The Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys played the first NFL game of the 2025-26 season, with Philly beginning its Super Bowl defense and the Cowboys still reeling from the Micah Parsons trade. Basically everyone was picking the Eagles coming into this contest. Then Philly lost arguably its best defensive player before the first snap of the game.
Jalen Carter ejected for spitting on Dak Prescott before first snap in Eagles-Cowboys opener
There’s no excuse for this.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
After an Eagles’ special teamer was injured on the game’s opening kickoff, Carter approached Cowboys offensive huddle then spit on Dallas QB Dak Prescott. After a short huddle, the refs ejected Carter from the game. Watch the video here:
This is bizarre behavior from Carter. Spitting on someone shows the lowest possible amount of respect for your opponent. Sure, the Cowboys and Eagles don’t like it each, but this is still childish.
The Cowboys used the 15-yard penalty from Carter to immediately mount a scoring drive. Dallas went 53 yards in six plays, highlighted by a 32-yard pass from Prescott to CeeDee Lamb. Javonte Williams then punched the ball into the end zone on a short TD run. It was 7-0 Cowboys before the Eagles touched the ball.
Carter was a monster in the middle of the Eagles’ defensive line during their Super Bowl run. This isn’t the same team without him, but Philly still has tons of weapons on both sides of the ball.
We’ll update this story as it develops.
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