Blogging The Boys
Football season is back. For the Dallas Cowboys, it begins a little sooner as they get to kick off the 2025 season with a Thursday night affair. And it’s a big one right out of the gate. The Cowboys will head into the always-welcoming Lincoln Financial Field to play the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles. Yuck. Trust me, that was just as hard to write as it was for you to read.
Immediately, this new-look Cowboys will be tested. And when we say new look, we’re not kidding. This year, there will be no DeMarcus Lawrence and Zack Martin for the first time since 2013. Father time has caught up to those guys, but the team also no longer has the sprightly, uber-talented Micah Parsons. Now that one hurts. Instead, the Cowboys have reloaded with a new wide receiver, defensive tackle, and linebacker – all of which were former top draft picks who the team acquired via trade this offseason.
How will this new squad look? Thursday night’s game sets the table for what type of season they could be looking at this year. Here are five things we’ll be keeping our eye out for on Thursday night.
The Eagles’ new running back, Saquon Barkley, had himself a monster year last season, eclipsing 2,000 rushing yards. He carried the ball 345 times at an impressive rate of 5.8 yards per carry. Historically, the Cowboys have done a good job containing Barkley, but that was when he was with the New York Giants. They held him to just 66 yards in their first meeting last year, but then he got loose for 167 later in the year. The Eagles have one of the top offensive lines in the game, with four of their starters earning either All-Pro or Pro Bowl honors last season. Their run game coordinator/offensive line coach, Jeff Stoutland, is one of the best in the business. Containing the Eagles’ ground attack will be a huge task.
Run defense has been an Achilles heel for Dallas over the years, but they are hoping some new pieces will help rectify that. Matt Eberflus had a lot of success in that area during his time as the defensive coordinator in Indianapolis, and the team also just received three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark. How the Cowboys fare against one of the league’s top rushing teams will be a huge reveal for this football team.
Stopping the run will be paramount, but establishing some sense of a ground game themselves is also important. This was an area that never could get going last season, and it made the Cowboys’ offense one-dimensional. They are hoping things will look a little different this time around.
The team hired two great offensive line coaches in Klayton Adams, who is now the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator, and Conor Riley. The running back room remains a big mystery, as we never even got to see...
