The Dallas Cowboys couldn’t take down the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to kick off the 2025 NFL season, but not all is bad for you, Cowboys fans. It was a game where maybe if a couple things go their way (i.e. CeeDee Lamb catching the ball), maybe the outcome is a little different. Today, though, we’re not going to harp on the bad, instead let’s highlight the good.
While Micah Parsons’ presence would have been much appreciated to set the edge and keep Jalen Hurts from torching Dallas in the first half, he wasn’t the reason they lost or the reason why they won’t be able to turn things around. Here’s what Cowboys fans should look at as this season looks promising, even if it doesn’t feel like it after the Week 1 loss.
The running game looks lightyears better than it did in 2024
Jerry Jones was swift in reshaping the running back room this offseason after a reunion with Ezekiel Elliott failed and Rico Dowdle proved to be an inconsistent feature back. With Javonta Williams and Miles Sanders, this running back room looks much better that it did last year. In his Cowboys debut, Williams finished with over 50 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Though Jalen Carter missed the entire game after spitting on Dak Prescott before the first official snap of the game, his absence allowed the Cowboys to showcase their revamped running back room. It’s exactly what Prescott and this offense needed after struggling to put together a consistent rush attack.
This is just game one so things could certainly change. After all, last year’s miserable running attack rushed for 109 yards and then went dormant for five of the next six weeks. This year doesn’t feel like it will fizzle out after Week 1. The crazy thing too is they haven’t even debuted Jaydon Blue yet either.
The Cowboys running game is actually deeper than what they teased against the Eagles. Not only do they have Sanders and Williams, but Prescott can use his legs and they even showed how they might use KaVontae Turpin more in the offense as a utility player. This running game has so many dimensions now, which puts them in a much better position than last year.
The return on the Micah Parsons trade doesn’t look too bad … so far
Until the next couple of drafts pass, we won’t really see the full return of what the Cowboys got for trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, but Kenny Clark looks to be a massive addition for their defensive line. It was no surprise that Dallas needed help in their run defense so getting Clark in return to clog up the interior proved to be a solid move.
The Eagles were able to run all over Dallas in the first half, but that had less to do with bad run defense and more to do with not containing Jalen Hurts. Though they did give up 158 rushing yards in the loss, it’s much better than the 187 and 179 they gave up in the two games last year.
It wasn’t necessarily a gamble to get Clark, but they could have gotten him in a separate trade without giving up Parsons and maybe even leveraged Parsons for more draft capital or reinforcements on the defensive line with Green Bay or another team. Be that as it may, they added Clark and it ended up being a solid move to get help in the run defense. Clark finished with five total tackles in his Cowboys debut.
Despite subpar pass rush, Dallas’ pass defense isn’t horrible
It was a welcomed sight to see the Cowboys secondary in full force with DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs both in the starting lineup for the first time in what has felt like two years. Though the Cowboys didn’t force any turnovers, a lot of Hurts’ ability to make plays with his feet was due to solid coverage.
Hurts was held to under 200 passing yards, which is always a good sign as well from the pass defense. In the two games last year, the Cowboys gave up less than 200 passing yards as well, but the difference in Week 1’s game is they kept Philadelphia out of the endzone and didn’t let them get close to 200 rushing yards.
If you take away Jahan Dotson’s 51 yard reception, the Eagles didn’t have a receiver over 40 receiving yards, which is something to be proud of in a passing league. They’ll need to sure up the running game more, but the fact that the pass defense is locked in right now, it’s something to build on.