Week 1 Thursday Night Football Takeaways: Eagles-Cowboys
By
- Jalen Hurts’ legs propelled the Eagles’ offense: He earned a career-high 90.7 PFF rushing grade while racking up 62 yards and two scores.
- Surface-level numbers don’t tell the full story of the Cowboys’ pass rush: Dallas defenders racked up 20 total pressures, but half were either unblocked or clean-up pressures.
- Unlock your edge with PFF+: Access Premium Stats, dominate fantasy with in-season tools and projections and make smarter bets with the new PFF Player Prop Tool.
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
The defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles scored a narrower victory over the Dallas Cowboys than many expected on Thursday Night Football to kick off the 2025 NFL season.
A series of strange twists and turns led to a game that came down to the wire. Here are some key takeaways from Philadelphia’s 24-20 victory.
Jalen Hurts wins with his legs
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is one of the most dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks in the league, and he showed why against Dallas. He earned a career-high 90.7 PFF rushing grade while racking up 62 yards. If his three end-of-game kneel downs are removed, Hurts averaged just under six yards per carry.
En route to the Eagles’ eventual victory, Hurts scored two touchdowns while picking up five other first downs on the ground. Five of those seven carries came on third down, which gave Hurts an outstanding 93.4 PFF overall grade for the night in those situations. He also made his lone big-time throw of the night on third down, a gorgeous deep post to Jahan Dotson late in the first half.
Aside from that throw to Dotson, none of Hurts’ other passes went beyond 10 air yards. His scrambling ability, accurate underneath passing and excellent ball security allowed the Eagles’ offense to function on a night when the team struggled to create explosive plays.
Hurts’ ability to win games in different ways is a big reason the Eagles are so tough to beat, and he showed that again on Thursday Night.
Dallas’ pass rush struggles without Micah Parsons
On the surface, Dallas’ 41.2% pressure rate on Jalen Hurts’ dropbacks should be a good thing. Individually, Cowboys defenders racked up 20 total pressures — a seemingly positive sign for Dallas after the recent Micah Parsons trade.
However, half of those 20 pressures were either unblocked or clean-up pressures. Hurts’ average time to throw was an astronomical 3.67 seconds, which gave Dallas’ pass rushers more opportunities to disrupt him. Despite their relatively high pressure rate, the Cowboys managed just one sack of Hurts, and that came on a play that lasted 3.5 seconds.
Concerns about the Cowboys’ defensive line should not be alleviated after their Week 1 performance. They earned a lowly 53.1 PFF pass-rush grade as a team. Kenny Clark has been with Dallas for a week, and his 65.7 PFF pass-rush grade paced the unit.
If there is any good news for the Cowboys’ defensive line, it’s that multiple players performed well in run defense. Osa Odighizuwa, Marshawn Kneeland and rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku all earned PFF run-defense grades above 72.0 — an impressive feat against the league’s premier rushing team.
Dak Prescott earns elite PFF grade despite the loss
Perhaps the best news for the Cowboys to come out of their first game is that their star quarterback, Dak Prescott, looked healthy and played like he did in 2023, when he finished second in the NFL MVP voting.
Prescott earned an excellent 86.1 PFF passing grade behind four big-time throws. He was particularly excellent under pressure, completing nine of his 12 passes and earning an 84.8 PFF passing grade. His surface-level statistics would look a lot better if not for four drops from CeeDee Lamb. Two of those drops were terrific deep passes from Prescott that could’ve turned the game in Dallas’ favor.
Prescott’s age and injury history have slowed his mobility, but he proved that he can still be an elite pocket passer. The Cowboys may struggle this season in the run game and on defense, but Prescott still gives them a chance to win games.
Concerns for Philadelphia’s defense?
For multiple reasons, the Eagles’ defense did not look like the dominant unit that easily ranked first in PFF grade last season. Their 68.6 team PFF defense grade would’ve been their seventh-lowest mark last season. Three of those six games came before their bye week, which was the turning point for the elite unit.
Things got off to an ominous start when the Eagles’ best defensive lineman, Jalen Carter, was ejected before playing a single snap. The ripple effect of that was that Moro Ojomo and Byron Young played far more snaps than expected. Both struggled to sub-60.0 PFF overall grades. Carter’s absence was a huge factor in Philadelphia’s failure to sack Dak Prescott a single time.
Due to the Eagles’ lack of pressure on Prescott and their own individual struggles, there could suddenly be some degree of concern about the Eagles’ cornerback unit, particularly on the outside. Second-year star Quinyon Mitchell officially allowed just 30 yards on the night, but he committed a pass interference penalty that set up Dallas for a touchdown. He also missed a tackle and was the beneficiary of two of CeeDee Lamb’s drops.
Adoree’ Jackson and Jakorian Bennett also struggled in their Philadelphia debuts. Jackson was attacked often, allowing 103 yards across seven targets, and committed a pass interference. Bennett also surrendered a catch on all three of his targets while committing a penalty of his own.
Mitchell, Jackson and Bennett combined to post a 37.9 PFF coverage grade. The Eagles saw Mitchell perform at a high level last season, so they shouldn’t be too concerned about him. However, if Jackson and Bennett can’t hold up their end of the bargain on the other side, the team could begin to search for external solutions sooner rather than later.
