The 2025 NFL regular season kicks off in just a few hours, with the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles renewing their bitter rivalry in a matchup that always provides plenty of fireworks.
But Mother Nature may get in on the action, too, and she could be bringing the thunder of a different kind to the night’s festivities.
Weather forecasts in Philadelphia are calling for a summer cold front and rain showers to move through the area in the evening hours, and things could be at their worst just as the 8:20 ET kickoff approaches.
NBC10 in Philadelphia says “scattered showers are likely” during the Week 1 tilt, and although “there is a low chance of of severe weather… isolated severe thunderstorms with damaging winds aren’t out of the question.”
Last year’s Week 5 game between the Cowboys and Steelers in Pittsburgh saw its Sunday-night kickoff delayed nearly 90 minutes by lightning, causing the game to stretch well into the Monday-morning hours.
Though Dallas was able to eke out a win in that contest, quarterback Dak Prescott has struggled at times in games where weather is a factor. The 2019 game in New England that some likened to “a hurricane” saw Prescott’s lowest passing total of that season, and a 2017 downpour in Washington contributed to one of his poorest halves of football (5-of-12, 38 yards) ever as a pro.
Stormy conditions could cause some late scrambling for a Cowboys passing attack which had hoped to unleash their new dynamic duo of wide receivers, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, on an Eagles secondary seen as the unit’s weak link.
Dallas also has a revamped running back corps featuring Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, and rookie Jaydon Blue, but they’re collectively an unknown commodity going against a formidable Philadelphia defensive line. Having to lean on the run in the opening quarters will make getting out to an early lead especially difficult for Dallas; that was seen as perhaps the best way the Cowboys could keep things close in a game in which they are 8.5-point underdogs.
Bad weather tonight in Philadelphia unquestionably favors the Super Bowl champs playing at home and would likely force the visiting Cowboys to adjust their game plan on the fly.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Prescott, Cowboys’ passing game could be impacted by Philly weather in Week 1
Reporting by Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
