Football is finally upon us. Enough celebrating Super Bowl LIX. Enough Micah Parsons talk. We have actual real, live football on Thursday night. The season opener is always a special game. This one is even better with Dallas coming to town.
Trying to preview season openers is always complicated. The majority of the information we have is from the previous season. Dak Prescott only played half the season in 2024. Parsons started 13 games. Trying to evaluate the Dallas offense and defense based on that is tricky, especially since there is a new coaching staff.
Brian Schottenheimer has been coaching in the NFL for more than 20 years, but this will be his first season as the head coach. The hire was underwhelming from a PR standpoint. So was Doug Pederson. So was Nick Sirianni. The difference is that Jerry Jones didn’t do much of a search before making his choice. It felt like he was looking for a Yes Man. We’ll see how this works out.
Dallas still has some really talented players.
Dak Prescott is an above average QB. He threw 36 TDs back in 2023 and has completed 67 percent of his passes over the course of his career. When he’s healthy, Prescott puts up good numbers. He has one great receiver in CeeDee Lamb. Last year he caught 101 passes despite having to battle injuries and missing a couple of games. Lamb is dangerous from the slot or outside. This season he’ll have a new partner, with George Pickens now a Cowboy. Pickens is very talented and is good down the field. He is exactly the kind of playmaker Dallas needed outside, if he can keep his head on straight. Pickens got traded because the Steelers were tired of dealing with him.
The Dallas OL is a bit of a mystery. Tyler Smith is a stud at LG. Rookie Tyler Booker will play RG. He’s big, powerful, and talented, but is still a rookie. You have to think Jalen Carter will get the better of him on more than a few plays. The OTs, Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele, have not played consistently well. Prescott doesn’t have the mobility he used to so he can be vulnerable behind an iffy OL.
The Cowboys lost their stud pass rusher. They do now have a pair of good DTs in Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark. Odighizuwa is quick off the ball and highly disruptive. Clark is a stout NT type who should help their run defense. The edge rushers have potential, but none of them is a guy you fear. They will be at their best if they can get the Eagles into third-and-long situations.
The LBs are a bit of a mystery, but Jack Sanborn could be a player to watch. He played for Matt Eberflus in Chicago so he knows the system. He’s been a solid player in the past.
It sounds like Trevon Diggs might actually play. He and Daron Bland give Dallas a pair of playmaking CBs. They aren’t shutdown corners, though. We’ve seen the Eagles have some success against them.
One area where the Cowboys have an advantage is special teams. Brandon Aubrey is the best kicker in football. If Dallas gets near midfield, they are in scoring range and that is nuts. Aubrey is a weapon. Kevontae Turpin is arguably the best returner in the league. He has explosive speed and he’s burned the Eagles with big plays in the past.
Dallas had a bunch of injuries last year and still went 7-10. There is too much talent for them to truly be a bad team. The flip side is that I don’t think they have a high ceiling. There are too many holes for them to truly compete at a high level. Do not fall into the trap of thinking this is a game Dallas can’t win. I watched the documentary on Netflix recently and there was a great reminder about rivalry games.
Andy Reid started 0-4 as Eagles coach. His first win came over Dallas, a team that featured Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Larry Allen, Greg Ellis, Randall Godfrey, George Teague, Darren Woodson and Deion Sanders. That team lost to Doug Pederson and Charles Johnson. Anything can happen in a rivalry game.
Charles Johnson caught the GW TD pass from Doug Pederson in 1999 to give Andy Reid his 1st win as an #NFL head coach.
I’m guessing the Eagles will come out and run the football, hoping to get Saquon Barkley loose and to test the Dallas run defense. That will give the OL a chance to get into a rhythm. Landon Dickerson practiced on Tuesday and should be good to go. If the Eagles can be bullies and take control of the game, that is the way to go. The Dallas defense is built more on speed than size. Pound on those guys.
Jalen Hurts got off to a slow start last year. He finished hot, as you may remember. I’m curious to see if he can build off that and play well all year long. He will have a new play-caller in Kevin Patullo. They’ve been together long enough that I’m not expecting any issues.
As excited as we’ll be to see all the stars on offense, the Eagles defense will be more interesting because of the uknown factors. I’m guessing we’ll see Jihad Campbell at LB. Vic Fangio will want to get his talented rookie in the field. It seems like Sydney Brown will start at safety and Adoree Jackson at CB. That’s several new faces in the back seven. I’m guessing Dallas will attack them to see how the new guys do.
Fangio will plan his coverages accordingly. He’ll focus on shutting down Lamb as much as possible. He could have Quinyon Mitchell follow Pickens around the field. This could be a good chess match for opening night, with neither team exactly sure what the other wants to do.
As good as the pass rush was in the Super Bowl, it wasn’t great all year long. The Eagles finished the season with 41 sacks and 87 QB hits. Dallas was better in both categories. The pass rush can be better this year if Nolan Smith plays at a high level all year and Jalyx Hunt turns out to be the guy Fangio thinks he can be. The Eagles should be able to get good interior pressure with Carter, Moro Ojomo and the rest of the DTs.
3) Here’s some more Moro Ojomo rushing the QB in an obvious pass rushing situation. The knock on Ojomo was already his inability to rush the quarterback, so this is really good to see. He had a really good game overall and made a few impressive plays. pic.twitter.com/3roheDKDna
If the Eagles are focused, they will win. They have more talent and a good coaching staff. Dallas needs to make big plays and to capitalize on Eagles mistakes to win the game.
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Jimmy Bama posted his 5 Things to Watch. He made a great point about the Cowboys lack of depth at CB. Bland and Diggs both dealt with injuries last year. Kair Elam is the third corner. He’s a former first round pick who struggled in Buffalo. If you re-watch the AFC title game you’ll see Patrick Mahomes going after him several times. Elam has talent, but has not played well.
Those are from last year, but do give us some insight. They certainly don’t paint a great picture for Jerry Jones and his guys.
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I just wanted to say thank you to all of the readers who have made donations. That is truly appreciated and is another reminder that Eagles fans are the best.
The Eagles kickoff the 2025 season on Thursday night when the Cowboys come to town. Expectations are sky high for a team coming off a dominant Super Bowl win just seven months ago.
A lot has changed since then. The coaching staff is different. The roster is different. But this is still a very talented team that should compete for another Super Bowl title. Injuries are always an X-factor. The Eagles stayed very healthy last year and that certainly helped them win it all.
There is also the question of whether success will go to their heads. It doesn’t seem so. Nick Sirianni has preached to his players that this is 2025 and the focus can’t be on past accomplishments. Sirianni usually does an excellent job with his messaging. He’s able to connect with his players and get them to buy in to what he wants them to do. Winning a championship is a powerful drug. You don’t know how people will react to that. Having a serious, driven leader like Jalen Hurts is a good way to keep the rest of the team focused.
If the Eagles have the right mindset, this is going to be a dangerous team. Sirianni embraced his CEO role last season and got the most out of the team. He is ultra-competitive and won’t be satisfied with last year’s success. He wants to win anything and everything, from rock-paper-scissors to shooting baskets to football games.
The offense finished seventh in points and eighth in yards last year. They return 10 starters, having to only break in a new RG. The Eagles combination of Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith is a special group. Add in arguably the best offensive line in football and you’ve got an offense with dynamic potential. The offense started slow in 2024, but the team averaged 36 points per game in the postseason. You could see the offense take a step forward this year.
They will have a new coordinator in Kevin Patullo. This has some people nervous, because the Eagles offense was inconsistent after a coordinator change in 2023. I can’t stress enough how different Patullo and Brian Johnson are. Patullo has coached at the NFL level for more than 15 years. He has worked with Sirianni for the previous seven seasons and has lots of experience with Hurts. Patullo should be ready for this role.
The most interesting question will be what the offense looks like. The Eagles led the NFL in rushing attempts last season, while finishing last in passing attempts. That was by design. Will Sirianni and Patullo try for more balance or will they stick with running the ball? You want to stick with what you do well, but you know defenses spent the offseason focused on how to stop Barkley. Do you start throwing more or is that just what defenses will be expecting?
It will be fun to see what Sirianni and Patullo do with the offense. One reason I could see them throwing the ball more is to avoid too much wear and tear on Barkley. He had 378 regular season touches and then more than 100 in the postseason. The Eagles also have a better set of WRs this year. Brown and Smith are an elite duo. Then you have Jahan Dotson, who is coming off a good postseason and a good summer. John Metchie is talented and willing to do the dirty work. Future Hall of Famer Darius Cooper is waiting to unleash his greatness upon the NFL.
The biggest concern with the offense is probably offensive line depth. The starters should be really good, with four outstanding starters back from the title team. Steen is the new guy, but this is his third season at Stoutland University. He doesn’t have as high a ceiling as Becton, who could be physically dominant. Steen could still be an upgrade, if he can play at a consistently high level. Becton was new to playing guard and would have more missed assignments than you would ideally like.
Beyond the starters things get less certain. Fred Johnson is back as the swing tackle. Brett Toth and Matt Pryor are backups. Toth has two career starts. Pryor has played well at RG. He’s more of a risk at RT. You would be nervous about either of them seeing extended playing time. Rookie Drew Kendall had a good summer and could be active on gamedays.
I expect the offense to be better than last season. There is enough talent for this to be an outstanding unit.
Vic Fangio led the Eagles to the #1 defense in the league last year. The coaching staff is intact, but there will be several new starters and key role players. Those changes will make it tough to repeat that kind of performance. It should also be noted that good offenses tend to be good on a regular basis. There is more variation with defense. My guess on that would be that offense is star driven while defense is about all 11 players functioning together.
Think back to last season. The Eagles had the best pass defense in the league. That was due more to coverage than a dominant pass rush. Losing Darius Slay, CJGJ, and Isaiah Rodgers from the back end of the defense will affect the defense’s ability to cover. Nakobe Dean won’t be in the middle for at least the first month of the season.
Howie and the front office brought in players they think can do a good job in those positions. The question is whether they can gel and perform at a high level on the back end like the 2024 defense was able to. While the chemistry is uncertain, it is encouraging to see the confidence the players have in the scheme and each other.
The Linc – Zack Baun feels like the Eagles’ defense is “miles ahead of where we were last year at this time”https://t.co/3WtCZBzbDt
Fangio admitted in a recent press conference that he was overconfident in the defense early last year. That led to some issues. He learned from that and now has a lot of guys who know the scheme well. While there could be some drop-off, the defense should still be outstanding.
The edge rushers are young. Nolan Smith emerged as a force in the postseason and wants to build on that. Jalyx Hunt started one game last year. He’s got a great opportunity this season. Fangio believes in he and Smith. Depth isn’t ideal, but I think Fangio and the coaches like the backups more than those in the media/public.
The DL group could be the best in the NFL. Jalen Carter is a force to be reckoned with. Fangio seems genuinely excited about Jordan Davis and what he can do this season. That has me excited. Moro Ojomo is the breakout player everyone is ready to see. He had a great summer and could make us all say “Milton who?”.
Zack Baun is back and enjoying life as a star player this time around. He’ll be joined by rookie Jihad Campbell, Jeremiah Trotter Jr and/or Nakobe Dean. We know Dean is out for the first four games. He might get his job back at that point, but could be Wally Pipped if Campbell steps in and plays like a stud.
The coaches wouldn’t announce who will start at safety or corner. Drew Mukuba will get the safety job at some point, but might sit behind Sydney Brown for a few games. Mukuba is the kind of playmaker you want on the field. Corner is more of a mystery. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean give the Eagles a pair of young stars. Will it be Adoree Jackson or Jakorian Bennett playing with them? We’ll find out Thursday night.
Neither of them will be as good as Slay. That’s okay. The Eagles don’t need stars everywhere. You love it when you have them, but it makes managing finances tricky. There are a lot of teams who would kill to have the Eagles corner situation.
I think the pass rush could be improved this season, but the coverage probably won’t be as dominant. Fangio blitzed more this preseason than I remember in the past. Maybe he’ll be more aggressive as a way to keep offenses off balance. Campbell is a good athlete and knows how to get to the QB, as a blitzer or rusher.
Special teams should be good this season. Jake Elliott struggled last year, but had a good summer. He seems ready to get back to his previous form. Returner is a bit up in the air right now. We’ll have to see what the coaches do there. Britain Covey could be the guy for a few weeks until they make a more permanent decision.
One external factor that will affect the upcoming season is a difficult schedule. The Eagles played some good teams last year, but also had their share of cupcakes. That won’t be the case this season. It is crazy, but the Eagles could have a better team than 2024 and still end up with a worse record. Going 14-3 against this schedule would be incredibly impressive.
The tough schedule might actually do the Eagles a favor. This team can’t get distracted by outside noise or it will cost them games. Sirianni and the team leaders can keep everyone focused because of how tough things will be. The first five weeks will require complete focus and attention.
This should be an exciting journey. The Eagles didn’t load up with a lot of veterans in the offseason, instead opting to go young. They want hungry players, guys who will play with a lot of energy and emotion. The Eagles have the second youngest team in the league. The Eagles have tried going with ring-chasers in recent years and it hasn’t worked well at all. From Ryan Kerrigan to Julio Jones…yikes. Not good. This time out they focused on young talent.