How did Cowboys vs. Eagles become the NFL’s weakest playoff race?

In 2016, the NFC East gave us the league’s best regular season record. In 2017 it was home to the Super Bowl winners. Last year, it produced one-third of the NFC’s playoff teams.

In 2019, the division looks like it’ll be home to a nine-win champion and, unless things change in the next month, a brief cameo in the Wild Card Round.

The Cowboys currently lead the East with the NFL’s 11th-best record. While every other division in the NFC is topped by a team with eight wins or more, Dallas stands alone ahead of Philadelphia, Washington, and New York at 6-5. The Eagles, at 5-6, could still work their way into the postseason despite losing nearly every veteran skill player to injury at some point.

We knew Washington and the Giants were in for a rough year before the season even started. Both were breaking in rookie quarterbacks in the midst of roster overhauls. New York traded away an All-Pro wide receiver and its highest-paid pass rusher. Washington alienated its best offensive lineman so badly he opted to sit out the season rather than get paid the full value of his contract. Expectations were low for the bottom of the NFC East, even if their matching 2-9 records may be a touch worse than predicted.

Let’s focus on the teams at the top of the division’s diaper hill instead. The Eagles and Cowboys each came into the season with young quarterbacks who’d earned preseason MVP hype. The two franchises were responsible for all five of the East’s playoff bids the past three seasons and were primed to make it seven for seven with a successful 2019.

Through 12 weeks of the season, the two are a combined 11-11, with two wins over teams currently in line for a playoff spot — both courtesy of Philadelphia, who beat the Bills and Packers. Dallas’ best win this fall came against ... the Eagles.

So how did we get here? It’s complicated.

All six of the Cowboys’ wins this fall have come against teams with sub-.500 records. Four of those victories were over teams that are currently 2-9. Dak Prescott is throwing his arm off in an MVP-caliber effort behind center — his 312 passing yards per game are 86 more than his career average coming into 2019 — and it’s all been for naught. Those numbers suggest the blame falls on the defense, but Dallas ranks sixth in the league in points allowed and held the Patriots and Saints to 25 total points in two games.

If Prescott’s been good, the defense has mostly taken care of business (albeit against a soft schedule), and Ezekiel Elliott’s still playing at a high level (919 yards, seven touchdowns, 4.3 yards per carry through 11 games), what’s the problem?

The Cowboys can’t win close games.

They’re 0-4 in games decided by four points or fewer. The only win they’ve had in a one-possession game came against the Jeff Driskel-led Lions. No team is squandering more in 2019 than Dallas, and that inability to reconcile talent with victories weighs heavily on head coach Jason Garrett. It was on full display in Week 12. Garrett opted for a field goal late in the fourth quarter trailing by seven points in New England, then the Cowboys never got back to the Patriots’ side of the field in a 13-9 loss.

Team owner Jerry Jones is starting to take notice, and this trend could spell the end of Garrett’s 10-year tenure in Texas.

Despite all that, the Cowboys have a one-game lead in the division and could still turn that potential into a postseason run. That’s, in part, because ...

The headline for Philadelphia’s 2019 problems is that Carson Wentz is suffering through his most disappointing season as a pro. Injuries throughout the Eagles’ offensive line and receiving corps have done him no favors.

The fourth-year quarterback has been roughly as bad, and occasionally worse, than he was in 2016 when he was an overwhelmed rookie making the leap from North Dakota State to the NFL. His 6.5 yards per pass ranks 30th among the league’s 34 qualified starting QBs — sandwiched between Andy Dalton and Ryan Fitzpatrick. His 230 passing yards per game are the lowest in his career.

He’s been bothered by nagging injuries throughout the season, including a hand problem that limited his effectiveness in Week 12’s 17-9 loss to the Seahawks. That hasn’t been nearly as bad for the Philadelphia offense as the injuries that have drained the lineup around him.

Future Hall of Famer left tackle Jason Peters has missed three games and most of a fourth due to a knee problem. Right tackle Lane Johnson missed the final two-thirds of Week 11 and all of Week 12 thanks to a concussion. Rookie Andre Dillard, drafted as Peters’ eventual replacement, has been bad in relief duty and averaged two blown blocks per game. While the interior of the offensive line has remained healthy, that lack of edge protection has Wentz on pace for a career-high 41 sacks.

That’s limited the Eagles offensive production — especially since they’d been blocking for a string of backups. Only three wide receivers or running backs on the roster have appeared in all 11 of the team’s games: rookies Miles Sanders and JJ Arcega-Whiteside, along with reserve wideout Mack Hollins. Contributors like Alshon Jeffery, Jordan Howard, and DeSean Jackson have all missed multiple games this year. Jackson and multi-faceted tailbacks Darren Sproles and Corey Clement have all landed on injured reserve.

On Sunday, the team’s active wide receivers were Hollins, Jordan Matthews (who was signed the week before and released the day after the game), Arcega-Whiteside, and practice-squad callup Greg Ward Jr. They combined for 11 catches and 110 yards against the Seahawks. That’s a poor performance, but Wentz’s sudden and shocking inability to make even basic throws was just as troubling than Philadelphia’s lack of depth.

Even though Wentz has still relied heavily on Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz — he’s got 36 targets over his last three games and is responsible for 50 percent of his team’s touchdowns in that span — that hasn’t been enough to revive the club’s passing offense. After scoring 28.2 points per game in a 3-2 start, the Eagles have averaged just 17 in their last six games. A depleted secondary hasn’t been able to be the lockdown unit Philly needs to stay afloat, and the it’s gone 2-4 as a result.

Fortunately, since the East is a mess, they Eagles still only a game out of a playoff spot and have the Cowboys coming to Pennsylvania in Week 16. The other teams on Philly’s schedule are a combined 8-36 (Washington, Miami, the Giants twice), so it’s possible they get swept by Dallas in the regular season and still win the East outright.

Cowboys: Entirely too talented to be this bad. A quintessential Garrett team.

Eagles: Occasionally good (they beat the Packers in Green Bay!) and occasionally awful (they lost to the Falcons and Lions!). No one knows what’s going on with Wentz, and no one can stay healthy.

Giants: Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley might be good one day. This is not that day.

Washington: Hahaha — no.

Philadelphia needs to get healthy and for Wentz to rediscover his 2017 self. Dallas needs Garrett to stop tripping over his own playsheet and prove this lineup can beat a winning team. Otherwise, the East is looking at a one-and-done trip to the NFC playoffs — and a non-threatening road game for whichever 12-win wild card team gets the honor of facing the Cowboys or Eagles this January.