Another new season, another ugly Week 1 win for the Eagles

Are the Eagles successful in Week 1 games because of, or in spite of their conservative approach in the preseason?

By Evan Macy
PhillyVoice Staff

Eagles NFL

Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice

Saquon Barkley #26 of the Philadelphia Eagles carries the ball during a NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on September 4, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Eagles won their Week 1 game but no one is really feeling good about it.

Leave it to Philadelphia to constantly find reasons to be upset in a winning effort.

It's something the city is used to, especially during the Nick Sirianni era — a timeframe during which the Birds are 5-0 to start the year. Is there a trend?

• In 2022 the Eagles started the year in Detroit and almost blew a 17-point 4th quarter lead, earning two big first down conversions late to clinch a 38-35 victory.
• In 2023 Mac Jones out-threw Jalen Hurts 316 to 170 with the Eagles' offense sputtering to settle for field goals four times. It was a rough showing in a 25-20 win against the eventual 4-13 Patriots.
• Last year, starting the season in Brazil, Hurts threw two interceptions but the Eagles again won ugly, 34-29 as Jordan Love left with an injury.
• Thursday night, in between an ejection for a player spitting on Dak Prescott and a lightning delay, the Eagles offense looked solid — at least on the ground — but their defense couldn't get off the field. A 24-20 win that saw just 144 passing yards, 24 passing yards to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, a 3.3 yards per carry average for Saquon Barkley and zero sacks on defense left a lot to be desired.

"It doesn't matter how it looks, it doesn't matter how it goes, it's just about finding ways to win," Hurts told reporters after Thursday's late night 'W.' "In this league it is very challenging, especially in these first games. They tend to come down to the wire, especially when there's not a lot of ball on tape. I'm proud of the team. I'm proud of everybody weathering the different adversities that came our way today. It's always good to get a win. Always good to get a win.”

Due to injuries — like A.J. Brown sitting out most of practice during training camp and Landon Dickerson's setback — or due to most of the first team offense and defense getting exactly zero snaps during the preseason, it seems predictable that the team doesn't look fully fleshed out or in sync when the season kicks off.

A reporter asked Brown, who had just one catch for eight yards in the fourth quarter, in the locker room whether his lack of getting reps with Smith this preseason had anything to do with the lackluster passing game and he immediately said "no."

It's hard to determine what is correlated and what is just random and happenstance. Sirianni doesn't call on his starters at all in the preseason — and as a result the Eagles have been to two Super Bowls, have won every season opener he's coached and have had some of the best injury luck in football. 

However the teams Sirianni's Eagles have beaten to start things off since 2021 have all missed the playoffs aside from the Packers — which a very unusual game that was played on a bad field in Sao Paulo and saw an injury to the starting quarterback. They seem to be a little behind the curve and use the first few weeks as de facto preseason games. Last year, en route to their second world championship, the Eagles were a mediocre 2-2 before their bye week. They were 16-1 (including the postseason) after it.

Is the Eagles' 5-0 record in Week 1s a result of their conservative approach, or of the schedule and raw talent assisting them to prevail? No one expects the Cowboys to be very good this season and the Eagles could have very easily lost Thursday.

Regardless, wins are wins. And Week 1 is always its own unique animal with teams feeling each other out for the first time.

"Week 1 is always tough, you never know what you're gonna get," Barkley said.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/eagles-week-1-history-nick-sirianni-jalen-hurts-cowboys-news-analysis-aj-brown-offense-struggles/