Going into Thursday night’s season opener against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys were not given much of a shot by most pundits. Even the odds in Las Vegas had the Cowboys as an underdog by 8.5 points.
But to the surprise of many, the dawn of the Brian Schottenheimer era not only saw the Cowboys keep it close, but also have a shot to win in the final five minutes. Ultimately, costly mistakes — a Miles Sanders red zone fumble in the third quarter and three drops from CeeDee Lamb in the fourth quarter — gave the Eagles a slim 24-20 victory.
While the tally in the loss column doesn’t count any differently than the 34-6 and 41-7 losses the Cowboys took to this same Eagles team in 2024, there’s a moral victory to be had in having a shot to steal one on the road in Week 1 — even if the effort came up short.
“You saw what we’re capable of in the first half offensively,” Schottenheimer said. “You saw what we’re capable of in the second half defensively. We’ve just got to put the game together in a more complementary fashion, because that’s what we’re capable of.”
Offenses dominate first half, defenses in second
It really was a tale of two halves for both teams. In the first two frames, both teams scored on every offensive possession. For the Cowboys, the scoring opened with two touchdown drives finished off by Javonte Williams rushing scores and two Brandon Aubrey field goals. The Eagles had their way on the ground with 123 yards in the first two frames and three touchdown drives to take a 21-20 advantage into halftime.
But in the second half, both defenses settled in and both offenses stalled. With a 63-minute rain delay mixed into the third quarter, the Eagles outscored the Cowboys by a pedestrian 3-0 margin to walk away with a 24-20 victory. Despite being in the red zone before the Sanders fumble and having a chance to convert deep shots late, the Cowboys ultimately could not get into plus-territory to get on the scoreboard.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win, and offensively we didn’t really do enough,” Schottenheimer said. “We put ourselves in more third-and-longs, and we just weren’t able to capitalize.”
“With all of the change [this offseason], new head coach,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “The group went out there physical as hell. It was fun. We had a chance, we had opportunities. Defense is trying to blame themselves in the first half, and offense is blaming themselves in the second half. A lot of accountability was taken in the locker room, but we’re definitely process-oriented. As [Schottenheimer] said, if we compete like that, we’re going to be proud of the team we put together.”
Reason for optimism
Were unavoidable mistakes had? Absolutely. If just one mishap goes the other way, maybe Dallas walks away with a victory on opening night.
But that wasn’t the reality. Dallas will instead head back to Frisco this week still in search of its first win in the Brian Schottenheimer era as the New York Giants come to AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Sept. 14 for the home opener.
It’s another division game that will require fewer mistakes to pull out a win. But if anything should be taken away from Thursday night’s performance, it’s that Cowboys fans shouldn’t hang their head about losing to Philadelphia for the third time in a row.
If anything, Dallas showed that it’s on the right track with so much season still left to play.