The NFL on Wednesday finally, mercifully, released its schedule for all 32 teams.
About time, too, because the league did such a tremendous job keeping these games from being leaked that nobody – and I mean nobody – got a sneak preview of the matchups before they were officially unveiled around 8 p.m.
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles will be on prime time at least five times in 2025, starting with Thursday night’s season opener against the Cowboys.
Our own Jimmy Kempski did a great job going through some of the advantages and disadvantages of this year’s Eagles schedule, including the convenience of a Week 9 bye and the unfortunate reality that they'll play one of the NFL’s toughest schedules.
Here we’ll take a look at some other standout features of the upcoming slate…
Toughest stretch
Gentlemen, start your engines. Buckle up for a wild ride out of the gate, as September features the Cowboys, who shouldn't have their typical litany of injuries in Week 1, followed by three 2024 postseason teams in the Chiefs, Rams and Buccaneers. Two of those last three games are on the road. Also, Dak Prescott usually plays well against the Eagles; he’s 9-4 for his career against them. The second-toughest stretch would be the last leg. Weeks 16-18 against the Commanders, Bills and Commanders again could rival September’s slate, but it’s impossible to predict if all three of those games will matter.
Easiest stretch
Weeks 5-8 pit the Eagles against the Giants twice, against a Broncos team that’ll be good but probably not elite, and against a Vikings team that’ll be eight weeks into its J.J. McCarthy experiment. Compared to all the other quarterbacks on the schedule, this stretch is a breeze. Bo Nix enjoyed a nice rookie season as the Broncos overachieved in 2024, but Denver still lacks an abundance of playmakers. The Giants actually have decent playmakers, but whoever they’re starting at quarterback in Weeks 6 and 8 – Russell Wilson, James Winston or rookie Jaxson Dart – will easily be the worst on the Eagles' schedule, unless McCarthy in Week 7 turns out worse.
Oddest scheduling glitch
Having trouble choosing between the defending Super Bowl champs not having back-to-back home games at any point during the season or them having to play two different NFC East opponents twice in three weeks, including two games against the Giants in a 17-day span and two against the Commanders in the season’s final three weeks.
Best road trip
Without question, Week 10 at Green Bay. There’s no NFL stadium better than Lambeau Field, which should be a bucket-list trip for any NFL fan. There’s a neat two-story Packers Hall of Fame museum inside the stadium, and the venue itself is a historical artifact nestled warmly in the heart of a Green Bay neighborhood that only adds to the ambiance. Oh, and the Monday night game is a rematch of last year’s NFC Wild Card game, so that makes the intensity of the game match the awesomeness of the environment. Also, Green Bay doesn't have much competition in this year’s road-trip rankings as the next-best trip would be Tampa. I mean, if you're into strip clubs and steakhouses …
Worst road trip
Nobody – not even Santa Claus – wants to be anywhere near Buffalo in late December. It could be 10 degrees – if you’re lucky – in Week 17 when the Eagles travel to Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park for a potential Super Bowl preview against the Bills. It could be played in 10 inches of snow. It could be both. Scheduling this game so late in the season could actually threaten its relevance. Imagine having your frostbitten toes surgically removed just because you stayed to watch a backup bowl for three hours in minus-20 wind chills and lake-effect snow squalls.
- MORE EAGLES
- Game-by-game Eagles 2025 win-loss predictions
- Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the Eagles' 2025 schedule
- What did the Cowboys do to earn the right to be the Eagles' season-opening opponent?
Potential trap game
Week 15 against the Raiders feels like a potential letdown. It’s sandwiched between a road game against the Chargers – a 2024 AFC Wild Card team – and the first of two showdowns against the Commanders. The Eagles will also be on short rest against the Raiders, who last year flew East in Week 2 and overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter against the Ravens in a 26-23 win. The Ravens were coming off their season-opening Thursday night loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City and got blindsided by another vintage Gardner Minshew comeback.
Groundhog Day game
Death, taxes … and the Eagles playing late September in Tampa. The Week 4 matchup between the Birds and Bucs marks the third straight year these teams will square off in September. This year’s game, on Sept. 28, falls exactly one day short of the one-year anniversary of last season’s 33-16 Eagles loss on Sept. 29 at Raymond James Stadium, easily the Eagles’ worst loss of the season, but also a turning point as the team entered the bye at 2-2 and didn’t lose again until Week 16. The 1 p.m. kickoff also guarantees that everyone on the field – and in the stands – will be sweat-soaked before the initial first down. Over-under on a player passing out is set at 1.5.
'We really miss you!' game
Unless he gets traded to Kansas City and beats out Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins won’t be playing against the Eagles in Week 2 for the first time in four seasons. Cousins played against the Eagles in Week 2 while with the Vikings in both 2022 and 2023, and then again last year with the Falcons, who also played the Eagles in Week 2. All three contests were also prime-time games. You can’t make this up. So even if Andy Reid traded for Cousins between now and Week 2, and started him over Mahomes, one of two streaks would still break – unless the NFL flexed it!
'We haven't missed you one bit!' game
The Linc is famous – infamous? – for being tough on road teams, especially on players or coaches from Dallas, Washington and New York. But this year, one man threatens to get arguably the loudest, nastiest, most cruel “Bronx Cheer” heard at the Linc in quite some time. And he doesn’t even play or coach for the Cowboys. Chip Kelly will make his return to South Philly in Week 15 as offensive coordinator of the Raiders, and he’d better hope the Eagles have locked up a playoff spot by then, which still might not spare the former Eagles head coach from feeling the wrath of the Eagles' fan base. Kelly was on his way to running the franchise into the ground before Jeffrey Lurie came to his senses and fired him just before the end of the coach's third season. Lurie then restored personnel power to Howie Roseman, whom Kelly had banished to the other side of the NovaCare Complex. Roseman has since built the 53-man rosters for two Super Bowl champions and three Super Bowl appearances. Advantage, Roseman. Kelly coached the 49ers for one year after his Eagles ouster, went 2-14, and then toiled as UCLA's head coach for six seasons before taking the OC job last year for Ohio State, which won the national championship. If I were Kelly, I'd try to avoid appearing on the score board at any time during the game.
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