We have reached the single digits. There are now fewer than 10 days separating us from the 2026 season beginning for the Dallas Cowboys.
This one kicks off on the road against the New York Giants in primetime, and the moment it begins everything we have thought about this team for most of the calendar year is suddenly subject to change both positively and negatively.
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It is only one game, but the season opener can often feel bigger than that. If your team wins it then they have started stacking things together. That is one fewer win necessary to reach certain points like double-digits or securing the division. You get the picture.
This year the Cowboys have a more-important-than-normal game to start the season as it is against a division rival. The Giants have been a bit moribund for a decade now, but that doesn’t change the significance and weight of this being an NFC East matchup. What’s more, it is one of three that Dallas plays on the road across the season at large. It isn’t hyperbole to say that a win would be huge. Given potential tiebreakers down the road that is objectively undeniable.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys they have a rather meek record in their last 10 season openers, coincidentally (and nicely for symmetry’s sake) this now encompasses the entire Dak Prescott era as he started all of these games.
2025: Loss at Philadelphia Eagles
2024: Win at Cleveland Browns
2023: Win at New York Giants
2022: Loss vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2021: Loss at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2020: Loss at Los Angeles Rams
2019: Win vs. New York Giants
2018: Loss at Carolina Panthers
2017: Win vs. New York Giants
2016: Loss vs. New York Giants
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Now fortunately for the Cowboys, 75% of their four wins in this span came against the G-Men specifically. They did lose one though, the first start that Dak ever made (why didn’t Terrance Williams get out of bounds?).
Also, nothing about what happened in any of these season-openers has anything to do with, for the most part, who the 2026 Cowboys are. This is an entirely different team, and that goes for the Giants as well.
In fact this is arguably the most unpredictable Giants team that the Cowboys have faced throughout the Prescott era where they have dominated their rivals. Dallas did see Jaxson Dart in last year’s season finale, but that was a meaningless game as both teams were already eliminated from playoff contention. Plus, John Harbaugh is now in tow as well.
Whatever the case, hopefully the Cowboys can rip off a win and get things started on the right foot. Most people believe they will. But what most people believe is hardly ever a guarantee.
