Eagles, Cowboys to renew hostilities on Thanksgiving

In advance of the release of the National Football League's master schedule for the 2026 season, anticipated to occur on Thursday night, certain matchups have already been leaked.

One of those made known to the public late Monday afternoon, is the Dallas Cowboys' opponent on Thanksgiving.

This year, it will be the defending NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles.

The Cowboys have hosted the late afternoon start on the 4th Thursday in November almost every year since 1966, excepting 1975 and 1977. 

Philadelphia has been chosen as their foe twice previously, in 1989 and 2014, winning both.

The Cowboys have won each of their last four Thanksgiving matchups. Last season, it was a 31-28 triumph over the three-time Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. The Las Vegas Raiders were the last club to top America's Team on America's holiday, a 36-33 overtime decision on Nov. 25, 2021.

Distaste between the two NFC East franchises, simmering for decades, reached a boiling point at Texas Stadium in Irving, TX on Nov. 23, 1989. Retroactively nicknamed "Bounty Bowl I" for Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan instructing several Cowboys players to be targeted, including former kicker Luis Zendejas, the Birds won, 27-0. That marked the first time Dallas was shutout on the holiday.

In that blowout victory, Eagles QB Randall Cunningham finished 21-of-33 for 234 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Cris Carter. The visitors' defense forced 5 Cowboys turnovers and held rookie QB Troy Aikman to 54 yards through the air on 7-of-21 completions. 

Flash forward to 25 years later, Nov. 27, 2014 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Embattled signal-caller Mark Sanchez -- who infamously was victimized by the "Butt Fumble" two years prior while playing for the New York Jets against the New England Patriots -- led the Birds to a rousing 33-10 victory. 

Sanchez ended the day 20-of-29 for 217 yards, one score through the air and another on a rush. LeSean McCoy rolled for 159 yards on 25 carries and another ground TD. Conversely, Dallas QB Tony Romo was picked off twice and sacked 4 times and the hosts committed three turnovers.

For the Eagles, this will mark the eighth time the bellwether franchise has been selected to play on Thanksgiving, having gone 6-1 previously. Their only defeat came in their last Thanksgiving matchup, in Detroit, a 45-14 walloping by the Lions in 2015. Between 1968 and 2014, they bested the Pittsburgh Pirates (1939, 1940), the Lions (1968), Cowboys and Cardinals (2008). 

The remainder of the 2026 schedule for all NFL teams is expected to be revealed this Thursday, May 14, at 8 pm on NFL Network.

Flyers' narrowed focus didn't help in season-ending setbacks

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Ahead of Game 4 on Saturday night, the first question Flyers winger Travis Konecny faced from assembled media was based on a quote the previous day from goaltender Dan Vladar, regarding how they can properly focus when facing elimination.

Vladar reportedly said, according to the writer who posed the question, “win the first five minutes, win the first period, win the second period” as a key to asserting control against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Here’s the problem as the Orange and Black stared into the abyss: they already *did* that. And still lost.

They owned the first five minutes of Game 2 in Raleigh on Monday night, scoring twice within 39 seconds. Even after giving up a power-play goal, they won the first period, headed to intermission with a 2-1 lead. They also won the second period, holding the hosts off the scoreboard. They still lost, 3-2 in overtime.

With the home crowd fully behind them on Thursday night back in Philadelphia, they owned the first five minutes. They owned the first 10 minutes. They even owned the first 15 minutes but “lost” the first period on a Jordan Staal power-play goal. They went on to lose the second period two goals to one and eventually fell by a 4-1 count. 

As for Konecny’s public face, these are apparently just blips on the radar, hiccups on the road to optimal execution.

“I think last game, there was a few breakdowns and obviously (the failure of) special teams,” He said offhandedly. “But, the way the game started, the 5-on-5 play, if we can replicate that start I think we’ll be in a good spot.”

I’m stuck on how any member of the Flyers, front-facing or otherwise, couldn’t fully understand they need to win in ALL aspects of the game – not just at even strength – to take not just the opening 20 minutes, but the whole of Game 4 and beyond. The officiating has been needlessly close-to-the-vest for both sides and was expected to continue this way, so intentionally trying to avoid the zebras’ notice really wasn’t on the table. 

The power play ended 1-for-18 against Carolina, 3-for-35 for the postseason as a whole. The penalty kill is less quantifiable, at 19-for-22 in this series and 35-for-41 overall, however, the failure is in the eye test as the kill has been mired by the near inability of Flyers checkers to match the Hurricanes’ speed and intensity. The chief reason the ‘Canes didn’t score more than 3 on the advantage is due to a high volume of errant or deflected passes.

Also in that pregame session, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet had little to offer about the precipice of season’s end except some tried-and-true cliches.

“The worst thing to think is you’re down 3-0, how do you come back,” Tocchet said. “That’s all negativity. We gotta think positively. I had a good talk with the young guys. They’re excited about playing this game. They should be."

He added another well-worn but hollow maxim: “Somebody told me you can’t climb Mount Everest without getting to the first camp base, right?” 

On Saturday, the Flyers started running up that hill from the puck drop, as they did 48 hours earlier. But the effort wasn’t sustained, again. They didn’t win the first five minutes. When Tyson Foerster recorded his first goal and point of the entire postseason less than 8 minutes in, it was the hosts’ third shot on ‘Canes goalie Frederik Andersen. 

They were ahead, 1-0, after the first period but did they really *win* it, despite an 8-5 shot edge and even territorial advantage? They definitely didn’t win the second period. Outscored 1-0. Outshot 15-4. Worse still, another glaring goose egg in the shots on goal column with a five-forward set during a 40-second 5-on-3 advantage before the midway point of regulation. 

“They had the puck a lot. It was a bend don’t break (situation),” an optimistic Tocchet said when asked if he was proud of the way his club responded with discipline from the Game 3 setback. “I was proud of the way we tried to keep them on the outside and get scoring on our chances.”

Courtesy of TSN.ca

The game was tied heading into the third period, but it might as well have been a Carolina lead, so confident was its pushback all series.

Even after a goalie interference call negated a potential Hurricanes go-ahead score early on, Logan Stankoven one-timed a Taylor Hall pass and the one-goal edge felt like two. Alex Bump broke his playoff cherry 99 seconds later to draw the Flyers even but, again, even a 2-2 tie felt like a Carolina lead. 

Going into overtime, the inevitable felt closer than ever.

Jackson Blake put an end to any questions of the Flyers’ ability to rise from the grave once more, 5 ½ minutes in. It’s exceedingly difficult to win any portion of a playoff game when you can’t possess the puck long enough for sustained attack, or win more than a 5-minute portion of any period, when you rarely score more than one goal at a time during an offensive burst, when outshot 40-17, battered in the battle of total shot attempts, 82-38. 

“This team’s played well for eight months,” said Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour about his 53-win squad. “They didn’t just get hot at the end or just start (in the playoffs). It’s been night in, night out. That’s the biggest takeaway for me.”

And about Konecny’s supposed confidence in their 5-on-5 play, how ‘bout this red flag: shot totals 37-15 in favor of the Hurricanes.

However, if you’re gonna lose, may as well make it memorable and historical. 

Saturday’s Game 4 loss was the Flyers’ first playoff series-and-season-ender decided at home and beyond regulation since 2002 when they absorbed a 5-game Eastern quarterfinal loss to Ottawa. They hadn’t suffered a season-ending loss in a sweep as the host since dropping the last of 3 straight defeats to the Washington Capitals in April, 1984.

It had been almost 50 years since an opponent finished off a 4-game sweep in Philadelphia – that honor falling to the Montreal Canadiens who won the first of 4 consecutive Cups here on May 16, 1976.

In the offseason, the focus for Tocchet and his coaching staff, as well as the Flyers’ front office, has to run both narrow and wide. The problems across the board exposed in defeat are obvious; the solutions yet to be determined. Part of the price of optimism of what may be in the coming years, is the cautiousness of believing they will be addressed to satisfaction. 

"It's a great experience, but it's something that you have to do year after year now," Flyers captain Sean Couturier said about the youth movement gaining momentum and experience. "I think we're back on the map and the expectations are we're gonna be in the playoffs every year, with the young group that we have."

'Trust in the process' means different things for Flyers, Hurricanes

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Take a mental note and frame it, because one moment in an overtime the Philadelphia Flyers simply dominated turned into a second straight loss on the road to begin their best-of-seven series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

This one happened 15 minutes and 15 seconds into the extra session. That blur in the middle of the screen in your mind is Travis Konecny, sprung on a lead pass by Trevor Zegras and behind four defenders. Konecny, the first-line winger, he of the 1 goal on 8 total shots through 8-plus games in the postseason. He’s blowing in on ‘Canes goaltender Freddie Andersen, the game on his stick.

And he not only fails to record a shot on goal, he misses completely because he's shooting prematurely. You can drive yourself nuts with multiple rewinds of the replay. You can even choose to believe what one beat said about inside information from a "source with access to inside data."

Travis Konecny had the game on his stick here. pic.twitter.com/1xRiIiCRMZ

— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) May 5, 2026

 

Then, with 66 seconds remaining until the green light to signal the end of a period would have saved the Flyers for the third time in this postseason, Taylor Hall squeaks a rebound through Travis Sanheim’s legs and past Dan Vladar to give the hosts a 3-2 win in Game 2 of this Eastern Conference semifinal and a 2-0 series advantage. 

“I should have finished that,” an expressionless Konecny said – but in a low tone and with some urgency – when asked what he could do as a leader to keep his teammates from being demoralized. “It should have been over and we’re going home with a win, but we’re going home to our fans and we know what it’s like there. We’re excited.”

Clearly this is a case of the front-facing leadership putting on a stoic face in the midst of serious adversity. What’s unstated is their faith in the *process* of scoring although the results speak for themselves.

It was the last and most important missed opportunity which dogged the Orange and Black since they tallied twice in a 39-second span early in the contest. After Jamie Drysdale’s power-play strike just over 4 minutes in, seven other opportunities with the advantage, including one in the extra session whose aggression was neutered by a lack of precision, fell by the wayside.

As it turns out, those two early goals essentially bought the visitors the rest of regulation, as Vladar continually worked to erase the imaginary line of Hurricanes’ momentum that crept away from Andersen and ever closer to him for the final 55 minutes, 19 seconds. 

The creep began 5 minutes, 40 seconds after Sean Couturier’s even-strength goal, when Nikolaj Ehlers one-timed a shot home on the advantage and cut the hosts’ deficit to 2-1. It caught up to Vladar when Seth Jarvis netted the equalizer with 8:39 to play and it was bona fide clench time from there. 

In the interim, Couturier missed a partial breakaway. Porter Martone couldn’t get the handle on a sliding puck within 5 feet of Andersen. Another Sanheim chance in close missed the net.

By the end of regulation, Carolina led in shots on goal, 35 to 21, while doubling up its foes in total shot attempts, 64 to 32. The hosts also won 34 of 58 faceoffs and spent considerably more actual playing time inside the offensive zone than Philadelphia. 

In Game 2, the Flyers attempted to flip on its head what the Hurricanes did in Game 1, use a quick burst of scoring to subdue a willing opponent. But it ended up slowly exploding in their faces. 

Where the ‘Canes gained strategic and physical strength from their 2-0 advantage in the first period on Saturday, the Flyers’ strength on Monday seemed to be chipped away minute by minute. The only phase of their game visibly unimproved from Saturday’s opener was the penalty kill, which only surrendered the one score, but each chance demonstrated the Hurricanes’ commitment to puck movement and the Flyers’ commitment to moving like monuments. 

It didn’t matter the momentum swung in the other direction with the visitors racking up an initial 9-1 shot edge and 15-8 overall during the fourth period. As we all know, in playoff OT, it never matters who has more or the better of play and scoring chances. The one that goes in counts and it belonged to Hall. 

Let’s not forget Andersen, who ended the night having stopped the final 33 shots he faced.

“To be down two and just kind of stick to our game and wait for our opportunities and capitalize, that was huge,” Jarvis said. “It speaks a lot to our leaders, to Roddy (head coach Brind’Amour) to keep everyone calm and trust in the process. I’m really proud of how we did that tonight.”

The OT loss on Monday marked the 11th time in franchise history the Flyers dropped the first 2 games on the road in a best-of-seven series. Nine of the previous 10 times, they came up short. 

Included in this string of woe was a memorable run to Game 7 of the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals that featured a moral victory in defeat, as well as the record-setting triumph 16 years ago in Boston after rallying from an 0-3 series hole.

This series simply doesn’t feel like either of those. Don’t tell that to Konecny.

“We’ve played in the big one that advanced us here,” Konecny said when asked how their overtime approach on Monday was different from regulation. 

And what about the future? “Be confident. We want to make plays with the puck. Back each other up when there’s mistakes and we go from there,” he added.

If you listen to or read team-friendly personages on social media, the set-up is already there. 

The Flyers skated with the Hurricanes better this time, but were victimized by bad luck. After all, didn’t they go beyond regulation in all four regular-season meetings? Surely they’ll put it together with better effort and better execution on home ice. Once Owen Tippett’s back he’ll provide the necessary jump. Forget they lost the first three and in the last one, the Flyers needed it way more. This time, it’ll be different. 

Carolina’s trust in the process on home ice netted them actual results and an almost iron-clad series edge. Philadelphia’s trust in the process seems to be mired in the theoretical, hidden behind false confidence, and is running out of time.