FRISCO, Texas - Football season is getting closer and closer.
The Cowboys are set to depart for training camp in less a month. That's when we'll get the first up-close look at Brian Schottenheimer's first season with this revised roster and coaching staff. When we get to Oxnard, that's when we'll start to get some real answers about this 2025 Cowboys team.
But what are the questions? We've compiled our annual list of pressing questions that need answers heading into the regular season. The staff writers, consisting of Patrik Walker, Tommy Yarrish, Nick Eatman, Mickey Spagnola, Kyle Youmans and Kurt Daniels, weigh in on some of the pressing issues.
Today, we'll continue the series by looking at the Cowboys' schedule and examine which game, or maybe even more than one game, on the docket is the most important for Dallas in 2025.
18) Most Important Game on 2025 Schedule?
Nick: Knowing that the real answer is "all of them," I think we can all agree that some games tend to be more important than the others. It's hard to answer that here in late-June, but we can at least take a stab at it. While, I usually look towards Week 2 anyways, I'll stick with my own theory of just how important it is to either "bounce back from a Week 1 loss" or "build momentum after a big season-opening win." One way or another, getting a win in Week 2 is usually very indicative to how the season is going to go. Look at last year – the Cowboys went to Cleveland and smashed the Browns, only to come back and get rolled by a Saints team that ended up being pretty bad. As much as we like to remember the injuries that piled up for the Cowboys, they were all pretty-much healthy for that Saints game in Week 2 and it was ugly. So this year, I'll say playing the Giants in Week 2 is the most important. Not only will they be challenged against the Eagles in Week 1, but this is a Giants team the Cowboys swept last year. Now, before the Cowboys can catch up on the Eagles and Commanders in the NFC East, they have to make sure they don't get caught by the Giants. I think that's the most important game for them right now.
Kyle: It's the biggest cliché in the book, but the next game is the most important game. Of course, meaning the season opener on the road in Philadelphia on September 4th. Every divisional matchup is important. But this one will hold the extra weight of setting the tone for the Brian Schottenheimer era and spoiling the party for the reigning Super Bowl Champion Eagles.
Should Dallas come away with a win, it would announce the arrival of a new-look Cowboys franchise and label them as legitimate contenders in the NFC. A loss would serve as a gauge for how close (or how far) the team really is from becoming a contender in Schottenheimer's first season. Either way, the first Thursday of the season will be under the attention of the entire country and serve as an immediate advantage or disadvantage over a team with the capability to compete at the highest level.
Patrik: Yes. That is my answer: yes. This is to say that there isn't, in my opinion, a game the Cowboys can take lightly on this year's schedule and especially after finishing 7-10 last season and especially with a first-time head coach and especially ... etc. etc., entering what looks like an onslaught of competition in 2025. It's easy to point to the Eagles in the opener as the most important, because that game will tell the world a lot about what the new-look Cowboys are capable of if they can march into Philly and take down the defending champs for an early lead over them in the division. But why would the battle in Week 2 against the Giants be any less important — another division game and versus a new-look Big Blue in New York who, and let's be honest, can't be perpetually swept by the Cowboys (sooner or later, Dallas will drop one to them). From there, it's the lowly Bears, right? Maybe not and, even if that's still the case, we've seen Dallas play down to competition before and it cost them.
Green Bay follows ... and I'll just leave that one there and move on to the back half of the schedule, an absolute gauntlet that includes Pete Carroll's Raiders, another bout with the Eagles and one with the Chiefs all in the span of only 10 days. Follow that up with the Lions and ... well ... you're getting the picture I'm painting here. Bottom line: the Super Bowl is the most important game, and getting there means viewing every single matchup before it in the same light.
Mickey: This might sound ludicrous since they play 17 of them over 18 weeks, but to me, it's the season opener against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL Thursday night 2025 season kickoff game in Philly on national TV. Why, since there are 16 more games to go? Well, look at it this way. The Cowboys seem to have established some momentum this offseason under a new coaching staff, and with so many new players on this 91-man roster. And guessing this will be a high-energy training camp, too. So how great would it be for morale to shock the NFL with an opening victory, sort of qualifying everything Brian Schottenheimer has been stressing and preaching. And if not winning the game, proving to be highly competitive against a team that has beaten them in three of the past four games, and in both games last season by a combined score of 75-13, playing without QB Dak Prescott in both games. He's back. Will the Cowboys be back, too?
