Cowboys season, Brian Schottenheimer Era to open against the rival Eagles

The Dave Campo Era began for the Dallas Cowboys against the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2000 season opener. The Brian Schottenheimer Era, 25 years later, will have a similar start.

With one big difference.

The NFL announced on Monday that the Cowboys will head to Philadelphia to face the defending champion Eagles in the NFL’s season opener on Thursday Night of Week 1.

It’ll be a 7:20 (CDT) pm kickoff on Sept. 4 on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

The season opener will also pair the last two NFC East champions against each other. The Cowboys won in 2023; the Eagles won the division in 2024 before they went on to win the Super Bowl.

The Eagles swept the Cowboys last year. The year prior, the two rivals split.

Dallas was without quarterback Dak Prescott for both games last season. Prescott suffered a season-ending hamstring injury before the Cowboys had both of their games against the Eagles. Prescott is 9-4 in his career.

The Cowboys hope facing a defending Super Bowl champion isn’t the only difference between this year’s season opener and 2000.

The Cowboys lost 41-14 at home in 2000 in what became to be known as the “Pickle Juice” game due to the high heat in Texas and the exhaustion and cramping of the Cowboys’ defense. Eagles running back Duce Staley had more rushing yards (201) than the Cowboys had total yards (167).

The Cowboys eventually finished 5-11 in Campo’s first season. He coached for three years before his tenure in Dallas ended.

Now Schottenheimer’s head coaching debut will come against the Eagles.