Eagles-Cowboys Megapreview: Jalen Hurts’ Task, George Pickens’ Role, Bets I Like, Prediction and More
Week 1 of the NFL season arrives with a marquee matchup: the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles facing off against the spotlight-hogging Dallas Cowboys. Last year, the Eagles steamrolled to a title behind a dominant defense and explosive, albeit at times inconsistent, offense, overwhelming the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans. The offense returns essentially everyone except a guard and an offensive coordinator (Kevin Patullo has been promoted from pass game coordinator to replace Kellen Moore, so I expect the Eagles offense to keep playing the hits).
Despite a turbulent season marred by injuries, the Cowboys enter 2025 with a new head coach, defensive coordinator, and their best player – quarterback Dak Prescott – now playing for the Green Bay Packers. Adding to the roster shuffle are several former first-round draft picks, notably George Pickens.
Jalen Hurts Was Up and Down the Last Time He Faced a Matt Eberflus Defense, But There Are Answers for Eagles
The last time Jalen Hurts faced a Matt Eberflus-coached defense (Week 15, 2022), he had a wonky day – finishing with 17 rushing attempts, 3 touchdowns, 171 yards throwing, 315 yards passing, and 2 interceptions, and a dismal 38.1% completion rate. This was his All-Pro season. However, the Eagles defense lost Micah Parsons, and the offense, at least initially, struggled to sustain momentum. Hurts, even after a tumultuous end to 2023 that culminated in a wild card exit at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, showed signs of improvement.
It feels like the Cowboys put a 10-gallon hat on a baseball hat in terms of stopping the run, especially with a defensive scheme that typically aligns their front four in a traditional way. While Clark can be disruptive — he’s ninth in stuff rate among qualifying DTs over the past two seasons — he is not the block-eating, down-to-down defensive plugger that this defense has desperately needed since Johnathan Hankins left for Seattle two years ago. Clark’s run stop rate (a stop is a tackle that resulted in an unsuccessful play for the offense) was only 8.8% over the past two seasons, ranking 21st out of 25 qualifying defensive tackles since 2023, just above his new Cowboys teammate Osa Odighizuwa, who is an excellent gap-shooting defensive tackle but lacks size to hold up against double-teams. And Mazi Smith has been an entire non-factor in his NFL career.
Despite Cowboys’ trade to stop the run, Eagles should still find success against them.
Eagles-Cowboys Prop Bets I Like
* Jake Ferguson OVER 33.5 yards receiving (-125) (over 50 yards is +200, if feeling frisky)
* George Pickens anytime TD (+190)
* Jalen Hurts OVER 9.5 rush attempts (-110)
* Jalen Hurts OVER 35.5 yards longest pass completion (-120)
* Saquon Barkley over 19.5 yards longest rush (-150)
Eagles-Cowboys Prediction
I think the Eagles take control in the 2nd half but the Cowboys hit a backdoor cover.
Eagles 34, Cowboys 27
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