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Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing – 30 Immediate Observations from Eagles 24, Cowboys 20
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Hello!
And welcome to another season of the immediate observations column. This is a safe space for people who love the Birds but don’t take themselves too seriously. A bastion of pragmatism in the eye of a knee-jerk hurricane.
Re-introduction complete, we’re talking about a 24-20 Eagles win on opening night. Did you feel like the Birds were gonna lose the game? Yeah, me neither. No trepidation whatsoever, even after the lightning delay killed the offensive momentum. It felt like one of those games where they’d do just enough to win, while the other team would do just enough to lose, which is exactly what happened.
I think we all agreed this summer that the new-look defense would be a work in progress, exacerbated unexpectedly by Jalen Carter doing one of the dumbest things you’ll ever see to become a non-participant. The result was an early shootout, seven scores on seven first-half drives, not totally dissimilar from what we saw with the 2024 season opener in Sao Paulo, when the offenses were exchanging scores and neither team could get off the field.
Then it came to a grinding halt after a 45-minute delay, which took some of the oomph out of the contest and made for a bit of a head scratcher after a wild start. Regardless, Jalen Hurts looked good on the ground and the defense figured it out when it mattered most. This was really about keeping the main thing the main thing – running for a couple of scores and preventing the big play. You take a win however you can get it to improve to 1-0.
To the observations we go! –
1) It always makes me laugh when they show Maria Taylor and she’s taller than at least two of the dudes on the NBC set. Either she’s gotta wear flats or they gotta give Jason Garrett a wooden box to stand on.
2) Say what you will about the Eagles not being out there for the banner raising, or the comical thought that Nick Sirianni didn’t know it was happening. The fact of the matter is that their binary approach to motivation works, and after the results of last season, who are we to question it? Maybe when they reconvene in 2040 for the 15-year anniversary, then they can properly enjoy the banner. But on Thursday night it was strictly business, or “biz-nass,” as Ludacris would say.
3) Ben VanSumeren can’t catch a break. Tore his ACL last year, injured on the game’s first play this year. You have to feel really bad for the guy.
4) Jalen Carter is obviously a humongous dumbass. Spitting on a player and getting ejected before the first defensive snap will go down as one of the most pathetic actions in Philadelphia Eagles history. Doesn’t matter if Dak spat first, or even hit Carter, it’s just a dumb retaliatory thing.
5) Adoree Jackson looked like vintage Izel Jenkins on the first Dallas drive. At the same time, Nolan Smith was about a half second from a strip sack on the big throw down the sideline. Same thing on the second drive with a couple of guys getting close to Dak. That was the story of the first half Cowboys possessions, plenty of opportunities to end those drives but Dak finding CeeDee and then the Quinyon Mitchell DPI. That “big play” just wasn’t there. It felt very much like Super Bowl 57 when the defense just couldn’t come up with the meaningful stop.
6) Brilliant offensive start for the Birds, who opened up in 12 personnel and got themselves into 2nd and short three times in six plays. They didn’t face a third down until they got to the goal line.
Notable: Anything thrown short to Dallas Goedert feels like it has a 95% success rate, especially when they get him moving across the field. And the two Will Shipley plays were fantastic to see, because one of the underrated storylines of last season is just how good Kenny Gainwell was when Saquon Barkley was off the field. That was as smooth a drive as you’ll see and our first evidence that maybe Kevin Patullo knows exactly what he’s doing.
7) Jalen Hurts anytime touchdown scorer has now hit in 14 of the last 21 games. That’s a 66.6% rate as we “keep the main thing the main thing.”
8) Had a very weird moment when Eagles #0 got really close to Dak. Bryce Huff almost made a play? Then I realized it’s Josh Uche wearing the uniform now.
9) Never forget that Brandon Aubrey once played for the Union’s minor league team:
10) Twice on the second Eagles drive did Barkley turn nothing into something. The pistol handoff that almost got blown up was particularly compelling. It’s the reason they were able to get it to 3rd and 3 and then keep the possession alive with Goedert. Another big third down run from Hurts and they were back in the red zone. They just never seemed totally out of it on that drive. They’re never really out of it as long as Hurts is running like that.
11) Agree with Cris Collinsworth (!) when he pointed out that Jalen seems even more calm than he used to be. He was pretty calm to begin with, now he’s veritably sedate in all aspects.
12) Lane Johnson may have gotten away with a hold on Donovan Ezeiruaku, but hold or not, they’re not giving that call to a rookie. They would have blown the whistle for Micah Parsons.
13) If “lose contain” was an image:
14) That taunting call on Nolan Smith is our first example of the new sportsmanship rule the NFL is enforcing this season. Expect to see much more of this horseshit in the season’s early going.
15) Jahan Dotson! 51 yards! As expected, he was targeted before a single pass was thrown in A.J. Brown’s direction. Just like we all drew it up.
16) We need a nickname for Dallas Cowboy Marist Liufau. I’m partial to “Temu Troy Polamalu.” He tried to start some shit, but to be fair, he did get his helmet ripped clean off by Coooooooooper DeJean:
17) Jake Elliott is officially back. Good from 58 with plenty of leg to spare. If he can start hitting from 50+ with consistency after going 1 for 7 last year, then WATCH OUT.
18) Miles Sanders should have taken that one to the house. He wasn’t exactly known for his home run speed here, but Zack Baun chased him down with pretty much no issue.
19) Unnecessary roughness on Reed Blankenship. What’s he supposed to do, stand there and let Turd Ferguson try to catch a bobbled ball? It’s not like he launched himself at a defenseless receiver’s head. He has to make some sort of contact to try to break up the play. Those are the types of sequences that are killing the game.
20) If you believe that “ball don’t lie,” then the Sanders fumble on the ensuing play was karma. A make-up call sent directly from the football gods.
21) Bad timing for the lightning delay, right? The Eagles had just gotten the ball back and the offense hadn’t been stopped yet. Landon Dickerson was already nursing a back injury that a lengthy break wasn’t going to help. You’d want to ride that momentum into a drive that could have put the Birds up by two scores. You’d want to… ride the lightning!
22) Anyway, back to football. Sure enough, the Eagles went three and out on the restart. Thankfully CeeDee Lamb let one go right through his hands and bounce off his helmet, giving the ball back to the Birds. He had another killer drop later, and the third was a tough layout on 4th down. Thank you, CeeDee.
23) Skill check of the game: Saquon Barkley one-handed catch and then stiff-arm and a big boy shoulder to move the chains. If that didn’t get a reaction out of you, then mothing will.
24) Punting from midfield on 4th and 5 with about 7:30 on the clock? Felt like the right move. You try to pin them deep, make them drive the length of the field, and if they do score you have enough time to go down and win it yourself. Hard to argue with that decision, which ended up paying off with a Dallas three and out.
25) Eagles drives after the delay:
- 3 plays, 7 yards, punt
- 11 plays, 32 yards, punt
- 3 plays, 7 yards, punt
26) It doesn’t feel like an Eagles offense without a couple of sideline shots for A.J. Brown. Connecting on even one of those could have put the game out of reach. There was very little of anything thrown more than 10 yards down the field.
27) Quinyon Mitchell dropped pick would have ended it.
28) A.J. Brown first (and only) target: 1:45 in the fourth quarter.
29) Too many penalty yards against the Eagles. 93 in the first half alone. 110 total. Clean up the slop, get Jalen Carter back with his head screwed on properly, and let Vic Fangio do his thing and they’ll be fine.
30) Now we watch everybody else play, and enjoy a stress-free football weekend.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com