Eight divisional games launch NFL's opening week of 2025

September 3, 2025 by CollegeFootballPoll.com staff

The National Football League kicks off its *106th season on Thursday night when the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys collide for the 133rd time with Dallas holding a 74-58 advantage, due largely to a total dominance in the 1970's when the Cowboys won 17 of the 20 meetings.

The Eagles cut into that margin in the first decade of the 2000's, winning 13 of 21, while it's been neck-and-neck since then with a 5-all tally in the 2020's after Dallas went 11-9 from 2010-2019.

Some of those numbers seem a little surprising when you consider Philadelphia has four Super Bowl appearances since the 2004 season, and three since 2016 that produced two wins with scores of 41-33 over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII and, of course, 40-22 over the Kansas City Chiefs last year in Super Bowl LXIV.

Meanwhile, Dallas hasn't won a conference title since the 1995 season when they pocketed their last of the franchise's 5 Super Bowl victories. The Eagles have four conference titles in that span.

Dallas is 5-3 all-time in Super Bowls while Philadelphia is 2-3.

The Eagles swept the series in 2024 with walkover wins of 34-6 on November 10, and 41-7 on December 29.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Philadelphia is a hefty 8.5-point home favorite.

The Eagles return Super Bowl MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts and the consensus Player of the Year in running back Saquon Barkley.

The NFL Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com list the Eagles as a 5.24-point pick.

Dallas famously lost its best defensive weapon in Micah Parsons whom they failed to re-sign and wound up being traded to Green Bay a week ago, in exchange for DT Kenny Brown and first-round picks in 2026 and 2027. Parsons inked a 4-year, $188 million deal with the Packers that delivered a fully guaranteed $120 million at signing. Dallas saved $21 million on the 5th-year option salary due Parsons whom the Cowboys reportedly offered $202.5 million over five years with $150 million guaranteed.

To say the least, it will be interesting to see how that blockbuster trade pans-out for both clubs. The Cowboys and Packers will have their only meeting in 2025 on September 28 in Dallas for a Sunday night game.

Brown is set to start for Dallas against the Eagles, while Parsons will reportedly require an epidural for back pain management to get on the field in Green Bay against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

The Packers (-2.5), who lost 22-10 at Philly in the NFC Wild Card round, are a 1.80-point computer favorite over the Lions who had a free pass to the divisional round, but lost 45-31 at home to the Washington Commanders.

Detroit and Kansas City tied at 15-2 for the best over-all record in the NFL last year.

Detroit, along with Cleveland, Houston and Jacksonville, have never played in a Super Bowl. Moreover, the Lions are the only current NFC team that has never hosted or won the conference championship game. They have twice played for the title, but lost at the Washington Redskins (1991 season) and the San Francisco 49ers (2023 season).

In all, there are eight divisional games this week. Joining the Cowboys-Eagles and Lions-Packers games are Tampa Bay (-1.5) at Atlanta, Cincinnati (-5.5) at Cleveland, Kansas City (-3) over the L.A. Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil on Friday, Washington (-5.5) at home over the N.Y. Giants, San Francisco (-2.5) at Seattle, and Minnesota (-1.5) at Chicago on Monday.

The Chiefs-Chargers in Brazil on Friday night features two of three teams expected to vie for the AFC West title with Denver being the other (Sorry Raiders). And yes, Travis Kelce's famous fiance, Taylor Swift, is expected to be in attendance.

Perhaps the best game to watch this week will be Baltimore at Buffalo (-1.5) on Sunday night with a QB duel between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson who have the two best odds of winning the Associated Press MVP Award in 2025. Allen won it last year and Jackson received the honor in 2019 and 2023.

*- The American Football Professional Association operated for two years before it became the National Football League in 1922.