washington are still in the midst of their own 12-year run without tasting a playoff victory, while the last of their Super Bowl wins was even further back, in 1992. Since, the two storied franchises have had to idly watch on as the Giants were twice crowned in 2008 and 2011 and then the Eagles last year.
But, 10 games into the 2018 season and it's the Redskins and Cowboys who occupy the No 1 and No 2 spots in the East - albeit with modest 6-4 and 5-5 records, respectively.
The Redskins won out 20-17 in the Week Seven meeting between the teams, seemingly taking a firm stranglehold of the division. But, they've gone 2-2 since and, on Sunday, lost their starting quarterback Alex Smith to a season-ending injury as he horrifically broke his leg in defeat to the Houston Texans.
The Cowboys meanwhile, bar a Monday night aberration against the Tennessee Titans in Week Nine, appear to have turned a corner with back-to-back wins over the Eagles and Atlanta Falcons since. Wide receiver Amari Cooper has come in, via a trade from the Oakland Raiders, and has made a difference. Plus, they're running the ball much more, and more effectively.
As a result, the East is seemingly up for grabs again as these two prepare to meet on Turkey Day. The winner of Sunday's match-up could subsequently kick on as challengers.
"Dallas couldn't have a clearer path to the playoffs than they have right now," Coach Ryan adds. "Colt McCoy is going to be playing at quarterback for the Redskins on Thursday.
"I was in Cleveland when he got his first start and this guy can give you a little juice for a while, but he's like everybody's back-up quarterback; 'put him in, he's going to be good' they all say. Then you do, and realise why he's a back-up.
"The Cowboys have played well the last two weeks - Cooper has come in and energised everybody, they're finally feeding the ball more to Ezekiel Elliott in the backfield and they've got a great defense.
"They've got nothing but daylight in front of them, but that's why I worry. It's too easy.
"This team should be better than they are, but each week in Dallas the fans either think they're going to win the Super Bowl or lose every game."
Not just in Dallas, but whoever emerges victorious on Sunday will certainly hope the win kick-starts a push for a return to the postseason and, who knows, maybe even a return to the Super Bowl successes that made them, and the NFC East, the division.
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