The Eagles are the people’s choice to win the NFC East, if not the betting favorite on every sportsbook. The Cowboys have not repeated as division champions since 1996, their fifth division title in a row, and the NFC East has not seen a repeat winner since the Eagles won their fourth consecutive in 2004.

Even in Dallas-Fort Worth and among Cowboys Nation, America’s Team has pessimists.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and his teammates are ready to prove the team’s doubters wrong.

“Where we are right now, it’s all excitement. It is,” Prescott said, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “It’s truly a privilege to be the quarterback of this team, to be a leader of these guys, offense, defense, this coaching staff that we have. And yeah, especially with everything being said about us — you know what I mean? — the lack of what we have. Keep writing. Keep talking. We’re ready to go play.”

The Cowboys will open the season without Amari Cooper or Michael Gallup or James Washington or Randy Gregory or Tyron Smith. They are expected to have a rookie, Tyler Smith, starting at left tackle against the Buccaneers, while counting on a pair of receivers in Noah Brown and Jalen Tolbert who have a combined 39 career catches and no touchdowns.

So, yeah, naturally there are questions about whether the Cowboys have the firepower to do what they did last year in leading the league in total offense.

“I believe high expectations create higher results,” Prescott said. “I feel like I’m my biggest critic. I’m tough on myself. I’m always going to hold myself to extreme, super-high expectations, higher than I think anyone else can. When you feel other people have those expectations for you as well, it’s fun. It’s fun. At that point, what you believe in yourself, other people believe in it, too. You just want to continue to improve and be the best you can.”

The Cowboys not only haven’t repeated in the division in forever, but they also haven’t made the playoffs in consecutive seasons since 2006-07.

“It’s definitely time for us to go back-to-back winning this division, getting to the playoffs, things that you said haven’t been done in my career and hadn’t been done in a long time,” Prescott said. “That’s how you make those steps. You got to compile good years on top of good years to make those runs to give yourself a good chance. We got a good team. We got a great team, great coaching, great organization. Now, it’s time not to have any lapse, be better than we were last year and take the next step on top of last year.”

Mike McCarthy’s future as head coach of the Cowboys probably hinges on that happening.

Dak Prescott: Cowboys’ doubters need to keep writing and keep talking originally appeared on Pro Football Talk