Aikman EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cowboys Are Best In NFC East’

Troy Aikman EXCLUSIVE: As The NFL Playoffs Approach, The FOX Analyst Insists, ‘The Dallas Cowboys Are Best In NFC East’

DALLAS - FOX lead analyst Troy Aikman does his best to avoid showing any bias toward his old team, the Dallas Cowboys. So we will assume that despite his devotion to DFW, the Hall-of-Fame quarterback and Cowboys legend is using his head and not his heart when he sorts through this weekend's NFC East title contenders, the Washington Football Team, the New York Giants and "America's Team,'' when he makes his pick for the NFL Playoffs-bound club.

"I will say this,'' Aikman told us in an exclusive Wednesday morning visit. "I have said it throughout the year: I do feel that the Cowboys are the best team in the division.''

Aikman joined Shan Shariff and yours truly on 105.3 the Fan in Dallas to help detail the Cowboys' notable turnaround over the last few weeks, which has resulted in three straight victories - but, still, just a 6-9 record.

Aikman is not ignorant to the flaws of the Cowboys' roster, coaching staff and front office - though he continues to believe that first-year coach Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, like most every coach in the NFL, deserves some level of "pass'' for trying to cope in a COVID environment.

But "best team'' it is.

"And some would say, 'OK, well who cares? What does that necessarily mean?'' Aikman continued. "Well, what I think it means is that (Dallas) could go into the postseason, and that they are capable.

"We know what they are on the offensive side of the ball, and the defense is playing better,'' he said. "They're at least getting the takeaways and doing some of the things that they've had a hard time doing the last couple of years.

"And this (Cowboys) team is capable, when they're playing well,'' Aikman said, "of giving anybody a run."

Of course, what has been established in this NFC East is that Washington, New York, and maybe even Philadelphia, are capable of the same.