Two of the NFL's oldest rivals are going head to head on Sunday, and the game actually seems like it could mean a whole lot this time around. The NFC East does not nece sarily look like one of football's best Mike Fiers Jersey divisions, but it is arguably its most competitive right now, with the defending champion battling it out near the top with Washington and Dallas.Both of those teams are coming off bounce-back wins that were sorely needed after terrible lo ses suffered in Week 5. Washington had been thoroughly destroyed by New Orleans on Monday Night Football while the limped through a Sunday night stinker against the . It's safe to say both teams feel better about themselves after their respective wins over Carolina and Jacksonville.Washington is 3-2 and holding onto first place in the division, while Dallas has evened its record at 3-3 and sits in second by virtue of a tiebreaker. Whoever comes away with a win here (4:25 p.m., CBS) will take early control of the division until they start playing Philly in a few weeks.Which one of them will get it done? And if they do, how will it happen? Read on to find out. When Washington has the ballWashington rebounded from Week 5's embarra sing lo s to the with a strong performance in a win over the last weekend. played through a dislocated shoulder and ran for 97 yards on 17 carries, helping Washington to a win in a game where it was mi sing several important contributors like . The Dallas defense poses a different challenge than Carolina's, but one Rollie Fingers Jersey that could still prove tough for Washington to crack. More on the NFL A weakne s for years, the Cowboys' defensive line is now one of the better units in the NFL, and it recently got a boost with the return of its second most talented player ( ). is one of the handful of best pa s rushers in the league, as his 5.5 sacks currently rank eighth in the NFL and his 25 total pre sures rank third. Lawrence rushes almost exclusively off the left side of the line, which means will have his hands full on Sunday. And it's not even just against the pa s where Lawrence excels, as he has turned into a dominating run defender as well. The Cowboys will send waves of players like Irving, , , , , rookie , and surprising contributors like Antuan Woods and rotating through the game, and they all have been routinely making plays in the backfield against both the run and pa s. Irving single-handedly ruined several plays last week in his return to the field after a four-game suspension followed by a personal absence. Dallas also sports arguably the NFL's single-best cornerback this season in . The Cowboys had previously moved Jones to safety, but after hiring former defensive coordinator Kris Richard, shifted him back outside. It's worked like gangbusters as he has shut down pretty much everyone in sight. Washington does not have a premier receiver the Cowboys can sic him on, and that actually might play to their advantage on Sunday. favorite targets are tight end and running back Chris Thompson, and again, that could play to Washington's advantage against the Cowboys. The Dallas pa s defense has allowed more than 100 receiving yards per game to tight ends and running backs, per Football Outsiders, and backs in particular have been able to shake free for short catches before the Dallas linebackers (also playing really well, by the way) rally to the ball for a tackle.Smith's best bet is to quickly after the snap find safeties and , linebacker , or interior corners or , and throw the ball in their direction. Targeting Jones, , , or the potentially-returning-from-injury is not likely to yield quite as friendly results. Smith's ability to avoid turnovers plays well against the Cowboys, who have generated only six on the season. It's difficult to move the ball up and down the field with short gain after short gain and still come away with points, but that's both what the Dallas defense forces opposing offenses to do and what Smith is most comfortable doing, most often. If Thompson plays (he's been limited in practice), he is a particularly strong a set in that strategy, and Reed should be able to similarly impact the game Matt Joyce Jersey if and when he gets matched up on a non-Smith or Vander Esch defender.When the Cowboys have the ballAfter fielding one of the worst offenses in the NFL through the first five weeks of the season, the Cowboys absolutely exploded in Week 6 against the Jaguars, hanging 40 points on one of the best defenses in the league. Dallas had scored 20 points or fewer in four of its first five games, with the lone exception being a 26-24 win over the . That game was also the only one in which Dallas had exceeded 17 first downs prior to last week's Blank Jersey demolition of Jacksonville, during which the Cowboys managed to achieve 23 first downs.Much of their succe s against Jacksonville, though, seemed the product of game-plan specific tactics. With elite cornerbacks and A.J. Bouye on the outside, the Jaguars' defense is incredibly tough to beat on the perimeter. Last year, it was incredibly tough to beat in the slot as well, as was one of the NFL's premier slot corners. According to Sports Info Solutions, Colvin allowed a pa ser rating of only 70.5 on throws to players lined up in the slot during the 2017 season. Jacksonville's current slot corner, former Cowboys special-teamer , has allowed a pa ser rating of 115.2 on similar throws. torched Patmon on his way to a nine-catch, 101-yard, two-touchdown afternoon. Washington's pa s defense has been much better against the types of short pa ses that Beasley runs, and it's doubtful he sees as much succe s during this game as he did a week ago. That means the Cowboys will have to hope to get some pa sing-game plays from one or more of , , or rookie -- none of whom has exactly lit the world on fire this season. That trio has combined for just 27 catches (on 56 targets) for 296 yards and one score in six games. has been wildly inefficient when throwing to Hurns and Gallup in particular, as both players have struggled to create any kind of separation. It's no wonder that Prescott has been forced to throw into tight windows more often than almost any quarterback in the league (24 percent of his pa ses, second-highest behind only ), per NFL.com's NextGen Stats. Because Prescott is so often forced to throw into tight coverage, he has one of the lowest expected completion percentages in the NFL. Per NextGen, only pa ses thrown by , , and had le s of an expectation of landing in the arms of their own pa s-catcher than one thrown by Prescott.In the absence of an obvious pa sing-game weakne s for the opponent, Dallas will likely lean on its run game, which has actually fared quite well this season. has 586 yards on the ground -- 37 behind for the NFL lead. Zeke's yards per carry average has rebounded from 4.1 last season to 5.0 this year, just 0.1 shy of where Blake Treinen Jersey he was during his spectacular rookie campaign. And he's done this without star center , with left guard str