By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
There was much rejoicing in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon when Mason Crosby's field-goal attempt cleared the uprights to send the Dallas Cowboys into the offseason.
For two weekends, Eagles fans put their rooting interest in the Green Bay Packers, who ousted both NFC East rivals in the playoffs this season.
But given the type of season this was for the Eagles, any celebrations will be short-lived. While it is always nice to watch the Giants and Cowboys lose ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, the Eagles have their work cut out for them to join the rest of the group.
The Eagles finished the season at 7-9, but really, that was a modest record improved only by two meaningless home games to end the season, one in which the Cowboys rested all starters. In essence, the Eagles were a five-win team in 2016.
The Eagles have established their quarterback for the future, but face a lot of question marks entering the offseason. The Giants and Cowboys don't.
The Giants will eventually have to address the quarterback position down the road, and may even start that process this season or next, but Eli Manning is still the man in charge and as long as he has Odell Beckham Jr., the Giants offense is always a threat.
The Giants are far from a serious contender, but they certainly surprised a lot of people this season with an 11-win season.
The Cowboys were the team to beat in the NFC going into the playoffs, having posted an impressive 13-3 record with two rookies running the offense.
This is where Dallas serves as a long-term threat. Everyone knew they had found the running back. No one expected Dak Prescott to be what he was as a rookie.
Prescott will come into 2017 with a target on his back. After all, this is a rookie who dominated the teams he played all season, has weapons at every position — with Dez Bryant, Cole Beasley, Terrance Williams, Jason Witten and Ezekiel Elliott — and a dominant offensive line. But such immense success in the first season only increases expectations in the next.
The Redskins are the interesting team in the group. After throwing massive money at Kirk Cousins, who did perform well this season, they weren't able to build off a division-winning season in 2015. They have decisions to make at wide receiver with Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson heading to free agency. They really have never been a strong team in rushing offense — except when they played the Eagles — and their defense has a few dynamic players, but was suspect against potent offenses.
And yet this was also a team that lost the first two games of the season and then went on a four-game winning streak. They suffered a loss, then a tie and then won two more games. Entering play on Nov. 24, they were 6-3-1 and very much in the playoff race. Even after back-to-back losses, a win over the Eagles for the second time in 2016 made them a 7-5-1 team with three games to play. They finished 8-7-1, and had they won against the Giants in Week 17, they would have made the playoffs as well.
So all three of the Eagles division rivals were in the playoff hunt and on the rise in 2016 while the Eagles had to take another step back, still rebuilding, still trying to find the rest of the pieces. It only makes the road back to contention that much harder.
