When the Dallas Cowboys travel to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, looking to spoil their Super Bowl championship banner night, they will also be looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak to the hated rivals since 2003-04. These teams have gone punch for punch in recent history beyond last year, with neither side winning more than four times in a row since the Cowboys did from 2017-2019. An Eagles win streak of at least four games in this series isn’t found until 2000-02 when they won
six in a row. The Cowboys own the longest winning streak in rivalry history with 11 straight between 1967-72. Even more amazingly, just one of those wins by Dallas was by one score.
Through all of this history, the stage being set for the Cowboys and Eagles to renew a rivalry that features the two teams with the most division wins in Thursday’s week one season opener feels like the closest thing to a reset as possible for their 133rd all-time meeting. The Cowboys and Eagles first played on September 30th of 1960, and the Cowboys lead the all-time series 74 to 58.
The Eagles sweeping the season series a year ago was the first sweep by either team since 2021, when the Cowboys went a perfect 6-0 against the division. It was the Eagles’ first sweep since 2011, the first of three straight 8-8 seasons under Jason Garrett for the Cowboys.
When the Cowboys earned that sweep in 2021, only one win was a Dak Prescott vs. Jalen Hurts quarterback matchup. For the Eagles’ most recent sweep in 2024, it was Hurts against Cooper Rush in a week 10 win 34-6 in Arlington for the Eagles, and then Rush against Kenny Pickett in a battle of two teams going complete opposite directions in week 17 in the city of brotherly love. The Cowboys were going through the motions in their second to last game and eliminated from playoff contention, ending the season on two losses outside of the playoffs for the first time in four years. The Eagles’ 41-7 win ignited a new winning streak for them, one they rode all the way to a Super Bowl victory over the Chiefs.
One of these two teams not having their starting quarterback in the head-to-head matchups has become a theme of the rivalry as of late. Since Hurts became the Eagles’ starter in 2021, he has missed at least one game in all but one season. Also since 2021, Prescott has missed 15 games, the majority of which came last season after his season-ending injury in week nine. The 2022 week six game at the Eagles was the last of five straight Prescott missed that season, and also the only game backup quarterback Cooper Rush did not win.
Off of a stunning overtime loss in Jacksonville in week 15, Prescott and the Cowboys returned home to face an Eagles team without Hurts. Gardner Minshew surprisingly gave Dallas all they could handle in a shootout 40-34 win for the Cowboys, but it set these teams on different directions down the stretch of the regular season. The Eagles lost again the following week without Hurts, but got their starter back to beat the Giants by six in week 18 and then made a run to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys split their last two regular-season games to enter the playoffs at the familiar record of 12-5, and got a familiar result in their second straight playoff loss to the 49ers – this time in the Divisional Round.
The last time the Cowboys went to the playoffs was also the last time the regular season featured two Hurts vs. Prescott games. With last year feeling like something of a wash in the rivalry, and the scheduling all but guaranteeing a Prescott vs. Hurts week one game this time around, it is these 2023 matchups to look at closely before going into the reset that is 2025.
The first meeting between these teams two seasons ago came on the road for the Cowboys, and was a nail-biting game of inches. The Dallas defense faced just 23 pass attempts from Hurts in this game, tied for his fewest of the season up to that point. DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown both caught touchdowns on two of them though, and Hurts ran ten times for 36 yards and a touchdown of his own. It was Smith’s touchdown that gave the Eagles a lead they’d never lose in the third quarter, and Browns’ that put the Cowboys on their heels also later in the third quarter to go ahead 28-17.
The Eagles not turning the ball over was key in this game, as the Cowboys had more first downs, 114 more total yards, and kept the time of possession about even despite the disparity in the ground game. Philadelphia playing a clean game in these ways and going three-for-three scoring touchdowns in the red zone was just enough support around Hurts to get the dramatic home win with a late defensive stand. Prescott was forced to drop back 27 times in the fourth quarter alone, and the Eagles took advantage with three of their five sacks on the game. Still, Prescott managed one scoring drive with a seven yard touchdown to Jalen Tolbert to make the score 28-23, and came tantalizingly close on two other attempts to have a game winner. In a play that mildly haunts Cowboys fans to this day still, Luke Schoonmaker had a touchdown called on the field with a catch in the flat on fourth and one. The play was reviewed and replayed countless times, eventually revealing that Schoonmaker’s knee was down with the ball millimeters short of the end zone.
The Cowboys defense was forced to get nothing but three and outs in the fourth quarter to keep themselves in the game, and they did just that from the goal line after the Schoonmaker ruling. Unfortunately, the Cowboys would suffer yet another turnover on downs later in the fourth quarter. After being sacked on first and second down going into the two minute warning, CeeDee Lamb got 13 of the 21 yards needed back on third down, but Prescott threw incomplete for Tolbert on fourth down. Thanks to a failed two-point conversion on the earlier Tolbert touchdown, the Cowboys were not in position to kick a field goal, and this would haunt them as they miraculously got the ball back one more time.
Using all three of their timeouts and stopping three straight D’Andre Swift runs, the Cowboys got the ball back with 46 seconds left in desperation mode. A 36-yard pass interference penalty put the Cowboys quickly at midfield, although they still needed a touchdown. They would get into Eagles territory on an ensuing roughing the passer penalty, and on the fringes of the red zone with a 14-yard completion to Lamb. The Cowboys actually got as close as the six-yard line with a first and goal, but a Tyler Smith false start pushed them back to the ten and then a sack put them at the Eagles’ 22-yard line. The Cowboys’ first play from this spot was an incompletion to Tolbert, followed by a delay of game, and their final play of the game came all the way back at the 27. Their best chance to get in the end zone was now behind them. With five seconds left, the Cowboys got the ball to their best play maker in Lamb, but he was tackled short of the end zone and fumbled the ball anyway to lose 28-23.
The loss evened Prescott’s record on the road at the Eagles to 3-3, and was a microcosm of how these teams have differed in being able to support their franchise QBs. Running back Tony Pollard tied with Tolbert for the third most targets in this loss for the Cowboys, who lacked just enough juice on offense around Lamb’s 191-yard game to get the job done. With this disparity only growing between Prescott and Hurts and their teams, with Hurts playing in two Super Bowls and now winning one while Prescott’s first season as the highest paid in the league was a total loss, this 3-3 record being at the turning point of winning or losing is just the tip of the iceberg for motivation on the Cowboys offense Thursday night.
The Cowboys finding out they finally have the pieces to crack a Vic Fangio defense that gave them trouble all throughout the Mike McCarthy era, now with a healthy Prescott, Lamb, George Pickens, Jake Ferguson, and new RB platoon, would be one of the best possible starts for play-calling head coach Brian Schottenheimer. It was instead a Sean Desai defense that made the crucial stands against the Cowboys in that 2023 win, a defense that did not hold up nearly as well in the rematch in week 14.
This time around, Prescott put his 5-1 home record against the Eagles to the test, and improved it to 6-1 with a 33-13 win. It was a familiar Sunday Night Football meeting for these teams inside AT&T Stadium, and a much more balanced effort on offense from the Cowboys to dictate the terms. Pollard carried 16 times for 59 yards, Rico Dowdle had 12 carries for 46 yards and a touchdown, Ferguson caught five of his eight targets for 72 yards, and Lamb along with Michael Gallup caught touchdowns. The Cowboys flipped the red zone script going three-for-three themselves on touchdowns this time, and the Eagles were shut out on one trip after a Hurts fumble was recovered by Donovan Wilson. The Cowboys built a 24-6 lead at halftime, and despite a sack fumble that turned into an ugly touchdown for the Eagles defense on Prescott in the third quarter, three Brandon Aubrey field goals in the second half were enough to hold on.
We can call 2024 a wash when it comes to the Cowboys-Eagles rivalry not in an effort to wash away an obviously historic and championship season for the Eagles, paired with their two wins against the Cowboys. It is more about the apathy the Cowboys front office created going into that season, numbing Cowboys fans so much that the majority of them were not all that bothered by Philadelphia hoisting the Lombardi trophy for the second time. It’s been painfully clear the Cowboys have needed to focus on themselves and their own operation for some time now, and they haven’t exactly proven they’ve learned how to avoid building unnecessary drama right before the season begins this time around either. The Micah Parsons trade will be debated right up until kickoff on a national scale, and then even more so depending on how new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus’ group fares against an Eagles offense that will test them in all of their weak areas.
The Cowboys best chance in this game is the all-too-familiar reliance on Prescott to make big plays with his arm, but a new system and deeper offensive line, and hope for much improved play at running back, are all in place to support him. For the Eagles offense, it will be more of the same of what worked so well last season with Saquon Barkley being the engine out of the backfield. The same can be said about their defensive approach under Fangio, which will do everything it can to limit the amount of downfield throws the Cowboys can make.
Thursday night’s game will mark the third time the Cowboys are in the NFL’s kickoff game, and first since a 2021 loss 31-29 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their previous win did come against a division opponent, but at home vs. the New York Giants 24-17 in 2012. The Eagles have been in this game twice, both after winning the Super Bowl. The league has featured the defending champion in the first game of the year the last eight seasons. Philadelphia defended home field last time as well, beating the Atlanta Falcons 18-12 in 2018.
Also for the Eagles, this will be the first of five games to start their season against playoff teams from a year ago. They will go from hosting the Cowboys to visiting the Chiefs, back home vs. the Rams, at the Buccaneers, and finally home vs. the Broncos. The Cowboys will remain in divisional play for week two at home vs. the Giants, and not see a 2024 playoff team until Micah Parsons and the Packers visit Dallas in week four.
Will the steadiness of Hurts and the continuity they’ve built under Nick Sirianni be enough to win their third straight against the Cowboys, or have all the changes the Cowboys made this offseason really set them up to contend better against their fiercest rival? These are the similar questions surrounding the pending Prescott vs. Hurts primetime matchup, with new faces looking to insert themselves into the rich history of Cowboys-Eagles knowing their best plays will have to come in crunch time to do so.
