Sep 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter (98) walks off the field after being ejected during the first quarter of the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
There is only one word to describe the start of the Eagles 2025 season.
Chaos.
How else do you explain losing two players to injury - one that really didn't look good - your best defensive player getting kicked out before he ever played a down, a lack of discipline leading to 110 yards in penalties, not targeting A.J. Brown until there was less than two minutes to play in the game, and a wild weather delay that stopped the game in the third quarter for one hour and five minutes.
As OMC used to say, "How Bizarre."
The final score was Eagles 24, Cowboys 20. No one is ever going to complain about a win, but the Eagles need to spend much of the next 10 days cleaning up a lot of nonsense before they hit the road for a Super Bowl rematch in Kansas City on Sept. 14.
Here are some takeaways, starting with the thing everyone was talking about from jump street and is shore to be talk radio fodder for the next several days.
The Opening kickoff was bonkers. Poor Ben VanSumeren suffered a knee injury on the play (although he was engaged with a blocker, it was a non-contact injury) and needed to be carted from the field.
But before he was, there was an exchange between Dak Prescott and Jalen Carter. What was said was unknown at the time of this writing, but it was clear as day that whatever words were lobbed in each direction resulted in Carter deciding to spit on Prescott.
We might not be able to figure out what a catch is but we’ve got Jalen Carter’s spit in 4K
pic.twitter.com/xhv0Yr9JqP
The official saw it, threw a flag, and Carter was whistled for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and an automatic ejection from the game for a "non-football act."
Losing Carter was a blow to the Eagles defense and it would prove to be a gaping hole for most of the first half. The Eagles rectified it in the second half, but it doesn't excuse Carter's choice to let the saliva fly at the opposing quarterback.
That said, it wasn't until much later in the telecast, after NBC producers had time to Zapruder all their camera shots that it was noticeable that Prescott spit first.
WE HAVE A SECOND SPITTER pic.twitter.com/suDkYKAlJH
Seinfeld references never get old.
Now, Prescott didn't spit on Carter. Nor did he seem to even spit at him, directly. Just sort of toward the ground in Carter's general direction.
In fact he took us all through it postgame:
Dak Prescott on Spitgate. Says Jalen Carter was messing with Tyler Booker. “I guess I needed to spit. I wasn’t going to spit on my linemen. I just spit ahead.” Says he felt insulted Carter suggested he tried to spit on him. pic.twitter.com/zJcWmX4ob0
(My favorite part of that video is the camera panning left to try and show the distance to the reporter Prescott was referencing - as if we all didn't just watch the video 100 times on repeat and see how far apart they were.)
But whatever was said, or interpreted from that act led to the two being facemask to facemask for a moment before Carter let the loogy fly onto Prescott.
And that's unconscionable.
It's as stupid an act as any player can do before he even takes his first snap. It hurt his team - big time. It should be an afront to every body in the organization and every fan in the city.
"I want our guys to play with great energy and great tenacity while staying within the rules of the game," coach Nick Sirianni told reporters after the game. "We'll address that. ... we need that guy on the field, because he's a really good player."
Sirianni wouldn't delve into what discipline he might administer - saying everything he does or says with Carter will be kept in house, but he and the coaches can not be happy.
Carter let everyone down with a selfish, immature act - and only made it worse as he slowly trudged to the locker room with a smirk on his face.
For two-plus quarters the Eagles couldn't stop the run. They weren't getting any pressure and the Cowboys were moving the football almost at will, scoring on each of their first four possessions.
And while there were players who didn't look good on individual plays, it all stemmed back to Carter's lack of control that got him kicked out.
"I told the guys it won't happen again," Carter told reporters.
Fine. But things like that can never happen. You can not make yourself bigger than the team. Ever.
All the talk throughout training camo was trying to figure out who was going to start as the second cornerback on the outside and if the Eagles had the right players to fill that position.
Adoree Jackson won the job, but boy did he look bad on Thursday.
I jotted down notes on six different plays where Jackson looked bad in coverage, or took a penalty (a pass interference in the end zone) and one additional play where he looked ass backwards on Miles Sanders 49-yard run.
The coverage stats for Adoree Jackson tomorrow will be interesting...#Eagles
The thing is, the Eagles may not have a better option. They subbed in Jakorian Bennett while Jackson was being evaluated for a concussion, and on his very first play, Bennett was flagged for pass interference. Kelee Ringo couldn't get on the field. Even Quinyon Mitchell, took a pass interference penalty.
It was a rough night for the secondary, although there was improvement once defensive coordinator Vic Fangio started blitzing in the second half. Still, it was a subpar performance.
Had not CeeDee Lamb dropped a perfectly thrown deep ball from Prescott in the fourth quarter, the teams may have ended up on the opposite ends of the scoreboard.
This is going to need to be cleaned up.
With Michael Jordan in attendance to watch the Eagles quarterback and Jordan Brand representative, Jalen Hurts put on a classic Michael performance.
And by that I don't mean he posted big numbers or anything. But rather that he found myriad ways to beat you.
Mostly, it was with his legs. Whether it was designed runs or scrambles, every time Hurts took off, it was for a large chunk of real estate. He scored two touchdowns. He picked up several important first downs - including two via the tush push.
His final numbers won't jump off the page. He only threw for 152 yards - and 51 came on one pass to Jahan Dotson. But, he was efficient (19-for-23) and didn't turn the ball over.
On the ground though, he did run for 62 yards on 14 carries. He was the Eagles leading rusher in the game.
Jalen Hurts has scored a rushing TD in four of his last five games and 11 of his last 17. A remarkable run for a player that has consistently been the second-most popular anytime TD bet on his own team.
pic.twitter.com/1ZzLogMxKz
It was a little alarming that he didn't even try to throw the ball to A.J. Brown until the game's final series (Brown caught the pass for eight yards) and Devonta Smith only had three catches for 16 yards. Those are the two biggest receiving weapons on the team and they combined for 24 yards - and the Eagles still won.
That won't happen against some of the better opponents on the Eagles schedule.
VanSumeren's injury was not good. Getting carted off and quickly being ruled out for the game are signs that this is a concerning injury.
Expected to be a significant contributor on offense as a fullback and also one of the Eagles best special teamers, VanSumeren appeared to reinjure the same knee that ended his 2024 season when he got hurt in practice.
Meanwhile Landon Dickerson left the game in the third quarter with an apparent back injury and didn't return. Brett Toth replaced him at left guard for the remainder of the game. Dickerson was on the injury list this week with a back injury and he was playing less than a month after having surgery to repair a meniscus tear.
