The Philadelphia Eagles will host the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, Sept. 4, on NBC to open the defense of their Super Bowl LIX Championship. In a stroke of good Philly fortune, Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones will have to sit in a Lincoln Financial Field suite and listen to Philly fans celebrate a second NFL Championship in Eagles franchise history as a banner is lifted to The Linc rafters.
For the first time in over 50 years, the Eagles will be the home team in a season-opening clash against the Cowboys, while Philly has made the trip to Dallas three times to kickstart a season since 1970. Philly will look to add to an impressive record for a defending Super Bowl champion, who have an 80% win rate in Week 1 openers (20-5) since 2000. Conveniently, that is the last time the Eagles visited Dallas to open an NFL regular season.
Eagles Dismantle Dallas in 2000
Eagles 41, Cowboys 14 (Date: 09/03/2000)
It’s been over two decades since Philly kicked off the NFL season against their most-hated rivals in Dallas. The only time the Eagles claimed victory in a season-opening contest against the Cowboys was a glorious September afternoon in 2000, which started the second season of Andy Reid football in Philadelphia.
Donovan McNabb finished the opening drive with a one-yard TD pass to Jeff Thomason in the first quarter. Duce Staley scored a rushing TD to double the Eagles’ lead, 14-0. Early in the second quarter, LB Jeremiah Trotter, the father of current Eagles LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr., picked off former Eagles QB Randall Cunningham for a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown and a 21-0 Eagles lead.
Dallas responded with a pair of field goals from Tim Seder to trim the lead to 24-6 at halftime. Donovan McNabb added an early fourth-quarter touchdown for a 34-6 advantage before Brian Mitchell’s 6-yard TD run ended the Eagles’ scoring in the 41-14 blowout by the Birds.
Eagles Receive Texas-Sized Beatdown from Cowboys in 1976
Cowboys 27, Eagles 7 (Date: 09/12/1976)
Twenty-four years earlier, it wasn’t much of a contest to start the 1976 season as Tom Landry’s Cowboys stomped Dick Vermeil’s Eagles, 27-7, at Texas Stadium. Dallas scored all their points in the first half and waltzed into halftime with a 20-0 lead. Roger Staubach threw a 19-yard TD pass to Golden Richards to extend Dallas’ advantage. Tom Sullivan caught a 20-yard TD pass from Mike Boryla to end the shutout bid in the fourth quarter. Kicker Horst Muhlmann provided the final points on the board in the 27-7 defeat.
Philadelphia turned the ball over five times in the game and totaled 280 yards, while Dallas racked up 445 total yards (…and also lost three turnovers of their own). Boryla struggled with 14 completions on 31 passes for 152 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions, while the Eagles’ running game finished with 136 yards on 30 carries. Dallas ran the ball 40 times for 180 yards and a touchdown, while Staubach completed 19 of 28 passes for 242 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.
Cowboys Host Eagles for Opener After Super Bowl VI Win in 1972
Cowboys 28, Eagles 6 (Date: 09/17/1972)
Dallas was on top of the football world entering the 1972 season. Landry’s Cowboys stopped Don Shula’s Miami Dolphins, 24-3, at Super Bowl VI on Jan. 16, 1972, to win their first NFL Title in their third chance at glory. The following fall, the Cowboys hosted the Eagles to start the 1972 season at Texas Stadium. It was also the only season in NFL history in which a team went undefeated, as Shula’s Dolphins ran the table, an unmatched perfect 17-0 record, on the way to a win at Super Bowl VII over the Washington Redskins.
While NFL teams didn’t participate in the practice then, theoretically, Dallas would’ve “raised a banner” in the 1972 season opener at home against Philadelphia. Over 38 NFL seasons, the Cowboys won 213 out of 313 games at Texas Stadium, a 68% winning percentage. The 1972 season opener was the second anniversary for the Irving, Texas facility that opened in Oct. 1971.
Eagles Kicker Tom Dempsey converted a pair of first-half field goals to give the Birds a 6-0 lead and some good early vibes that quickly faded. Cowboys QB Craig Morton erased the deficit on a 37-yard TD pass to Ron Sellers in the second quarter, and Toni Fritsch added the extra point for a 7-6 lead. Dallas scored three unanswered touchdowns in the second half to run away with a 28-6 season-opening victory.
Season-Opening Loss was the End of an Era at Franklin Field in 1970
Cowboys 17, Eagles 7 (Date: 09/20/1970)
The Cowboys opened the 1970 season with a 17-7 win over the Eagles at Franklin Field. Unfortunately, it was the Eagles’ final home opener during their decade-plus stint at the historic venue. It didn’t get better when Philadelphia hosted the Cowboys to open Veterans Stadium for their 1971 home opener either, a 42-7 beatdown from the eventual World Champions at Super Bowl VI.
In the 1970 opener, Philly scored the first point of the opening quarter on a 10-yard touchdown catch by Ben Hawkins from QB Norm Snead. Kicker Mark Moseley tacked on the extra point for a 7-0 home team lead, but it was downhill on the astroturf from there as Dallas scored 17 unanswered points. Lance Rentzel caught a 31-yard TD pass from Staubach in the third quarter to open a 14-7 Cowboys lead. Kicker Mike Clark sealed the win with a 13-yard field goal in the final quarter for the 17-7 final score.
Eagles QB Snead finished the contest with 10 completions on 23 pass attempts for 138 yards, a touchdown, three interceptions, and two sacks. Philadelphia recorded 225 yards in offense and lost four turnovers. Cowboys QB Staubach completed 11 of 15 passes for 115 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and two sacks.
Eagles Look to Replicate 2018 Season Opening Win
Philadelphia seeks to replicate its first Super Bowl celebration, which featured a Week 1 victory, 18-12, over the Atlanta Falcons in September 2018. Kickers Jake Elliott and Matt Bryant held a field goal duel favoring the Falcons in the first half, resulting in a 6-3 halftime score at Lincoln Financial Field.
Eagles RB Jay Ajayi scored a one-yard TD run to put Philly ahead before Elliott tacked on the point-after-TD (PAT) for a 10-6 Eagles lead near the end of the third quarter. Atlanta responded with a Tevin Coleman TD scamper from nine yards out, but Bryant missed his PAT for a slim 12-10 Falcons lead. Ajayi punched in his second TD run of the game, this time from 11 yards away from pay dirt, with 2:19 left on the oversized scoreboard at the Linc for a 16-12 advantage. The London-born running back scored the 2-point conversion to finish the scoring in the 18-12 win in Week 1 of the 2018 season.
Last season, the Eagles swept the Cowboys during the 2024 NFL season with a combined score of 75-13, including a 41-7 blowout win that clinched the NFC East title. Dallas will have all offseason, training camp, and the preseason to hype themselves up to avenge those losses. The Cowboys will be looking to make a good first impression in Brian Schottenheimer’s first game as a head coach in Dallas. It will be up to Eagles HC Nick Sirianni to put the pieces in place to allow Eagles fans to fully celebrate their Super Bowl LIX victory with a big Week 1 win over the Cowboys later this fall.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
