Why the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry might mean more than ever this year
Why the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry might mean more than ever this year originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It’s not a rivalry if only one team is good. And there haven’t been many stretches since the Cowboys came into existence in 1960 that both teams have both been successful at the same time.
That’s what makes this year so much fun, and that’s what makes Sunday’s game so huge.
Over the last three seasons, the teams with the best records in the NFC are the Eagles at 33-13 and the Cowboys at 33-13.
And this will be the third straight year the Eagles and Cowboys both reach the postseason, something that hasn’t happened since Dick Vermeil and Tom Landry were coaching. During the previous 24 years – 1997 through 2020 – there were only four seasons both reached the playoffs and never in back-to-back seasons (2003, 2006, 2009 and 2018).
In fact, from 1982 through 2020 – a span of nearly 40 years – there was only one time where the Eagles and Cowboys both reached the postseason in back-to-back years. That was 1995 and 1996.
At first, Eagles-Cowboys didn’t mean much.
From 1960 through 1965 the Cowboys didn't have a winning season and from 1967 through 1977 the Eagles didn't have a winning season.
The Cowboys won 21 of 23 matchups with the Eagles from 1967 through 1978, but it was 1980, when the Eagles crushed Dallas in the NFC Championship Game at the Vet, that the rivalry first came to life.
But then both franchises experienced long, bleak stretches. The Cowboys didn’t win a playoff game from 1983 through 1990, and the Eagles didn’t win one from 1981 through 1991.
Then Buddy happened.
Buddy Ryan’s open disdain for Tom Landry, Tex Schramm and the entire Cowboys franchise is what really breathed life into the rivalry.
Once Landry played starters in the 1987 strike replacement game – the Cowboys won 41-22 at Texas Stadium – Buddy was determined to humiliate and embarrass him every way he could. The Eagles won 37-20 in the rematch at the Vet after the strike was settled, and Buddy never lost to the Cowboys again.
After Buddy and Landry were gone, the Cowboys owned the Eagles. From 1991 through 1998, the Eagles went 5-13 vs. Dallas, got embarrassed twice in playoff games in North Texas and watched the Cowboys go on to win Super Bowls both years.
The Andy Reid years, the Eagles dominated. Big Red went 13-5 vs. Dallas from 2000 through 2008, and overall during his tenure with the Eagles he beat Dallas by 22, 24, 26, 27, 27, 28, 31, 33 and 38 points. From 2000 through 2011, the Cowboys lost 17 games by 22 or more points and more than half were at the hands of the Eagles.
But 2009 ended with the Eagles getting blown out twice in a row in Dallas – by 24 points in the regular-season finale and 20 points in a wild-card game.
And it wasn’t until 2017 that both teams were good again at the same time.
Over the last seven years, the Eagles and Cowboys are among nine NFL teams to play .600 football. The Cowboys have dominated the Eagles head-to-head lately – the Eagles are 9-14 in the last 23 meetings, although they beat the Cowboys last month at the Lic, and 0-5 in the last five at AT&T Stadium. But during that span the Eagles have reached two Super Bowls, winning one, and the Cowboys haven’t gotten out of the conference semifinal round.
In a rivalry that goes back 64 years, this is the first time both teams have been elite for so long at the same time.
Whoever wins Sunday night in Arlington will have a very good chance to win the NFC East and whoever loses will have a very difficult road to the No. 1 seed in the conference.
The Eagles are 10-2, the Cowboys are 9-3, and that combined record – 19-5 is a .792 winning percentage – is the 2nd-highest in series history this late in the season.
The only time the Eagles and Cowboys met with better combined records? Last year. The Eagles were 13-1 and the Cowboys 10-4 (a combined .821 winning percentage). The Cowboys won, but Jalen Hurts was out that game, so it’s got an asterisk.
For a rivalry to be legit, you need two elite teams. Check.
You need two MVP-caliber quarterbacks. Check.
You need two fan bases that hate each other. Double check.
The Bears and Packers have a terrific rivalry that goes back to 1921. But they haven’t both had a winning record the same year since 2010.
The Steelers and Ravens have an outstanding rivalry. But they’ve only reached the playoffs the same year once since 2015.
The Browns and Bengals? Great rivalry. But believe it or not they haven’t both had playoff seasons the same year since 1988 – and that was the Browns franchise that’s now the Ravens.
Eagles-Cowboys is the NFL’s best rivalry and these days it’s better than ever because both teams are legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Eagles-Cowboys will always be important and it will always be heated and it will always be meaningful. But when the stakes are this high? There really is nothing like it.
