Cowboys vs. Eagles Final Score Prediction for NFL Week 1 (Philly Wins in a Rout?)

Game 1 of 272 in the NFL regular season takes place on Thursday night in Philadelphia, as the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles host their division rival – the Dallas Cowboys – in Week 1.

Philly returns a good chunk of the core that made a Super Bowl run last season, and the offense remains loaded around Jalen Hurts. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that oddsmakers at the best betting sites have set the Eagles as sizable favorites in this matchup.

Dallas is hoping to have a bounce-back season after missing the playoffs in 2024, and the health of Dak Prescott will be key to Dallas making any sort of noise in a loaded NFC.

Jerry Jones already made a major statement ahead of Week 1, trading arguably the best defensive player in the league – pass rusher Micah Parsons – to the Green Bay Packers. So, Dallas is even weaker on defense and now has to play one of the best all-around teams in football.

Sounds like a recipe for a potential blowout on Thursday night.

Using the latest odds and analysis from our NFL betting insider Iain MacMillan, I’m attempting the fun exercise of predicting the final score for this matchup in hopes that it’ll help bettors make a decision on which side of the spread or total to pick on Thursday.

Cowboys vs. Eagles Odds, Spread and Total

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Spread

Cowboys +8.5 (-115)
Eagles -8.5 (-105)

Moneyline

Cowboys: +310
Eagles: -395

Total

47.5 (Over -110/Under -110)

The odds for this game have shifted in Philadelphia’s favor as of late, as the Eagles are now 8.5-point favorites after opening as 7.5-point favorites.

With Parsons no longer in Dallas, it seems that oddsmakers don’t have a ton of faith in the Cowboys to shut down an Eagles offense led by Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkely and A.J. Brown.

Cowboys vs. Eagles Final Score Prediction

Earlier this week, SI Betting NFL insider Iain MacMillan shared his pick for this game in his Road to 272 column – where he picks every game, every week – and he thinks the UNDER is the right bet on Thursday:

I think the spread is set at the exact right number at 7.5 in favor of the defending champions, so I'm going to look at the total instead and trust the best unit on the field in this game, the Philadelphia Eagles' defense. This is a defense that allowed the fewest yards per play in the NFL last season at 4.8, while also ranking first in opponent success rate and third in opponent EPA per play.

I'm not ready to believe in the Cowboys' offense either. Despite adding George Pickens in the offseason, people forget that Dak Prescott was having his worst season as a pro before going down with an injury last year. Through eight starts, he completed just 64.7% of passes and threw for only 11 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

I think this total is a couple of points too high for a game involving a team with an elite defense and a run-first mentality on offense.

MacMillan may be right, the Eagles defense should be able to slow down the Dallas attack, but let’s not forget that the Eagles hung 41 and 34 points on this Dallas defense a season ago.

While there may be a little Week 1 rust, I think the Eagles end up running away with this game. Dallas has not won in Philly since 2022, and without Parsons this defense should be extremely beatable for Philly.

Final Score Prediction: Eagles 30, Cowboys 17

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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