Eagles Begin Super Bowl Defense Inside NFC East

The Dallas Cowboys will have a front row seat to see something they haven’t seen this century – a championship flag being raised before a game. It won’t be in their home stadium, of course, since the Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since the heyday of the VCR.

This banner will be raised at Lincoln Financial Field on Sept. 4, when the Eagles host their NFC East rivals in the league opener at 8:20 p.m. It will be the second time in seven years that the Eagles will raise a banner recognizing them as champions of the NFL after they beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.

The Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1996. They haven’t even been to an NFC Championship game since then.

There was plenty of talk about who the Eagles would open the season against, and that talk centered mostly around the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams, which makes this opener a bit of a surprise.

Typically, the NFL saves Eagles-Cowboys for later in the year. The earliest they met this century was Week 2 of the 2015 season, which was the final game for Chip Kelly, who was fired with a game left on the schedule.

The last time the Eagles opened the season against an NFC East opponent was 2020, when they went to Washington, and, without any fans allowed to attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic, lost 27-17. Philly went 4-11-1 that season and fired head coach Doug Pederson.

This year's opener will mark the first time since 2019 that the Eagles will begin their season in front of their home fans since 2019 when the Commanders paid a visit and lost, 32-27. So, this ends a five-year stretch where the Eagles opened away from home, including last year when they traveled to Sao Paulo to open against the Packers.

The Eagles swept Dallas in both meetings last year, the first time they had done so since 2011 when the Andy Reid-led Eagles went 8-8. That season, the Eagles beat Dallas 34-7 at home, then went there and won 20-7. In the home win, Michael Vick threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns, and LeSean McCoy ran for 185.

Last year, they outscored the Cowboys 75-13 in winning both games while forcing nine turnovers. The 41-7 win in Week 7 clinched the NFC East for the Eagles, who will attempt to not only defend their Super Bowl title this season but also become the first team since 2004, the last of four straight division titles won by the Eagles.

Dallas played both games a season ago without starting quarterback Dak Prescott, who should be healthy. The quarterback, who will turn 32 in July, has a new weapon that will be unveiled in the opener, receiver George Pickens, who will team with CeeDee Lamb. The Cowboys also signed former Eagles second-round pick, Miles Sanders, as a backfield option.

The league will release every team’s schedule on Wednesday night.