The NFL regular season kicked off last night with the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles defeating their divisional rival, the Dallas Cowboys, 24-20.
The game served as a microcosm of an NFL season, featuring an abundance of star power, drama, questionable officiating, boneheaded penalties, and, of course, the inevitable tush push. In the end, the Cowboys would come up short, and the Super Bowl Champions would find a way to complete their banner night with a victory.
Here I’ll highlight some observations from the game, which solidified what we already knew about each team.
Saquon Barkley was the Best Player on the Field
Although he finished the game with a modest 84 yards on 22 touches, Barkley was unquestionably the best football player on the field last night. He displayed the usual power, shiftiness, stiff arms, and soft hands – and all that was just on a single play..
After amassing 482 touches between the regular season and playoffs last year, many believe Barkley may not be able to repeat such a heavy workload, or could look a step slower. Well, Saquon looks fine, and only time will tell if his body holds up, but he is truly a generational running back, so if anyone can do it, Saquon can.
Cowboys’ Offensive Line is Good
The Cowboys promoted 2024 Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to Head Coach for 2025, and an emphasis on the run game is expected to accompany him. The offensive line has been invested in heavily by the Cowboys, including as recently as the 2025 NFL Draft
| Left Tackle | Left Guard | Center | Right Guard | Right Tackle |
| Tyler Guyton | Tyler Smith | Cooper Beebe | Tyler Booker | Terence Steele |
| First Round, 2025 | First Round, 2022 | Third Round, 2024 | First Round, 2025 | UDFA, 2020 |
Against the vaunted Eagles’ front, the Cowboys’ run game produced 119 yards on 22 carries for a 5.4 YPC, and didn’t allow a single sack of Dak Prescott. Although it came in a loss, it’s something for Dallas to build on, even if the Eagles were without perhaps their best defender.
Boys will be Boys
Jalen Carter
The NFL never fails to generate a storyline, good or bad. The first regular-season storyline of 2025 occurred before the first play from scrimmage, when Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter spat on Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.
A video surfaced later in the night of Prescott first spitting in the direction of, but not on, Jalen Carter, but as usual, the retaliator is the one who pays the biggest price in the NFL. Carter was immediately flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and ejected from the game.
Carter later apologized, saying, “It won’t happen again. I can make that promise“. Apologies have followed Carter since his days at the University of Georgia, along with his character concerns. The 2022 All-American slid in the NFL Draft due to those concerns, until the Eagles decided to roll the dice on the top-tier talent.
Carter has been a force in the Eagles’ defense since his arrival, earning second-team All-Pro in 2024, but an ejection on one of the NFL’s biggest nights is surely a bad look for the already troubled playmaker.
George Pickens
To a much lesser degree, George Pickens also showed his teammates and fans why he was there. The uber-talented receiver was traded to the Cowboys from the Steelers in the offseason, due to character concerns of his own.
Pickens became known for highlight catches and temper tantrums whilst in Pittsburgh, since being drafted in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, from, you guessed it, the University of Georgia.
His history of penalties surfaced on opening night, drawing a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty.
The penalty is a continued trend from his days with the Steelers, where he amassed 15 penalties for 140 yards and an ejection in three seasons. And, if his 3 catch, 30-yard performances continue, the temper tantrums will come in bunches to accompany the penalties.
Tush Push Victory Lap
To no one’s surprise, the Tush Push is still dominant. NFL owners voted in the offseason on rules that would limit or eliminate the Tush Push from the game, to no avail. The banning of the play is picking up steam though, and the Eagles appear to know it.
It’s overwhelmingly successful for the Eagles, but other teams cannot seem to emulate it. The Eagles’ defense, the quiet beneficiaries of the play, decided to celebrate its success on national TV.
The Eagles appear prepared to utilize the play to its fullest extent, in what will most likely be the last season it is available to them as we know it.
