There's always a special energy to Week 1, especially when it's the champs with first honors.
And there's always a certain buzz around Dallas Week. Those games just always mean more.
Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia is getting all three at once.
The Eagles will unveil their 2024 Super Bowl banner, then begin their chase after another when they take on the rival Cowboys, who are always in the headlines for better or worse, to kick off the NFL's 2025 season.
Jalen Hurts returns as the Super Bowl MVP, and Saquon Barkley as the 2,000-yard star rusher, along with an Eagles offense loaded with various other threats. The Cowboys, meanwhile, have Dak Prescott back healthy, but also don't have Micah Parsons as their best defensive player anymore after contentious contract negotiations blew up in Dallas' face and led Jerry Jones to trade Parsons to Green Bay suddenly last week.
There's no shortage of intrigue heading into the next chapter of the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry, but before getting there, how's a quick trip down memory lane?
Here's a look back on five personal favorite Dallas Week moments. There's a good chance your favorite might not be here, so by all means, sound off in the comments or on social media.
Anyway, here's the rundown...
Nothing sweeter than a sweep
Not going back very far to start, just to last year, but boy, was 2024 heavily weighted toward the Eagles.
The Eagles, from their early October bye and on, stuck as one of the NFL's best teams, while Dallas was struggling and then eventually lost Prescott for the season to a hamstring tear.
The Cowboys were falling apart, and by the time they ran into the Eagles for the first time last November, it was a train wreck – much to the delight of Philly fans everywhere.
Jalen Hurts completed two touchdown passes, punched in a Tush Push, and ran for one more score, while A.J. Brown hauled in 109 yards receiving in a 34-6 blowout down in Arlington.
Then in late December, and even with Hurts out from a concussion, the Eagles just piled on more in Round 2 back in Philly – with both backup QBs.
Barkley ran for 167 yards, Pickett got in on the Tush Push fun and completed a beauty of a touchdown throw to DeVonta Smith, then after Pickett had to exit with his own injury, Tanner McKee stepped in and carved up the Cowboys' defense just as well, which included his first TD pass to A.J. Brown.
The Eagles won, 41-7, outscoring Dallas for the year by a combined score of 75-13 to easily take the season series.
The Cowboys were never anywhere close to the Eagles' level, then had to sit and watch them crush the Chiefs in the Super Bowl as that old trophy case from the early '90s continues to collect dust.
Nothing sweeter for an Eagles fan to see.
Flip the script
Hurts' run as the Eagles' starting QB didn't get off on the best of footing and was mired in uncertainty back in late 2020 on into 2021, as easy as that is to forget now.
And the Cowboys rivalry at the time was particularly lopsided in Dallas' favor.
Prescott had the Eagles' number, and had won three straight over Philly once Hurts had become the QB1.
In the 2022 season, though, the script started to flip.
The Eagles were good. Their defense was terrifying, their offense was loaded, and Hurts looked like he was making his way into the early MVP conversation.
Then Week 6 arrived. Dallas was coming to town for the prime-time matchup. Prescott was hurt, but it was still a chance for the Eagles to make a statement.
Hurts and Brown trapped Parsons in pass coverage, Cooper Rush threw three interceptions, and a late DeVonta Smith touchdown snuffed out a late Dallas push to bring the Eagles to a 26-17 win and well on their way to standing as the NFC's best.
And they finally beat the Cowboys in the Hurts era.
44-6
There are a good few Eagles games that fans can recognize just by their score alone.
This one: Week 17, 2008. The 8-6-1 Eagles got the help they needed earlier in the day to keep narrow playoff hopes alive, and all they had left to do was just beat the Cowboys at home for a Wild Card spot.
They demolished them, though.
Correll Buckhalter went off for 122 total yards and a receiving touchdown, and Chris Clemons and Joselio Hanson (remember those names?) each ran fumble recoveries a long, long way back for scores in a 44-6 thrashing that punched the Eagles' postseason ticket.
A surge to the NFC Championship Game followed, only getting stopped just short of the Super Bowl by a Cinderella Arizona Cardinals team.
Down at the 1
A memorable play from an otherwise forgettable 2007 season.
Up 10-6 on the Cowboys with only 2:19 left down in Dallas, Brian Westbrook broke free on a run that left a wide-open path to the end zone.
But instead of jogging in for the score, Westbrook slowed up, then fell down at the 1-yard line to bring the clock down to the 2-minute warning, which allowed the Eagles to simply kneel it out.
Essentially, Westbrook traded the touchdown for the certainty of a win. A high-IQ football play from a highly versatile running back, but at the time, a killer for fantasy teams everywhere.
'Unhook the trailer!'
It's November, 2017. The Eagles are pummeling everyone, and Carson Wentz doesn't just look like the franchise QB; he looks like the league MVP.
The Birds are in Dallas for Week 11, and they devolve it into a complete thrashing.
Running back Jay Ajayi hit a hole and took off up the middle for 71 yards, only getting stopped by a tackler flailing to catch up as Ajayi slowed up.
The Eagles' offense finished the drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Torrey Smith to help send the team on its way to a 37-9 final over its rival, but not before Ajayi returned to the sideline to get a joking earful from his fellow backs Corey Clement and Kenjon Barner.
The vibes from that 2017 miracle team were immaculate from beginning to end.
This was also my thinly-veiled excuse to bring up that clip again.
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