We have made it. Week 1 is finally here. The 2025 season kicks off with the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles taking on their NFC East rival, the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles are going to be hanging their championship banner at the Linc and emotions are going to be running high. The Eagles will be looking to start their bid for a repeat with a decisive win over the Cowboys. Meanwhile, we start our betting journey to hit the 60% mark with the season’s first Best Bet.

Best Bet

Saquon Barkley over 93.5 Rush Yards

Cowboys @ Eagles

Match-up Overview and History

The Eagles and the Cowboys have plenty of history against one another. They have met 132 times in their history. Dallas currently holds the lead in the all-time series 74-58. In their last five matchups. Philadelphia has won three out of five. Last year, Philly won both matchups in blowouts. The scores for the games were 41-7 and 34-6. One thing to note in the most recent losses is that Dak Prescott was not available to play for Dallas. Prescott has done quite well in his career against the Eagles. He is 9-4 as a starter. His return tonight will inspire some sort of confidence for the Cowboys.

That confidence is not shared by the books or by the public. Depending on which book you place your bets, the line favors the Eagles by 8.5 points. The over/under for the game is 47.5.

Cowboys Offense

The Cowboys offense remains roughly the same from a season ago. Last year, they averaged 20.6 points per game, which was 21st in the league. This year, they do get back Dak Prescott after he was dealing with injuries. The strength of the offense was their pass game while their run game was nearly nonexistent. They were averaging 227 pass yards per game while only averaging 100 rush yards per game. This was ranked 11th and 27th respectively. The addition of a healthy Dak and a newly signed George Pickens should help increase the pass game numbers.

They signed a few new faces to help improve the run game this year. They will lean on Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, and rookie Jaydon Blue. Given the fact that the Eagles are heavy favorites, the Cowboys will need to rely on a balanced attack on offense so that they can control the clock down the stretch.

Cowboys Defense

The major headline for the Cowboys defensive unit will obviously be the trade of Micah Parsons. It will be the talking point for the entire season, especially if the Cowboys are struggling. With that being said, they have a tough matchup with the Eagles’ powerful offense. This defense that essentially has the same roster minus Parsons, was 29th in rush yards allowed and 17th in pass yards allowed last year. Considering the Eagles ability to run the ball, this does not favor the Cowboys.

The pass defense gets a boost with the return of Trevon Diggs. Diggs was expected to miss this game so having him in the lineup will help in coverage against the tandem of AJ Brown and Devonta Smith.

One thing to note that might get lost in the shuffle of the Parsons trade is that the defense has a brand new coordinator. Matt Eberflus is taking over this defense and will be trying to take a talented roster and turn it into a productive one. The last time he headed a defense, they were ranked 9th in points allowed. He has quite the first test back in his coordinating position.

Eagles Offense

The Eagles offense was a relentless one throughout the 2024 season. It helped propel the team to their Super Bowl title. They were once again a victim of their own success in the offseason. They lost Kellen Moore as their offensive coordinator when he accepted the head coaching job in New Orleans. The new play caller will be Kevin Patullo. He inherits an offense that was scoring 27.2 points per game, which was ranked 7th in the NFL. This offense was heavily reliant on their run game which averaged 179 yards per game and was the 2nd ranked rush attack. Much of that can be attributed to the immediate impact of Saquon Barkley. Barkley ran for over 2000 yards in the regular season and showed no signs of slowing down in the postseason. There might be some concern about the offensive line with the departure of Mekhi Becton. Tyler Steen will be filling that gap. The other four starters remain the same, so there should not be much fall off.

The pass game was the 29th ranked in terms of yards per game. They averaged 187 yards per game. This could be explained by their dominance on the ground and their general lack of need to pass the ball due to leads in games. This offense should hit the ground running once more tonight, pun only slightly intended.

Eagles Defense

The defense was one of the best in the league last year. They allowed an average of 17.8 points per game, which was ranked 2nd in the league. They were the top ranked pass defense, allowing 174 yards per game, and the 10th ranked run defense, allowing 104 yards per game. They lost some key pieces in the secondary in the offseason, so there might be a fall off this year in terms of their ability to defend the pass. Tonight, will be a true test to see how their new look secondary will perform.

Dallas will most likely be relying on their passing over their run game. Their receivers have the ability to shred a defense with the deep ball. The way to help out the secondary will be through the pass rush. As shown in the Super Bowl, the Eagles have the guys on their line to rush the passer with only four rushers. this allows maximum coverage while still being disruptive up front. Either way, this game will most likely be determined by the Eagles’ ability to defend the pass. If they are able to shut down the Cowboys through the air, it could get out of hand quickly.

Best Bet Background – Saquon Barkley over 93.5 Rush Yards

It might be a crazy thing to think that this might be one of the lowest lines we will see for Saquon all year. Last year, it continued to climb to 110+ as the playoffs continued. He has a favorable matchup tonight going against a Cowboys defense that struggled last year against the run. In the most recent matchup between these two teams, Barkley ran the ball 31 times for 167 yards. In 2024 as a whole, Barkley only failed to run for more than 94 yards in 5 out of 20 games that he played. He should be rearing to go and prove that it was not a one-time deal. I would expect Barkley to pick up exactly where he left off. Add in the fact that Dallas jut traded away their best defensive player and that they have a new defensive coordinator, I think Barkley is set up for yet another big night in Philly.