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It’s rivalry week and it comes at a good time as the Dallas Cowboys will be hosting the Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving.
Washington is obviously one of three NFC East division rivals for the Cowboys, but we were curious who you think the biggest rivals of America’s Team are. There are a few options.
A lot of this depends on your age. If you’ve been around for a while you might consider the Redskins as the ultimate rival for Dallas, newer generations might feel it’s the Green Bay Packers after the last few playoff losses.
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SB Nation’s FanPulse tool allows us to poll users on questions like this (sign up here if you want to participate!) and the answers are in. Cowboys fans generally view the Eagles as their top rival. The Giants are last.
Washington still comes in second as far as Cowboys rivals which will definitely make Thanksgiving all the more fun. Again, Green Bay isn’t exactly a new rival of the Cowboys as there’s tons of history there, but the last four years certainly haven’t helped that cause.
These games mean more. It’s why the win in Philadelphia a few weeks back was so sweet. The Eagles have literally never defeated the Cowboys while a Super Bowl banner hangs in their stadium. This is a fact and will be one for some time, but is that sentiment returned? How do NFC East teams rank their rivals and where do the Cowboys rank for them?
The entire NFC East is obsessed with the Cowboys and rank them as their top rival
Mariah Carey has a song called “Obsessed” and it might as well be the anthem of the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, and Washington Redskins when it comes to the Cowboys. Each fan base ranked America’s Team as their top and undisputed rival.
The NFC East is really only obsessed with the Cowboys primarily and the Eagles behind them. No more than six percent of a single fan base views the Giants as their top rival and that one was ours. People simply don’t hold that same level of history with them, it seems.
While division teams all cited the Cowboys as their top rival there were other teams that listed the Cowboys among their four most-hated teams. Dallas was listed as a rival by nine different teams, tied for first with the New England Patriots among the league. Those other five teams:
Some of these make sense. Obviously Vikings fans are still sore about Drew Pearson’s Hail Mary, the Texans have little brother syndrome, and the Lions might not exactly be over what DeMarcus Lawrence did to Matthew Stafford in the 2014 wildcard round. Rivalries become what they are for different reasons, but it’s interesting to see who else considers the Cowboys among theirs.
Do you agree with the Eagles as the top rival for the Cowboys? How do you feel about the entire division hating us more than anyone else? Rivalries bring out the best, and often worst, in folks after all!