One of the great quirks of the NFL schedule is that, no matter what, the team that won the Super Bowl the previous season gets to open the next season at home.
That means someone had to play the Philadelphia Eagles to kick off 2025 — that it’s going to be the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, Sept. 4 in Philadelphia will only stoke the fires of one of the NFL’s great rivalries.
“A backstory to the Cowboys-Eagles regular-season opener: Since 2004, 20 defending Super Bowl champions have played in the first game to open the season. Those teams have gone 15-5 in those games, including the Chiefs’ 27-20 win over the Ravens in last season’s opener,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account on May 12.
The Eagles are coming off a dominant, 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on February 9. The Cowboys are coming off a 7-10 season in 2024 that saw head coach Mike McCarthy replaced by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer in one of the more maligned coaching hires in recent memory.
It will offer a unique twist of the knife for Cowboys fans as the Eagles will get to raise a Super Bowl banner in front of their fiercest rivals.
“The Cowboys have to watch the Eagles raise a Super Bowl banner,” Eagles Fan Central wrote on its official X account. “I dreamed of these days.”
Eagles Have Real Hopes of Defending Title
“We get Cowboy-Eagles September 4 to start the NFL season,” ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said on “Get Up” on May 12. “I thought about going wall to wall with it today.”
It’s hard to think of a better matchup in terms of drawing in eyes to open the season.
“The last time the Eagles opened the season in Philadelphia? Carson Wentz started at QB, DeSean Jackson was the leading receiver, Darren Sproles was the leading rusher, Tim Jernigan finished with a sack,” PHLY’s Zach Berman wrote on his official X account on May 12. “Which is to say, it’s been a long time since Eagles fans had a Week 1 tailgate.”
The game will also feature 2 of the NFL’s highest paid and most high profile players in Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Eagles quarterback and reigning Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts.
“Jalen Hurts has started 6 career games vs. the Cowboys,” Berman wrote. “Dak Prescott has started 13 career games vs. the Eagles. But the two have only started against each other 3 times: Week 3 of the 2021 season Week 9 of the 2023 season Week 14 of the 2023 season …Injuries and end-of-season games have kept them from starting in the same matchups.”
Eagles Favorites to Repeat … Cowboys Seem Down Bad
ESPN Bet has the Eagles projected win total at 11.5 wins headed into 2025 and 6-to-1 odds to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
From ESPN: “The Eagles have 11+ wins in three straight seasons, their longest such stretch since a five-season streak from 2000-04.”
The Cowboys find themselves held in much less regard. ESPN Bet has the Cowboy’ win total projected at 8.5 wins and they have 50-to-1 odds to win their first Super Bowl since the 1995 season.
