The defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles will begin their title defense with a Week 1 clash against the Dallas Cowboys.
Anytime the Cowboys and Eagles play each other, you know it's going to be a good game, and that's what it was setting up to be. That was until the Cowboys decided to trade away their best defensive player, Micah Parsons, last week to the Green Bay Packers, completely flipping the storylines for this matchup.
Not having Parsons, who has five sacks in seven career games against the Eagles, drastically changes Dallas’ defensive game plan, as their pass rush was already looking less than stellar with the star edge.
That said, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni isn’t overlooking the new-look Cowboys’ defense and already highlighted one player in particular he’s watching out for.
Nick Sirianni on the Micah Parsons trade: "We have so much going on. We're getting ready to play the Cowboys. He's in your thoughts of game-planning. They sitll have guys we have to preapre for — they obviously got Kenny Clark, who's a really good player and they have good depth…
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) August 31, 2025
Nick Sirianni Takes Wise Approach to Cowboys Prep After Parsons Trade
"We have so much going on. We're getting ready to play the Cowboys. He's in your thoughts of game-planning. They still have guys we have to prepare for — they obviously got Kenny Clark, who's a really good player and they have good depth at the defensive end group. So you don't get too wrapped up into that, Sirianni said (h/t Zach Berman of The Athletic).
The Eagles' head coach is taking the right approach regarding the regular-season opener. Even though the Cowboys don’t have Parsons, they are still a dangerous team, and they cannot look past who is on the other side.
Dallas still has Kenny Clark, who wasn’t great last season (63.1 -- pass rush grade on PFF and 57.1-- run defense grade), but he can still wreck a game from the middle of the defensive line. Therefore, Philly’s interior o-line will need to bring their A-game.
And when you look at the Cowboys’ defensive end group, they don’t have any big names, but they can get to the quarterback. Sam Williams missed last season because of a torn ACL, but he has recorded 8.5 sacks in his first two years in the league.
Then there’s Marshawn Kneeland, who is entering his second year, will likely have a bigger role, and rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku. And we can’t forget about Dante Fowler, who posted 10.5 sacks last year with the Commanders, and had a sack against the Eagles.
If the Eagles can run the ball effectively against this new-look Cowboys defense and make sure to keep a clean pocket around Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia will be in good shape on Thursday night.