Kickoff of the 2025 NFL season is still nearly four months away, and the NFL‘s annual schedule release won’t take place until later this week (tune into the NFL Network at 8 p.m. on Wednesday for “Schedule Release ’25.”)
But after the NFL confirmed on Monday that the first game of the 2025 season will pit reigning Super Bowl champ Philadelphia vs. NFC East rival Dallas on Thursday, September 4 (kickoff: 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC), oddsmakers wasted no time setting the opening lines for that matchup.
So, let’s get right into the Cowboys vs. Eagles Week 1 betting odds.
Cowboys vs. Eagles Week 1 Betting Odds
Cowboys vs. Eagles Week 1 Betting Analysis
It’s no surprise to see the Eagles favored at home against the Cowboys.
In 2024, Philadelphia beat Dallas 34-6 in Week 10 and 41-7 in Week 17, but the Cowboys — who went 7-10 last season — should be much improved in 2025 with QB Dak Prescott back under center.
After tearing his hamstring in Week 9, Prescott missed the rest of last year for Dallas. In his first game back, could the Cowboys stun their hated division rivals and spoil a festive night at the Linc?
That still feels like a longshot at this point, but there is some justified excitement around Dallas right now after last week’s trade for George Pickens. With an explosive deep threat opposite CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys’ passing attack should take a major step forward if Prescott, Lamb and Pickens all mesh well and stay healthy.
The Eagles are expected to remain one of the best teams in the league after last year’s dominant postseason run. Philadelphia’s over/under win total is set at 11.5 at DraftKings.
Historically, the year after winning the Super Bowl is always tough (for everyone besides Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, at least), but the Eagles bring back in-their-prime players at just about every key position on offense, including 26-year-old QB Jalen Hurts, RB Saquon Barkley (28) and WRs AJ Brown (27) and DeVonta Smith (26), to name a few.
The question of the offseason for the Eagles is how their defense will hold up after the losses of DL Milton Williams and Josh Sweat and DBs Darius Slay and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
The Philly D under coordinator Vic Fangio should still be strong, though, as it boasts two promising young corners in Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell, plus star DT Jalen Carter up front and an excellent linebacker unit featuring 2024 All-Pro Zack Baun, plus Nakobe Dean and Nolan Smith.
Cowboys vs. Eagles Week 1 Prediction, Best Bets
Though plenty will change between now and September, that won’t stop us from giving out a couple early leans on this game.
First of all, a matchup between a Cowboys D that was abysmal last year (27.5 points allowed per game, good for 31st in the league) and the overhauled Eagles defense should feature no shortage of points, making Over 46.5 a tempting bet based on what we know right now.
And at the risk of overreacting to the recent George Pickens trade, let’s also go with the Cowboys to cover as 7-point dogs. We’re going against the grain by questioning the reigning champs, but we’ve got a few good reasons:
- A) The Eagles started slow a year ago at 2-2, with losses to the Falcons and Bucs
- B) You never know what you’ll get from a team in Week 1 after it won the Super Bowl (details below). In fact, just one of the last five reigning SB champs — the Chiefs in 2020 — opened the following season with a double-digit victory
- C) While Philly blew out Dallas twice in 2024, these teams split four meetings in 2022 and 2023
Recent Super Bowl Champ’s Week 1 Result in Following Year
- 2020: Kansas City W: 34-20 vs. Houston
- 2021: Tampa Bay W: 31-29 vs. Dallas
- 2022: LA Rams L: 31-10 vs. Buffalo
- 2023: Kansas City L: 21-20 vs. Detroit
- 2024: Kansas City W: 27-20 vs. Baltimore
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