The Dallas Cowboys’ 2026 schedule is out, and it’s a demanding one. After back-to-back playoff misses and a 7-9-1 finish in 2025, Dallas enters year two under head coach Brian Schottenheimer needing to prove it belongs in the postseason conversation. The path won’t be easy — the Cowboys will travel the fourth-most miles in the NFL, play a game in Brazil, and face seven teams that made the playoffs last season. Here are the five games that will define how the 2026 season goes.
1. Week 1 vs. New York Giants (Sunday Night Football, Sept. 13)
The Cowboys open under the lights against a division rival, and history says that’s good news. Dallas has owned this matchup in openers, winning 11 of the last 12 season-opening meetings with the Giants by an average margin near three touchdowns. A primetime opener sets the tone for the year, and a fast start matters for a team that faded late in 2025. If the Cowboys can’t handle a rebuilding Giants squad on their home field to begin the year, it’s an early warning sign. Win it, and the confidence carries.
2. Week 3 vs. Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro (Sept. 27)
This is the wild card of the whole schedule. For the first time since 2014, the Cowboys play an international game — and it’s against a Ravens team led by two-time MVP Lamar Jackson. Beyond the on-field challenge, the logistics are brutal: it kicks off a stretch of three games in eleven days, including a 10-hour flight home before a quick road trip to Houston. Dak Prescott himself flagged sleep and recovery as the biggest factors. How Dallas handles this travel gauntlet could shape the early-season standings, for better or worse.
3. Week 4 at Houston Texans (Oct. 4)
The Lone Star showdown comes at the worst possible time — right after the exhausting Brazil trip. The Texans and their ferocious defense beat Dallas soundly the last time these in-state rivals met on a national stage. Coming off international travel with tired legs, this road game against a quality opponent is exactly the kind of trap that can sink a season early. Survive this stretch (Brazil, Houston, then a Thursday-nighter) at .500 or better, and the Cowboys will have earned some breathing room.
4. Week 12 vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Thanksgiving)
The Cowboys host their fiercest rival on Thanksgiving for the first time since 2014, and the stakes should be enormous. Philadelphia has been the class of the NFC East, so this game is both a measuring stick and a potential statement. Thanksgiving games carry outsized emotional and national attention, and beating the Eagles on the holiday would be a season-defining moment. It also kicks off the toughest stretch of the year — a brutal Weeks 12-16 gauntlet that includes the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks and the NFC runner-up Rams.
5. Week 17/18 at Washington Commanders (regular-season finale)
For the fourth time in five seasons, the Cowboys close the year against the Commanders — and these late-season division games have a way of deciding playoff fates. Dallas has won its last three road games in Washington, which bodes well. If the season comes down to the wire like 2025 did, this finale could be the difference between January football and another early offseason. The Cowboys play two of their final three at home before this one, so ideally they arrive with their playoff position already in hand.
The bottom line
The 2026 schedule gives the Cowboys every chance to prove they’re back — and every chance to fall short. The early travel gauntlet (Weeks 3-5) and the brutal Weeks 12-16 stretch are the two danger zones; the division games against the Giants, Eagles, and Commanders are the swing games. Analysts project the Cowboys’ win total right around 9-10, which would put them squarely in the wild-card hunt. Navigate these five games well, and Dallas ends its two-year playoff drought. Stumble in them, and it could be another long December in North Texas.
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