NFL 2025 Week 1 Recap
Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles was the season opening Thursday night game. The 2025 NFL season got underway with what seemed like a mismatch on paper. The Defending champion Eagles had the core of their team intact. The Cowboys had a rookie head coach in Brian Schottenheimer and just traded away defensive standout Micah Parsons to Green Bay. The Cowboys got the ball first. 6 seconds into the game, the opening kickoff, saw Eagles player Van Sumeren crumple to the ground injured. He was taken off on the stretcher. Eagles defensive player Jalen Carter on the opening kickoff for some reason after the play spit in Dak Prescott’s face and was ejected. All of this was before a single offensive play from scrimmage.
The Cowboys began the season at their own 47 and began playing smash mouth straight up the gut. On 3rd and 1 from the Philadelphia 33, a perfectly executed play action pass saw Prescott go deep to CeeDee Lamb for 32 down to the one. Javontae Williams easily crashed up the middle into the end zone for the season’s first score to make it 7-0 Cowboys.
The Eagles began on offense with an illegal motion penalty but quickly settled down. Saquon Barkley ran for 16. Jalen Hurts hit Shipley for 19. On 3rd and goal from the 4, Hurts scrambled around, couldn’t find anyone, and tucked the ball and ran up the middle for the touchdown and a 7-7 ballgame
On the next kickoff, a scuffle broke out. This was now a typical NFC East street brawl as one Cowboys player had his helmet ripped off. Yet somehow rather than the typical offsetting penalties, both personal fouls on the play were against the Cowboys. Yet from their own 12, the Cowboys offense kept rolling. Prescot went to Lamb for 18. On 3rd and 2 from his own 41, Prescott found Lamb again for 26. On 2nd and 23 from his own 46, defensive pass interference on a deep ball meant a 34 yard gain. Williams picked up 11 more down to the one as the first quarter ended. On the first play of the second quarter, Williams crashed in for the touchdown to make it 14-7 Cowboys.
Touchbacks now have the receiving team starting at their own 35, which is what the Eagles did. On 3rd and 3 from the Dallas 46, Hurts found Dallas Goedert for 7. On 3rd and 5 from the Dallas 24, Hurts scrambled around, evaded tacklers, and gained 15. wo plays later Hurts scrambled around, took off, and got to the corner pylon for an 8 yard touchdown to make it 14-14.
The Cowboys moved from their own 31 to a 1st and 10 at the Philadelphia 23, aided by a defensive taunting penalty that wiped out a run for a loss. Prescott then there 3 straight incompletions. A game of touchdowns now had its first field goal as Brandon Aubrey hit from 41 to make it 17-14 Cowboys with 2 1/2 minutes left in the half. The Eagles soon faced 3rd and 6 from their own 23. Hurts uncorked a perfectly thrown bomb to Dotson. Despite solid single coverage, Dotson hauled it in for a 61 yard gain. Barkley ripped off a 10 yard touchdown run to give the Eagles their first lead 21-17 with 50 seconds left in the half.
That was enough time for the Cowboys, who took over at their own 12 with 44 seconds left. A roughing the passer penalty gifted the Cowboys 15 yards. On 3rd and 5 from his own 46, Prescott hit newly acquired George Pickens for 9 and then found Lamb for 10. Aubrey drilled a 53 yard field goal to end the half with the Cowboys within 21-20.
The Eagles began the third quarter at their own 28 and moved to a 1st and 10 at the Dallas 36. Hurts was sacked for an 8 yard loss. Nick Sirianni brought in Jake Elliott for a 58 yard field goal try. Elliott was good and the Eagles led 24-20. The Cowboys took over at their own 29. From their own 40, Miles Sanders got around the end for a 49 yard gain. An offensive penalty for unnecessary roughness had the Cowboys facing 3rd and 22 from the Philly 23. Prescott went deep over the middle to Ferguson in the end zone. For a moment it appeared Ferguson had a touchdown, but he got blasted by Rod Blankenship for an incompletion.
Blankenship was flagged for defensive unnecessary roughness for a blow to the head, but it turned out to be a good penalty. Without the hit, Ferguson has a definite touchdown. Instead the Cowboys had 1st and 10 at the Philadelphia 11. Because it was unnecessary roughness rather than defensive pass interference, the ball was on the 11 instead of 1st and goal at the one. The Cowboys scored all 4 times they had the ball in the first half and were well within short field goal range, but this time the Philadelphia defense came up big. Sanders got the carry and had the ball punched out. he Eagles recovered the fumble and took over at their own 16 with exactly 4:44 left in the third quarter. At this point a crazy game got even crazier as the NFL suspended play due to a lightning storm in the area.
The Buffalo Wild Wings in Kansas where I was watching the game put on a baseball game in the meantime. Going from football to baseball is like going from a rock concert to elevator music. Please God, end this storm. Bring back football. After an hour delay, the game returned. To be fair, the bar returned to the football game before play resumed, because even watching football announcers talk about nothing during a delay is more interesting than baseball.
Play resumed with the Eagles facing 1st and 10 at their own 16. They went 3 and out. The Cowboys took over at their own 26 and faced a 3rd and 10 just shy of midfield as the third quarter ended. The fourth quarter began with Prescott throwing a ball over the middle that should have been caught for a first down. Instead it bounced off of the receiver’s hands, then off his helmet, and straight up into the air. The Cowboys were lucky to escape with an incompletion as they punted. The Eagles soon faced 3rd and 1 from their own 22. It was time for the first tush push of the season. Hurts got the yard. On 3rd and 1 from their own 32, it was tush push time again. The whole world including the Dallas defense knew what was coming, but they couldn’t stop it as Hurts gained 2 yards. The rest of the league wants to ban the play, but a better approach would be just stopping it on defense.
Despite taking 7 minutes off the clock, the Eagles faced 4th and 5 from midfield midway through the fourth quarter. The Eagles lined up to go for it, but it was a head fake to try and get the Cowboys defense to jump offsides. The defense didn’t bite and the Eagles punted. Yet the Cowboys again went 3 and out as a game of all offense was now a game of all defense. The Eagles took over at their own 24 with 4:43 to play in regulation hoping to grind down the clock and close out the game. yet another 3 and out gave the Cowboys another chance to pull off the road upset. The Cowboys took over at their own 18 with 3 minutes left.
On 3rd and 5 from their own 23, Prescott went to Pickens for 15. Prescott fired a beautiful deep rainbow over the middle to Lamb, who just dropped it. At the 2 minute warning the Cowboys had 4th and 3 from their own 44. Rather than just move the chains, Prescott went deep to Lamb. The ball was slightly overthrown but catchable. Lamb dove for it. It went right through his hands. He dropped it again. The Eagles again could close out the game but the Cowboys had timeouts on defense. Two stops and 2 timeouts had the Eagles facing 3rd and 3 from the Dallas 38 with 1:45 left. Hurts went back to pass, found nobody, and escaped up the middle for a key first down.
The Cowboys were game, but the defending champions escaped with a brutally tough win in a fantastic start to the 2025 NFL Season. The rematch in Dallas will be highly anticipated. 24-20 Eagles
Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers was the Friday night game from Brazil. The Chiefs may have gotten blasted in the Super Bowl, but they are still the 3 time defending AFC Champions who have won the AFC West 8 straight years. The Chargers have never won anything since the merger. Yet with Jim Harbaugh as coach, the Chargers were either going to finally win a big game or be a sad sack franchise for eternity. The Chiefs win, the Chargers lose, and that is how it is. The Chiefs entered having beaten the Chargers 7 straight times. For those who have no interest in whether any of the players are engaged to any pop stars, good. Pop culture has nothing to do with football, and this was an excellent football game.
Things started crazy on the third play of the game. The Chiefs faced 3rd and 6 a their own 32. Patrick Mahomes went back to pass and threw incomplete. yet the 3 and out was less significant than a friendly fire incident. Travis Kelce threw a devastating block on Xavier Worthy, which would be great of they were not teammates. The friendly fire accident ended the night for Worthy, who suffered an injured shoulder. imm will tell how bad this injury is.
The Chargers took over at their own 32 and Justin Herbert quickly found Johnston for a 33 yard gain. On 3rd and 8 from the Kansas City 10, Herbert threw incomplete but the defense jumped offside. On 3rd and 3, Herbert went to Johnston for a 5 yard touchdown to make it 7-0 Chargers. The second quarter was a battle of field goals. Cameron Dicker hit from 39 early in the second quarter to make it 10-0 Chargers. The Chiefs held the ball for 16 plays and 9 minutes, but on 3rd and goal at the 9, Mahomes was sacked. Harrison Butker hit from 35 to get the Chiefs on the board. Dicker hit from 36 to have the Chargers up 13-3 with only 45 seconds left in the half. The Chiefs took over at their own 29. A pair of false starts had the Chiefs facing 3rd and 20 at the Chargers 43 with 17 seconds left. Mahomes hit Gray for only 3 yards and Gray failed to get out of bounds. Because it was 4th down, the Chiefs could not spike the ball. They had 0 timeouts. Under heavy pressure with the clock running, Butker calmly drilled a 59 yarder at the gun to have the Chiefs within 13-6 at the half.
A war of attrition and field goals turned into a track meet in the third quarter. The Chiefs took over at their own 20 and Mahomes ran for 11. On 3rd and 2 from their 39, Mahomes hit Malcolm Hollywood Brown for 13. On 3rd and 8 from the chargers 46, Mahomes ran for 15. Mahomes ran for an 11 yard touchdown. Yet midway through the third quarter of what should have been a tie game, the normally reliable Butker missed the extra point wide right. The Chiefs were within 13-12. but that miss would prove costly.
Jim Harbaugh showed balls of steel by gambling on 4th and 1 from his own 35. Hampton gained 4 yards. Herbert then went to Keenan Allen for 15 and to Ladd McConkey for 16. On 3rd and 3 from the Kansas City 11, Herbert went to Allen for the touchdown as the Chargers led 20-12 after three quarters. The Chiefs began the fourth quarter facing 3rd and 5 at their own 40. Mahomes went to Juju Smith-Schuster for 12. On 3rd and 4 from the Chargers 42, Mahomes gained 5. Mahomes then went to Kelce, who sprinted for a 37 yard touchdown. Because of the earlier missed extra point, Walrus Andy Reid went for 2 to try and tie the game. Mahomes threw incomplete and the Chiefs trailed 20-18 with 12 minutes left in regulation. Chasing points is bad. You don’t go for 2 until you absolutely have to.
The Chargers took over at their own 26. On 3rd and 7 from their 40, Herbert went to Allen for 9 and Harris for 11. On 3rd and 1 from the Kansas City 25, Conklin took the direct snap and gained 2.Herbert then went deep to Johnston for a 33 yard touchdown. The Chargers led 27-18 with 5 minutes left in regulation. The missed extra point and failed 2 point conversion meant the Chiefs needed 2 scores, not one.
The Chiefs moved from their 26 to a 1st and goal at the 9. Yet Mahomes then threw 3 straight incompletions. Butker hit the 27 yard field goal to get the Chiefs within 6 with 2 1/2 minutes left. The Chiefs had all 3 timeouts left. If the Chargers punted, the Chiefs could win the game 28-27 and everyone would say it was the same Chiefs and the same Chargers. Rather than try to run the ball, Jim Harbaugh went super aggressive. Herbert hit Dissly for 18 yards. Everything came down to the Chargers facing 3rd and 14 at their own 34 with 2:14 left as the Chiefs took their last timeout. One more stop would give Mahomes the ball back. Herbert scrambled, found an open lane down the sideline, and sprinted for a 19 yard gain before sliding down in bounds. The game was over. The upset was complete. The Chargers were in sole possession of first place for at least 2 days, The Chiefs were in the cellar. The Chargers finally won a big one and are built Harbaugh tough. As for the 0-1 Chiefs, Andy Reid is a most concerned Walrus indeed. 27-21 Chargers
Miami Dolphins at Indianapolis Colts
Pittsburgh Steelers at New York Jets
Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars
Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints
New York Giants at Washington Commanders
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns
Las Vegas Raiders at New England Patriots
San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
Tennessee Titans at Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans at Los Angeles Rams
Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills is the Sunday night game.
Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears is the Monday night game.