Whilst there is a gulf in class between the good and bad teams in the conference this season, the NFC is still wide open at the top. Could we be about to relive NFL history?

The 49ers and Cowboys share 10 Super Bowls between them, with five each.

San Francisco were the team of the 1980s, with four of their five titles coming between 1982 and 1990. Dallas dominated the 90s with three Super Bowls in four seasons. 

This era also saw a historic rivalry take place between both teams. Not only did they also meet in the NFC Championship game twice in the early 1970s, they also met four times at the same stage between 1980 and 1995. 

As historic rivalries often do, this era saw one of the most famous NFL moments. Fans of the sport during the era will never forget the infamous 1981 NFC Championship game and ‘The Catch’, Joe Montana throwing to Dwight Clark late in the fourth quarter. 

However, for years, these teams never met in the big moments. Neither team has won a Super Bowl in the 21st century, with San Francisco 0-2 in Super Bowls post-2000. Dallas have not even made it to the NFC Championship since they won it all during the 1995 season. They have since gone 4-10 in the postseason. 

Before last season, these teams had not met in the playoffs since January 15th 1995. Last season’s game was a taster of what is to come. Whilst they had not met in years in the postseason, the drama never left this rivalry. A strange play call from Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy saw them run a quarterback draw with just seconds left and no timeouts. This led to a frantic rush to spike to ball from Dak Prescott ultimately fail. We could be set for another historic matchup.

And there is no reason why not. When it comes to their offenses, San Francisco and Dallas are ninth and 10th respectively for total yards per game, and both feature in the top 10 for both rushing yards and total points per game. With defenses that are both in the top five for total yards allowed per game, these two should create an explosive encounter.

As it stands, at the time of writing, the 49ers would occupy the third seed in the NFC, with a current 9-4 record whereas the Cowboys would take the fifth seed spot despite having the joint second-most wins in the conference (10-3). This is due to their division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, having a 12-1 record as it stands.

There is a lot of belief that the 10-3 Minnesota Vikings are a team that has a better record than they should, but they are still a team with double-digit wins before the start of Week 15. This means that they, the Cowboys, Eagles and 49ers are the best teams in the conference. 

Should the 49ers, Vikings and Cowboys all win in the Wildcard Round in the currently projected matchups, this would see the Vikings host the Niners and the Eagles host the Cowboys off the back of a playoff bye.

Provided the Cowboys and 49ers both win, then once again these two teams would meet in the NFC Championship game. Both teams already lead the NFL for most NFC Championship appearances, and back-to-back seasons with these teams meeting could reload one of the game’s greatest rivalries.

The post How The Cowboys and 49ers Could Restart A Historic Rivalry appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jake Rajala

The Philadelphia Eagles turned on their jets last regular season, as they won four out of their past five games. Philly arrived in the NFC playoff dance, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers mopped the floor against the Eagles in their second match-up in the 2021-2022 season. Nonetheless, the Eagles have a lot of optimism to be more potent next season. With that said, I’m going to untwine three reasons why the Eagles can actually win the NFC East next season.

• The new faces in the Eagles front seven

The Eagles GM Howie Roseman truly did a fantastic job of inking the former Temple defender Haason Reddick and then drafting Jordan Davis 13th overall. Plus, the Eagles nicely retained the Eagles legend Fletcher Cox. Reddick will have fantastic match-ups on the edge and Davis should dominate his one-on-one blocks. The Eagles are building a front seven that may be more talented than the Saints and Buccaneers front seven in the near future.

• The introduction of A.J. Brown

The Eagles fan base shouldn’t feel the need to virtually sacrifice Jalen Reagor moving forward, as A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith will be the new WR duo in 2022. Brown was a fantastic pick-up, as he can nicely be a serious threat with short passes and screens. The Eagles ranked first in the league last season in rushing YPG and it’s clear their play-action game will move up a notch with Brown.

• The slight demise of the Cowboys offense

The Dallas Cowboys have witnessed Ezekiel Elliot look less impressive in each of the past two seasons. There have even been projections of Tony Pollard being crowned the Dallas RB1 soon. Outside of Zeke losing his magic, the Cowboys shipped away Amari Cooper to the Browns this off-season. I have no doubt that the Cowboys will have a high-scoring offense next season, but I expect the Cowboys O to not carry their team in many moments of the 2022 season (or drop 56+ points in a game).

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By: Trenton Roberts (Twitter: @TRobertsNFL)

Background:

As the NFL offseason slowly moves along, there is increasingly less to talk about as we wait for the season to roll around. With more time on our hands, writers and journalists are looking for anything to write about. That was where the idea for this series arose from.

In the NFL today, there are many young talents who seem to already be heading towards acquiring a bust in Canton. Reaching the NFL Hall-of-Fame is one of the most prestigious honors any player can hope to achieve in their careers and is what motivate many players to improve and play at the highest level. In this series, we will discuss how some of these players have already left their marks and what they can do to ensure their eventual enshrinement.

Over the next ten weeks, we will make our way through twenty total players in the NFL today under the age of 28 who are well on their ways to the Hall. Twice a week, a new name will be discussed and debated in order to see where they stand and what they can do in their “Quest for Canton”.

Article:

In 2016, the Cowboy’s started a three-year run of a team drafting a running back with a top five pick in the NFL draft, selecting Ohio State star Ezekiel Elliot with the 4^th overall selection of the class. The Jacksonville Jaguars followed suit the next season, taking LSU bruiser Leonard Fournette with the same selection, and In 2018, the Giants finished the trifecta, selecting Penn State superstar Saquon Barkley as the second overall pick. Since then, each back has gone on to have success in their respective careers, with Fournette playing a key role in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2020-21 title run and Barkley dominating when healthy, even leading the league in scrimmage yards as a rookie.

What “Zeke” has done through five seasons, however, dwarfs anything the other two have accomplished, as well as the majority of every other first five years a running back has had in league history. In that time, the young Cowboy’s rusher has already led the league in rushing yards twice and led as well in rushing yards per game in each of his first three seasons. 

Through a players first 50 career games, Elliott finishes third in yards from scrimmage since the merger, with his 6,300 trailing just Edgerrin James (6,506) and LaDanian Tomlinson (6,425). He also made an immediate impact in Dallas, totaling 1,631 rushing yards and 15 rushing scores as a rookie and helping propel the Cowboys to the second-best record in the league (13-3) and pairing with fellow rookie, quarterback Dak Prescott, to dominate the league.

Despite a down year in 2020, in which the team lost Prescott early to injury and never recovered, Elliott’s early years remain some of the greatest in history. He ranks in the top 15 in NFL history in both rushing yards and touchdowns through a players first five seasons, with all 14 ahead of him either currently or soon-to-be enshrined in the Hall. Zeke should return back to prior form with a healthy Prescott keeping defenses honest once more in 2021 and continue his run as one of the best backs of this generation.

As it stands, Zeke is already well on his way to Canton, and should join the ranks of the greats soon enough should he continue his amazing career start!

Tune in early next week as we hit the quarter-way mark of the series and break down another legendary running back of this generation: Carolina Panthers superstar Christian McCaffrey.

The post Ezekiel Elliot has proven to be a historical talent at the RB position appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

The league’s best offense for fantasy football production might not reside in Kansas City”¦

By: Trenton Roberts (Twitter: @TRobertsNFL)

Patrick Mahomes has been all the rage in the NFL for the past few seasons, leading a dominant Chiefs offense to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances and garnering an MVP award in 2018. Paired with an all-time great tight end in Travis Kelce and the league’s best current deep threat, Tyreek Hill, the explosive offense has been the best unit in the league since 2018.

However, by the end of the 2021 season, they might not have the best fantasy football group.

From weeks 1-4 of the 2020 NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys offense was, simply put, unstoppable. During that time frame, Dak Prescott attempted a mind-boggling 50 passing attempts per game, completing 34 passes an outing for a whopping 422.5 yards per game and 9 total scores. On top of that, the young signal caller also added on 84 rushing yards and three scores on the ground in that time frame. In total, Prescott averaged just over 31 fantasy points per game during that pre-injury stretch, tops in the league.

It wasn’t all about Prescott, however. In PPR (Points-Per-Reception) formats, running back Ezekiel Elliott also dominated, averaging 108 scrimmage yards per game in that stretch, along with four touchdowns and nearly six receptions per game on 7.5 targets. Overall, Zeke was fourth at the position after four weeks, averaging just over 22 PPR points per game during that stretch.

Back to the passing game, we can see just how Dak Prescott was able to dominate. It all started with wide receiver Amari Cooper, who, during that same time period, averaged just over nine catches on 12.8 targets per game for 100 yards per game, also chipping in a receiving score in those four weeks. Alongside Cooper was 2020 rookie receiver CeeDee Lamb, who pitched in 21 catches on 29 targets for 309 yards and a pair of scores in those four weeks. Wildly enough, Lamb actually improved later in the season, leaving us to wonder if he can continue to dominate with Prescott back under center. Overall, Cooper and Lamb slotted in as the WR1 and WR16 overall in that stretch, with Cooper averaging just over 21 PPR points per game and Lamb just above 16.

Finally, despite it being a less-talked-about position, Dalton Schultz put on a show for Cowboys fans from the tight end spot during the first four weeks of 2020. During that stretch of play, Schultz chipped in a modest 55 yards per game on 4.5 catches per outing, also catching a pair of scores. These numbers lifted Schultz to the TE6 spot during that stretch, averaging 12.5 PPR points per game in that time. While the number isn’t jaw-dropping, it is a good number for the position, and Schultz could provide some great return on investment.

Overall, the 2021 fantasy football season can’t come soon enough. With a lot of new names and familiar faces in new places, the year should be as exciting as ever. However, as an early prediction, if you can come away with one or more of the Cowboys listed above, I’ll go ahead and say that you’re in for a great season!

The post The Dallas Cowboys: Fantasy Football’s Best Offense? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.