NFL Week 1 underdog report: The Micah Parsons effect

Prescott missed the last nine games of the 2024 season with a hamstring injury but led the league with 36 touchdowns and a career-high 4,516 yards in 2023. This year, he’ll have former Steelers wide receiver George Pickens to help lighten the load on Lamb.

So while many have written off the Cowboys after the Parsons trade, Dallas has the firepower and more than enough motivation to spite Parsons and upset a Philadelphia team that could struggle on defense this year.

The Eagles may have gotten a steal in this year’s draft with linebacker Jihaad Campbell, but they lost defenders Brandon Graham, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Josh Sweat and Milton Williams in the offseason. 

Together, the four combined to play 2,342 snaps in the 2024 regular season, snaps the team hopes young players like Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Moro Ojomo and second-round pick Andrew Makuba can fill.

Now retired, Graham will be on hand Thursday night as the Eagles raise a banner to celebrate last year’s Super Bowl championship, motivating the Cowboys even more on what should be an emotional night in Philadelphia.

Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers (-2.5)

No head coach is more emotional or better at motivating his team than the Lions head coach, Dan Campbell. Detroit beat Green Bay twice on the way to a 15-2 record and the NFC North title in 2024, but will open the 2025 season as underdogs to the rival Packers.

Per USA Today’s Jeff Risdon, the Lions were listed as +150 to win the division before the Parsons trade. Now the Packers are +165 favorites with the Lions dropping to +190. 

That, and strong performances from new coordinators John Morton (offense) and Kelvin Sheppard (defense), should be all Campbell needs to get the taste of an upset loss to the Commanders in last year’s playoffs out of the team’s mouth.

Morton served as a senior offensive assistant with Detroit in 2022 and spent the last two years as passing game coordinator for the Denver Broncos, helping the team score the 10th-most points per game (25.0) with rookie quarterback Bo Nix. This year, Morton will look to improve an offense that led the league in scoring with 33.2 points per game in 2024.

Sheppard spent the last four seasons with Detroit as a linebackers coach for a defense that allowed the seventh-fewest points per game (20.1) in 2024 while leading the league in third-down efficiency (32.4%). 

Of course, the team did so without the services of Pro Bowl edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who appeared in just five games before breaking his leg last season. Fully recovered, he’ll look to upset the Packers and upstage Parsons as the premier pass-rusher in the division.