Blogging The Boys
There is always a lot on the line when the Cowboys and Eagles get together and we will see it soon enough in Week 1.
The Dallas Cowboys have their first bulletin board item of the 2025 season, the first for new head coach Brian Schottenheimer as the replacement to Mike McCarthy. They will open their season in primetime, on the road, against the defending Super Bowl champions that hail from their very own division, the Philadelphia Eagles. There is no shortage of storylines whenever these teams get together, and Dallas trying to snap a three-game losing streak in Philadelphia against all odds, and start 2025 with a winning record after finishing 7-10 for their first losing season since 2020 a year ago is just one place to start.
An Eagles win in front of their home crowd on the night they raise their second championship banner would actually give them their first three-game win streak in this rivalry since week 14 of 2003, Week 10 of 2004, and Week 15 of that same season. The pressure is on early for Schottenheimer to establish himself against last year’s division winner, and will only continue one way or the other as the Cowboys will continue division play in the next week against the New York Giants.
Schottenheimer has not backed down one bit in his remarks so far to the media when it comes to holding himself to a championship standard, having an unquestionable work ethic, and being successful as a first-time head coach because of these things. For this success to start on opening night, Schottenheimer will have to do something his predecessor Mike McCarthy never did, and something that is of heightened importance considering Schottenheimer is also directly replacing McCarthy’s role as offensive play-caller after being his offensive coordinator. The Cowboys will have to beat Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who just won his first Super Bowl by beating Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs 40-22.
The Eagles defensive performance in the Super Bowl, given the circumstance of the offense they played against, was nothing short of epic as they didn’t allow a touchdown until the third quarter with a 34-0 lead and provided six points themselves with an interception return for touchdown. The very next QB to get a crack at this defense, which was bolstered by the Eagles spending their first five picks in April’s draft all on defense, will be the league’s highest paid in Dak Prescott.
The Cowboys will be out to prove early that on the laundry list of things that went wrong as a team last season, missing Prescott for at least five games for the second time in three seasons belongs squarely at the top. To do so, they will still need Prescott to elevate the entirety of the offense around him in a way Dallas unfairly asked him to do at the start of last season given the lack of run game options, offensive line depth, or receiving threats beyond CeeDee Lamb....
