Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Week 1 Thursday Night Football Result – Dallas Cowboys Narrowly Miss Opportunity to Upset Defending Champions, Show Promise under New HC Brian Schottenheimer

Defending champs Eagles get new season underway with a win at home!

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Opening night of the 2025-26 NFL season had it all with the Philadelphia Eagles hosting arch rivals Dallas Cowboys to kick things off. If fans were expecting a timid start to the first game of the regular season, they could not have been more wrong.

Even before the first snap of the game was taken, Eagles’ second-year defensive tackle Jalen Carter got himself ejected for spitting on Dak Prescott. Yes, you heard that right, Jalen Carter spat on Dak Prescott just seconds into the game.

Here is Jalen Carter spitting on Dak Prescott: pic.twitter.com/4F5BjEDLHf
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 5, 2025

And if that was not enough, a massive scuffle broke out during the Eagles’ ensuing kickoff after tying the game up at 7-7 in the first quarter. If ever the NFL wanted a banger of a start to the season, this game provided just that.

Back and Forth First Half Finishes with 7 Scoring Drives

The big story to start the first half was the Jalen Carter ejection before the first snap of the game. That allowed Dallas to establish a run game before Prescott found CeeDee Lamb for a 32-yard pass, putting them a yard shy of the endzone.

The Eagles’ secondary missed former corner Darius Slay, whom they traded to the Steelers this offseason. As a result of which, Dallas targeted Adoree Jackson with great success early on. A one-yard run put Dallas up 7-0 in the first drive of the game.

However, the Cowboys’ jubilation lasted only a few minutes as the Eagles carved out a 10-play, 70-yard drive of their own with a good mixture of passing and running. Philly’s offensive line, known for being one of the top lines in the league, did not disappoint. They ensured excellent blocking up front, allowing Jalen Hurts sufficient time to get the ball out.

A.J. Brown did not receive a target or touch during the first half of Cowboys-Eagles. pic.twitter.com/FCsgIM8y6a
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 5, 2025

If the Eagles were missing Jalen Carter on defense, the Cowboys were missing Micah Parsons as well, which showed in their lack of ability to get anywhere close to Hurts. The Eagles’ signal caller was able to use his legs effectively, picking up crucial first downs when the air game was not on offer.

Both teams continued their offensive momentum throughout the first half. All seven drives before halftime (Dallas – 4 and Philadelphia – 3) ended with points on the board as the Eagles headed for the break up by a narrow 21-20 margin.

Defensive Adjustments Slow Down Scoring in Second Half

If the first half was all offense, the second half was about the defense. Dallas did have an excellent chance to score after a Myles Sanders burst through the middle, saw him pick up 49 yards on the run play, setting the Cowboys nicely just outside the Eagles’ ten-yard line.

Unfortunately, just a few plays later, Sanders fumbled the ball, and the Eagles’ cornerback Quinyon Mitchell recovered it.

With just under 5 minutes to go in the third quarter, the game was delayed due to lightning and severe thunderstorms near Lincoln Financial Field, which killed most of the momentum. There was only one field goal in the entire second half, made by the Eagles, who would then hold on to win 24-20 in a closely fought season opener.

How ‘bout dem Birds?@BetMGM | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/MxGQa9Hb4V
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 5, 2025

A big surprise was how Dallas was able to mitigate Philadelphia’s top receiver duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, holding the latter to just 3 catches for 16 yards while Brown caught just the one pass for 8 yards in the entire game.

Game Stats

Jalen Hurts finished 19/23 for 152 passing yards while also running for 62 yards, while Dak Prescott finished 21/34 for 188 passing yards. Saquon Barkley finished the game with 60 yards rushing, and CeeDee Lamb had 110 receiving yards from 7 receptions.

The table below shows the team stats.

Philadelphia Eagles	Category	Dallas Cowboys
302	Total yards	307
144	Passing yards	188
158	Rushing yards	119
1	Sacks allowed	0
9 (110)	Penalties (yards)	4 (42)
0	Fumbles lost	1
0	Interceptions	0

A positive for both teams as they look forward to the upcoming games is that quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Jalen Hurts both looked sharp. Prescott proved that he has well and truly recovered from his hamstring injury, while Hurts continued to show he is a force both on the ground and through the air.

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

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Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!