An oft-chaotic offseason, training camp, and pre-season for the Dallas Cowboys has drawn to a close.
Tonight, what promises to be an oft-chaotic regular season kicks off in the NFL’s season-opening game in Philadelphia.
A week ago, Dallas traded away Micah Parsons, undeniably the best defensive player on the roster, to a bitter conference rival. Tonight they face off against a bitter divisional rival.
They do so having given their quarterback, the highest paid player in the NFL, a legitimate WR2 in George Pickens.
Yet, they did little to improve the running back room.
The offensive line is riddled with injuries and question marks. Can it protect Prescott and open holes for the backs to run through?
Who knows?
We certainly couldn’t tell from any of the three preseason games.
Can Kenny Clark be a run-stopping force in the middle? He wasn’t last year.
The claim is that he was dealing with an injury and that all is well now.
Is it? We have no film to show this is the case.
We know about as little about the linebackers, for that matter.
Nor do we know how the secondary will hold up.
And we haven’t even talked about a career assistant coach in Brian Schottenheimer being handed the keys to the team as its 10th Head Coach.
We’re going to find out tonight though, especially against the Cowboys’ first opponent of the season.
- Who: Philadelphia Eagles
- Where: at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia
- When: Tonight, 7:20 p.m. (CDT)
- How (to watch): NBC, Peacock
Drawing the defending Super Bowl Champions is never an easy task to open a season. The last time Dallas did that was back in 2021.
They lost 31-29 to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay on the night the Bucs celebrated their Super Bowl win.
This season-opener has all the makings of being a full-on train wreck.
Season-Opening Records
Dallas is 41-23-1 all-time in season-opening games. Even more impressive is their record when starting the season on the road.
The Cowboys are 23-12 in Week 1 road games and have won the last two they’ve played.
This year will mark the third straight year that Dallas begins the season on the road.
It’s the longest streak of road games to open a season since 2008-11 and Dallas went 2-2 in that stretch. The longest run of season-openers on the road came between 1993-96 and Dallas was 3-2 in that stretch.
Dallas’ longest run of seasons opened at home came all the way back between 1960-66. The Cowboys went 3-3-1 during that run.
Since then, they have never played more than two consecutive seasons at home to start the year.
Against The Eagles
Dallas holds a 74-58 all-time record against Philadelphia but have lost the last two meetings.
The Eagles have won the last three meetings in Philadelphia, giving them a 33-31-0 advantage over the Cowboys.
Dallas is 3-1 in playoff meetings. All three wins came in Dallas.
The Eagles’ lone win was in Philadelphia in the 1980 NFC Championship game.
The Prediction
Three weeks ago, when I was doing my final game-by-game predictions, I picked the Eagles to win this game by 14 points.
That was before team chaos decided to trade its best defensive player. I’m not sure what good stopping the run is going to do when it came at the expense of putting any pressure on the quarterback.
But this is the Jerry Jones “logic” we’ve been dealing with for decades now.
Frankly, this team has only gotten worse in the 24 days since I made that prediction.
Each year I start the season hoping the team will make it to the Super Bowl, or at least have a great year. This year is very different.
I’m convinced it’s going to be a Dave Campo-level disaster on a weekly basis.
This year I’m starting the season hoping my fears are wrong, all the while knowing they probably aren’t.
Eagles 42, Cowboys 17. It’s going to be one very long year, folks.
