The Philadelphia Eagles finished the 2019 season atop the NFC East. Admittedly, the division as a whole was pretty weak. Due to that, Philadelphia took the crown with just a 9-7 record.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys finished in second with a record of 8-8. The New York Giants were in third with a 4-12 record and the Washington Football Team came in last with a 3-13 mark.
Yes, the division was weak, but it was far from easy for the Eagles. They went an incredible 5-1 in the division, only losing one game to the Cowboys while sweeping the other two teams.
However, all the games were close. In Week 17, they beat the Giants by 17. That was their biggest point differential in a win against the NFC East. The other game against New York saw the Eagles win by six in overtime.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia beat Washington by 10 in each of their contests and they beat the Cowboys by eight once and lost by a whopping 27 the other time.
So despite a 5-1 record against the division, they only had a plus-18 in those games. Clearly, nothing came easy for Philadelphia in 2019.
The good news for them is, they've made some improvements this offseason. However, so did everyone else.
So who is the biggest threat to the Eagles in the NFC East in 2020? Let's go through each team individually and try to figure it out.
3. Giants
The Giants come in at third here. Although it's pretty close. Quarterback Daniel Jones had a strong rookie season after a lot of people questioned the decision to draft him so early (sixth overall).
Jones threw 24 touchdowns and ran in two more despite appearing in just 13 games. That's pretty impressive.
However, he had serious turnover problems. The rookie finished with 12 interceptions and fumbled the ball 18 times.
If Jones can improve on that, New York could be dangerous offensively. Saquon Barkley is one of the best running backs in football and the weapons in the passing game are nice.
However, the issue here might be the defense. The Giants had the eighth-worst defense when it came to total yards allowed per game (377.3) and the third-worst when it came to points allowed per game (28.2).
Those numbers are really ugly. And it's hard to say that New York did enough to improve on that side of the ball to make much of a difference.
Adding James Bradberry was great for the secondary. But they also lost DeAndre Baker and Janoris Jenkins.
Meanwhile, the pass rush is a legitimate question mark and could make things a little too difficult for the secondary. Not much of a pass rush is going to put even more pressure on the defensive backs. And that could turn ugly.
Expect the Giants to be in a lot of high-scoring games. And Jones will have improved nicely. However, the turnovers will probably still be a problem. And that's going to be a bad pairing with a bad defense.
So while New York should be entertaining to watch and is on the upswing, 2020 still does not see them as a threat to the Eagles.
2. Washington
It was a toss-up between them and the Giants for this spot. But Washington simply has a much better defense.
Yes, it feels like every year people talk about how this could be a great defense, and they tend to disappoint. And once again they are coming into the year with a bit of an issue in the secondary.
However, they have improved a little bit there. Kendall Fuller is a great addition. Meanwhile, Ronald Darby and Aaron Colvin could be solid contributors.
That pass rush is the main attraction though. Chase Young and Montez Sweat could be an elite combination for a long time – and that includes 2020. Ryan Kerrigan is the veteran that still makes an impact, while Jonathan Allen, Da'Ron Payne, Matthew Ioannidis and Tim Settle are a great rotation on the defensive line as well.
Even Reuben Foster and Thomas Davis Sr. could make an impact in that area.
Long story short, they will give headaches to quarterbacks (and likely aches all over their bodies). And as we know, Carson Wentz has a history of injuries.
That is where Washington might be the biggest threat to the Eagles. The offense is interesting (Dwayne Haskins has improved nicely and his weapons aren't great, but definitely exciting with potential). But it's probably not good enough to make Washington a winner just yet.
How they really could be a threat to Philadelphia is the defense. They are going to get to Wentz often and that could be dangerous. Could they derail Philadelphia's season in more ways than just potentially beating them?
1. Cowboys
This seemed obvious. New York and Washington are both young and exciting. Both teams could be great in a few years.
Right now though, they most likely won't be winning a division – even one as weak as the NFC East is considered.
Dallas, on the other hand, could be a real problem. Last year they were right in the running and they've made a lot of nice moves this offseason.
One of those moves was selecting wide receiver CeeDee Lamb when he inexplicably fell to them at the 17th spot in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Lamb is added to a receiver group that already boasts superstars in Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper. Those kinds of weapons should be illegal for a quarterback like Dak Prescott to have.
Dallas also has one of the best running backs in football in Ezekiel Elliott. That offensive unit is just scary. Especially considering the incredibly skilled offensive line that protects the quarterback.
The Cowboys also have a very skilled and stout defense. While the secondary still isn't most threatening in the league, but they can hold their own. And with the linebacker and pass rush unit that they have, that's more than good enough.
Last season, Dallas proved they were more than capable of challenging the Eagles for the NFC East title. A pair of three-game losing streaks really derailed their season though.
With a new head coach to breathe new life into the team, maybe 2020 is the year that the Cowboys enter with high expectations and actually meet them.
Dallas and Philadelphia should be an entertaining race in 2020. Both teams are flawed, but both have Super Bowl contention potential as well.
We could very easily see them both struggle and see something similar to last season (when 9-7 was good enough to win the division). At the same time though, we could see a team win 11 games and not even take the NFC East crown home with them.
These two teams should battle it out all season long (with New York and Washington adding some intriguing storylines). And it would be surprising if either of them has the NFC East title locked up anytime before Week 16.
So who wins the NFC East? Will it be the Cowboys or the Eagles? At the moment, it's really hard to tell. Both make strong cases and have the credentials to go the distance.
What we do know is, the Eagles are the reigning champions of the division. But the Cowboys are definitely the biggest threat to their dreams of repeating in 2020.
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