On Monday morning, news broke of the NFL's first regular season game on Thursday Night Football to begin the 2025 season. The NFL is very good at making just about anything an event, and they have done so with the schedule release period.
Rumors and leaks end up swirling around, and many of them end up being quite accurate, but the league is largely good at keeping big news under wraps. Well, the first bit of NFL news on Monday morning did spill to us the first regular season game for the 2025 season...
Why did the NFL pick this game to open up the regular season?
The Philadelphia Eagles will open up the 2025 NFL regular season with a home game against the Dallas Cowboys. This is league's first regular season game:
Countdown to kickoff: the NFL’s regular season will open Thursday, Sept. 4, when the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys. pic.twitter.com/S7x2Ag76Ae
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 12, 2025
How did the NFL mess this up already? Of all the opponents the league could pick to play the Eagles in this first game, they chose the Cowboys. This, to me, is a huge mistake, and while I understand having the defending Super Bowl champions playing the first game, this matchup just isn't all that special.
The Eagles did lose a good bit of talent this offseason and have a good-not-great QB in Jalen Hurts. The Cowboys did add some talent this offseason and are still the Cowboys, but don't have much going for them. Philly hosting Dallas feels like it should be a Week 7 game at 4:25 PM if you ask me.
The other games Philly had on their home schedule included contests against the Giants, Commanders, Bears, Broncos, Lions, Raiders, and Rams. I mean, shoot, there are a handful of opponents that would have made for a much more appealing and fun Week 1 game to open up the 2025 season.
The NFL's first scheduling miss is already here.