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In this year’s Eagles hype video, Nick Sirianni asked his players what toughness means to them. You know what I think is tough, Nick? Early-season game previews.

Tough sledding. The teams we see in September are often far different from the ones we last saw in December, January, and in the Eagles’ case, February. And as the Eagles showed last year, the teams that we see in September often look wildly different from the ones we will see in November and December. Who can forget Kirk Cousins eating Vic Fangio’s lunch on Monday Night Football? Remember when the lowly Eagles defense had to find an answer for Klint Kubiak’s Greatest Show on Turf? Good times.

Point being, things are gonna change. What will not change, though, is the level of excitement that the Delaware Valley feels at this time of year, when the Birds are back. That feeling of course comes every year, as the Eagles are a religion around these parts (sometimes literally, the fight song is the recessional at Catholic masses). But that excitement definitely gets ratcheted up a few notches when the best roster in the NFL begins its title defense.

I have written this before, but this Eagles offseason was boring in all the best ways. Jerry Jones? That guy knows how to win the offseason, if “winning” is quantified as generating a lot of attention for whatever reason. Remember Charlie Sheen’s definition of “winning?” Jerruh is reviving it.

It is not like Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman’s Eagles are strangers to offseason drama, either. It has been a good organization for a while, but not always drama-free. I looked back at last year’s newsletters from around this time, and things were so much juicier. Two prominent storylines from last August…

There is NONE of that stuff this time around. It is truly wild. Sure, there are a few position battles like most teams have, but that is about it. And not only does Jerruh keep creating headlines by purposely stepping on rakes, the Eagles are universally cited as the counterpoint of how to run a successful, competent organization. And those counterpoints are not a figment of Eagles fans’ imaginations, an effort to clown on a hated division rival. They are the absolutely right comparison!

As the offseason turns to the regular season, the actual football is when the fun starts for the Eagles (and for the Cowboys, probably when the fun ends). Have you noticed that the Birds almost never play at home for the opener, unless “home” is São Paulo (great food city)? The last time the Eagles started at The Linc was 2019, when the current Vikings backup quarterback hit the current head coach of the Delaware State Hornets for two bombs. That was forever ago! What gives?

Well, one way to force Roger Goodell and Big NFL’s hand is to win a Lombardi Trophy. So, here we are tonight, with a football game. Let’s get you caught up:

As for what to watch for, I am not gonna do my normal “five things” because, well, we have not seen either of these teams play football yet. But there are things that I will certainly be watching, after putting on my Big J pants and making an emotional return to the Linc press box.

A few times this offseason, I wrote about how Quinyon Mitchell’s usage will be something to monitor. Last season, when his lockdown skills were so apparent that his name was workshopped into multiple prison nicknames, Quinyon played strictly on the right side of the defensive formation. Q on the right, Darius Slay on the left, good luck Mr. Quarterback. Well, three things have happened since then:

Well, what a first test for how Vic Fangio deploys Q-2.0. This Cowboys roster is pretty average, but their receiver room is quite good. CeeDee Lamb is an elite receiver, someone who is often in motion and operating out of the slot. George Pickens commits offensive pass interference a ton, but he is a productive receiver who excels at catching deep balls. Jalen Tolbert is a capable No. 3, Jake Ferguson is a capable tight end, and KaVontae Turpin is there to run some gadget stuff. If Dak is back to being Normal Dak, that group presents a real challenge.

How is Uncle Vic gonna deploy Quinyon? Is he traveling with Lamb? If he is, my guess is that Cris Collinsworth is highlighting it right away. Are the Eagles trying to bracket Lamb on one side and leave Quinyon alone on the other? Part of the Eagles’ success last year came down to one of the tenets of Fangio’s defensive scheme: Same pre-snap picture every time, and then you rotate post-snap. The Eagles’ back-seven played beautiful, suffocating zone defense as the season progressed. How does that look if Quinyon is shadowing Lamb everywhere? It might look good! Just would be different, that is all.

The Eagles have plenty of advantages elsewhere. Up front, Dallas is debuting a rookie (Tyler Booker) and has an uninspiring tackle duo, including a guy who missed almost all of training camp with a bone fracture in his knee (Tyler Guyton). Good opportunity for Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt and an edge-rusher group that has much to prove. I do not think the Cowboys are gonna be able to run the ball much at all, ruining a potential Miles Sanders revenge game.

(Poor Miles. Guy just can’t get out of Saquon’s shadow.)

On the other side of the ball, I had this interaction in Texas last week.

DALLAS — Asked restaurant host: “God, did you hear about Micah Parsons?”
Host: “No.”
Me: “Traded. Green Bay.”
Thought he would cry.

Anyway, the Eagles should be able to run the ball against Dallas… but Kenny Clark is an upgrade over Parsons in terms of run defense. But, you know, that is quite a trade-off elsewhere. Osa Odighizuwa is a good player, but on the edge, the Cowboys are quite unproven now without Micah (“Michael,” according to Jerry). Ditto at linebacker, at least until DeMarvion Overshown returns later this season.

In the secondary, the Eagles should have places to attack. Trevon Diggs is apparently gonna play, which seemed like a longshot at the beginning of camp. DaRon Bland is also there, and I am sure he will be trying to jump routes all game. But if Diggs is on a pitch count, the Cowboys’ corner depth also kinda stinks.

Weird game, in that the Eagles’ pass defense (second-best in the NFL last year per EPA, which includes that rough first month) is my biggest worry. My guess is the Eagles will win, but hey, it is just a guess. Nick Sirianni, early-season game previews are tough. But you know what’s not tough?

Dropping a banner on Jerry Jones’ head.

Injury report: The Tanimal is a no-go with that right thumb injury, Sam Howell will be the backup QB. Everyone else is good to go, which includes Landon Dickerson. Warrior.

One other storyline I did not mention in the game preview: Good to see Drew Mukuba available to play, but the beats seem to agree that he missed too much time in preseason to get the Week 1 start. We will see if that is the case. If so, that would mean Sydney Brown gets the nod… even if Brown probably will have to play really well to keep the job for the long-term. Little bit of a weird situation for Week 1, but that is fine.

One other note: Eli Ricks is back on the practice squad, with Hollin Pierce getting released. I gotta say, for a top-heavy team, this is a pretty nice-looking practice squad! Did I mention Britain Covey and Marcus Epps are back? Covey will likely get elevated for tonight’s game to be the returner. I am expecting some sneaky solid returns, punctuated with Covey getting absolutely obliterated. You know, just like old times.

SEPTA: Good to see that it will not be Lord of the Flies situation getting down to the game tonight. Not crazy about a private company having to come to the rescue and funding our public transit for the night, but hey, at least the trains will be running.

“On To The Next One” Power Rankings: I have been thinking a lot about which Eagles figure leads the pack in expressing the sentiment that it is a new season, that this group has not accomplished anything, that last year was last year, etc. All that good cliché mumbo jumbo.

Now that we have reached the end of the offseason/preseason, I am happy to announce the winners.

The fact that Jalen Hurts did not crack the podium is the upset of the century. Speaking of Jalen…

America’s Game: I did not watch the full episode, but if this segment on The Dagger is any indication, it seems like a mighty fine progrum.

Milwaukee 6, Phillies 3: Well, you realistically were not gonna sweep the Brew Crew in Milwaukee. And I mostly was fine with this loss. The Phils were on base more than the Brewers, but were 1-8 with runners in scoring position. Oh well, happens. Wes Wilson hit a ball to Kenosha, a comically long home run. That was cool.

But (sigh) Aaron Nola.

Nola let the first five hitters cross the plate without recording an out. I would classify one of those baserunners as “unlucky.” Besides that bloop hit, it was walk, HBP, single on a grooved fastball, home run on a hanging change-up. Pretty much as bad as you can pitch.

There has always been a lot of noise about Nola, and I would argue that there are two camps of Phillies fans here:

That second group will point out how durable Nola is, and all of the strikeouts. And I can at least hear that argument when it is a Normal Bad Nola Season. You know, a 4.50-ish ERA, 1.4-ish homers per-nine innings, and also 185-ish innings pitched. Not my favorite pitcher, but I do respect a guy that takes the ball every five days and does not wear out your bullpen.

But this is not Normal Bad Nola. Not even close.

To begin, Nola was on the IL for three solid months. And since returning, he has allowed 18 earned runs in 19.1 innings pitched. Nola got away with that awful first inning against Atlanta last week because Kyle Schwarber and co. decided to put on a home run derby. On the season, Nola’s ERA is 6.78. This is basically 2024 Taijuan Walker.

If Thoracic Outlet Syndrome did not exist, I would be asking if Nola would be on the playoff roster at all. Since it does, the Phillies’ best pitchers are three lefties. I understand the idea wanting to have a righty starter available to break it up, and that there are not many good righty options for the Phils. Remember when we thought this team would have a surplus of starters and they could put some of them in the bullpen? That was a fun two months. Andrew Painter got shelled again last night, by the way.

There is no way I am giving this version of Nola a start in the NLDS with Sanchy-Luzardo-Ranger available. He has four starts left to show us something.

Kawhi cheating? Pablo Torre has carved out quite a niche as an investigative journalist/podcaster. And his latest podcast, which I am about two-thirds through, has some unbelievable reporting on Kawhi Leonard. Bombshell stuff.

The tl;dr: Leonard got paid $28 million from this weird tree-planting company that recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and… it is unclear if he did anything to earn that money. No autographs, no endorsements, more money combined than Robert Downey Jr., Leonardo DiCaprio (who both did actual work for the company!) and every other celebrity endorser got. A lot of stuff that does not pass The Smell Test. Through his reporting, Torre argues that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer used the company (Aspiration) to pay Leonard off the books, circumventing the NBA’s salary cap in the process.

I have no idea what will come of this. But if even 80 percent of Torre’s reporting is true, someone has got some ‘splainin to do. Cap circumvention is a big no-no.

Now, this is a huge NBA story that I would have listed in the newsy regardless. But as the guys podded about here, you know who is an interested bystander here? The Sixers, who have the following two assets via the Jim Harden trade:

Two pretty juicy assets. The last time there was serious cap circumvention in the NBA was 2000, with Minnesota and Joe Smith. David Stern went Old Testament on Glen Taylor and Kevin McHale, stripping the Wolves of five first-round picks. I do not even know what the punishment would be here, since the Clips do not own five first-rounders.

Anyway, certainly something to keep an eye on. I am picturing Daryl Morey and Josh Harris pumping their firsts to “Start Me Up” in some large auditorium to this news.

Love a nice lead-in: Phils-Brewers (4:10 p.m., NBC Sports Philly), followed by Eagles-Cowboys (8:20 p.m., NBC). Let’s have a day. We will have you covered at PHLY!

Your tentative Thursday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Go Birds. Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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