The NFL is here again, and two archrivals will kick it off.
With their rings in hand, the Philadelphia Eagles’ title defense in 2025 begins with a classic rivalry showdown on Thursday, September 4.
During Monday’s episode of Today, the NFL announced the season-opening game for the 2025 campaign will pit the reigning champions against ‘America’s Team’, the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field.
The NFL traditionally starts its new season with the reigning champion hosting a game, and the Philadelphia fans will no doubt be ready to celebrate with a cheese stake when the hated Cowboys come to town for the 8:20 p.m. ET game that will air on NBC and Peacock.
If recent history is any indication, the home team should win easily:
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.
While Eagles and Cowboys fans can start making plans for the season opener, the rest of the NFL will not have to wait too long to find out how their 2025 schedule will unfold.
The entire 2025 schedule will be released Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET during live shows on NFL Network and ESPN2. Monday’s announcement on Today was the first of five select reveals that will happen leading up to the full schedule release.
For now, though, Philadelphia and Dallas are under the spotlight.
It is one of the NFL’s longest and most fierce rivalries, but the Eagles had no trouble at all with their NFC East foes last season. In fact, they swept their two head-to-head matchups by a combined score of 75-13 with the Cowboys managing just a single touchdown across the eight quarters.
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott did not play in either game because of the hamstring injury that limited him to eight games and largely destroyed the team’s playoff chances on the way to a 7-10 record.
He will also have more weapons in his arsenal when he returns in 2025 outside of CeeDee Lamb, as the Cowboys traded for George Pickens last week.
Jalen Hurts did not suit up in the Week 17 matchup because he was in concussion protocol, and that did not stop the Eagles from winning in blowout fashion, 41-7, behind 167 rushing yards from Saquon Barkley and two touchdowns from wide receiver DeVonta Smith.
The NFL will surely hope for a more competitive game that features both starting quarterbacks this time around. The Cowboys also have a golden opportunity to immediately announce their presence in a division that belonged to the Eagles as well as the Washington Commanders in 2024.
While Dallas missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2020 campaign, Washington and Philadelphia faced each other in the NFC Championship Game.
September 4 is a chance for America’s Team to start closing that gap.
