Nick Wright picks Cowboys to win NFC East, raises major doubts on Jalen Hurts and Eagles
The battle for the NFC is, for many, a three-horse race, and two of those three are in the NFC East as the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles will battle twice this season.
While there hasn't been a repeating NFC East champion for over a decade, many think that the Eagles, with Jalen Hurts under center, are better than Dak Prescott's Dallas Cowboys.
But FS1's Nick Wright isn't one of them.
The NFC East is a two-horse race, but which team leads has the national media divided. For Wright, he thinks there are several problems with the Eagles and Jalen Hurts and that the team will have a drop off from the form of last season.
"I have them back in the playoffs, but not the dominant team they were last year," Wright said on "First Things First." "You worry about them up the middle of the defense after the defensive line. They don't prioritize safety. They don't prioritize that inside linebacker … and if they do not have 70 sacks again, you worry about their pass defense.
"I worry about the maturity of their head coach, and I worry about how well they have done over the last two years against any team that has a pulse from a passing perspective.
"They are a great defense, but that has feasted on some very bad passing attacks. When they have faced real quarterbacks, it hasn't looked quite as good. And as good as Jalen was, I don't know that I expect him to be an MVP candidate again. So, that's how you go from 14 wins down to probably 10 wins.”
The time has come for the Dallas Cowboys to break championship drought
From the outside, it feels like 2023 is the Cowboys' best chance to make it to the NFC championship game and potentially further. With the NFC at its weakest in recent memory and Dallas having one of its best rosters in a decade, there is hope that maybe, just maybe, Dak Prescott and company can get the job done.
Of course, winning the division is the first task to guarantee a home playoff game, but also, potentially having the best record in the NFC would mean home-field advantage all through the postseason.
Dallas fans ideally wouldn't want to travel to Philadelphia or San Francisco and have to get past either on their home field.
The Dallas Cowboys have the talent on both sides of the ball to make a seriously deep playoff run, but as has been the case with Dallas, they've found ways to screw it up.
Will that happen this year when it feels like all the stars are aligned?