It’s bad enough the NFL makes you wait until May before “announcing” its schedule.
It’s bad enough the NFL leaks a smattering of games to its TV partners, dangling the carrot so delicately above the rabid masses instead of one giant bucket dump.
Now comes the league’s ultimate cold-shoulder: having the Eagles open their 2025 season against the Cowboys.
The defending Super Bowl champions and a team that, by season’s end, will celebrate it’s 30th straight year of not winning a Super Bowl will square off at 8:20 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, at the Linc. The game will be broadcast nationally on NBC, which is why NBC’s “Today Show” was given the opportunity to – ahem – “leak” the season opener. (What a scoop! Wonder who let the cat outta that bag…)
The actual schedule still won’t be announced until 8 p.m. Wednesday night, because it just might’ve been a little too nuts for the league to announce the full slate on Sept. 3 — but, hey, let’s not put that idea past them next year.
NFL Schedule Release Week is upon us. Here’s a look at what to expect this week, culminating with the full schedule release 8p ET on Wednesday. #breadcrumbs pic.twitter.com/hqvUSNqEhI
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) May 11, 2025
Anyway, the Cowboys, the Eagles’ most hated NFC East rivals, are not only an unideal opponent for Week 1, but their appearance in the game is actually a sign of the league giving too much respect to its downtrodden Golden Goose franchise and not nearly enough respect for the franchise that just won its second title in its third Super Bowl appearance in the past eight years.
You might have heard this once or twice, but the Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1995, which means that nearly all their casual fans – which is like 80 percent of their base – weren’t yet born or were just really thrilled that Super Bowl Sunday didn’t coincide with a “Donna Martin Graduates!” rerun of 90201.
The Cowboys are 5-14 in playoff games since that Super Bowl, including 0-6 in the NFC Divisional round. Last year, Dallas finished 7-10, missing out on the opportunity to once again suffer an early postseason exit by altogether missing the playoffs for the first time in four years.
The league’s marquee season opener is supposed to feature the defending Super Bowl champs against an opponent that’s either on the rise or seen as a somewhat of an equivalent in the contender landscape.
The Cowboys last year were swept by the Eagles, losing by a combined point margin of 62 points – like a Week 2 college football game.
Last year’s opener pitted the Chiefs, coming off their 2023 Super Bowl win over the Eagles, against the Ravens, who featured a two-time league MVP quarterback and a head coach who’s won a Super Bowl. The Ravens had played the Chiefs in the conference championship the prior offseason, losing 17-10.
When they met last year on the opening Thursday night, the Ravens trailed by 10 in the fourth and nearly rallied back until official replay of the game’s final play determined that a minuscule piece of Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely’s cleat had scraped the back line of the end zone, negating a game-tying touchdown catch.
Imagine if the league had instead scheduled the Raiders against the Chiefs. That’s essentially what this Eagles-Cowboys matchup amounts to.
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Show me any expert’s current “NFL Power Rankings” outside of DFW that has the Cowboys in the NFL’s top 10.
The Eagles aren’t the only NFC East team getting slighted here. A much more worthy division opponent would’ve been the Washington Commanders, who actually beat the Eagles once last year during the regular season, and who miraculously landed in the NFC Championship about a century ahead of schedule thanks to new ownership, a new coaching staff, and hitting on a franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels.
The Commanders, who this season added a five-time Pro Bowl left tackle and Pro Bowl wideout, are far bigger threats on paper than Dallas to dethrone the Eagles.
In fact, the Eagles’ schedule in 2025 is so loaded with contenders and 2024 playoff teams that any of a half-dozen opponents would’ve been better fits, including the Chiefs, Rams, and Bills.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that Eagles-Cowboys will lack viewership, excitement, or its typical trash-talk about the trophy case. (By the way, did ya know the Cowboys have won five Super Bowls??? Yes, grandpa, thanks for the reminder. Back to nap time…)
But that’s just the point. This game doesn’t have to be the season opener for optimum ratings, enthusiasm and an entire week of "cockroaches" being the most-said word on Philly sports-talk radio.
The Eagles and Cowboys could play in parking lot on Saturn in mid-July and millions of people would still watch.
You have to wonder just how small Jerry Jones has been feeling lately as the Eagles and Commanders have gotten more attention for the league to throw him the world's largest pity party by granting his team entry into a spotlight that it didn’t deserve.
Eagles-Cowboys is best when it comes later in the season – one game in the middle, one in late December. It’s better when there’s some buildup and the game takes on extra importance in the standings.
The Cowboys have a new coach in Brian Schottenheimer, new defensive coordinator in Matt Eberflus, are expecting a healthy bounce-back from Dak Prescott, and just traded for a really talented (albeit enigmatic) wideout in George Pickens, but they still have no run game, a questionable secondary and haven’t stopped the run since the Bush Administration (the first one).
They drafted decently and could – emphasis on could – be a playoff team if the ball bounces their way, but if I were calling the shots, they wouldn’t be on the other side when the Eagles open the 2025 season.
But, hey, if I were in charge, the schedule would’ve come out eight weeks ago and this discussion would’ve been old news.
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