Dallas Cowboys to open on the road for fourth straight year. Who will they play?

By Nick Harris

Updated May 11, 2026 9:40 AM

The NFL schedule release is trickling out as the week goes on, leading to Thursday evening’s full release. The first game to be announced by the league this week includes the Dallas Cowboys, as they will travel to MetLife Stadium on Sept. 13 to take on the New York Giants in the first Sunday Night Football game of the season.

The game will be the fourth consecutive year that the Cowboys open the season on the road after playing the Giants in 2023, the Browns in 2024 and the Eagles in 2025.

This season posed a particular challenge to bringing Dallas back to AT&T Stadium for Week 1, as the venue is hosting an Usher and Chris Brown concert on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The Cowboys could have played at home on Monday, but it would have been a challenge to play Week 2 on a short week before going to Brazil in Week 3.

The 2026 opener will serve as the 13th time the Cowboys have opened the season against the Giants, with Dallas owning an 11-1 record all-time against its divisional foes in season openers. The two teams have opened against each other eight of the past 15 seasons, dating back to the season opener in 2012.

It will be the first time that the Cowboys will get a look at the Giants with their new head coach, John Harbaugh. After Brian Daboll was fired during the season last year, New York hired one of the hottest names in the open market in January. Last season, the Cowboys and Giants split their two matchups with Dallas winning 40-37 in overtime in Week 2 and the Giants winning the season finale 34-17.

The game will also serve as the first look at new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, standout rookie Caleb Downs and prized free agent addition Jalen Thompson. After a historically poor effort on defense in 2025, the Cowboys have rebuilt that side of the ball for the 2026 campaign.

Two games have been announced for the Cowboys so far, as they continue to learn more of their dates and times for all 17 games of the NFL season:

Week 1: Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants (MetLife Stadium) — Sept. 13 at 7:20 p.m. on NBC/Peacock
Week 3: Baltimore Ravens vs. Dallas Cowboys (Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) — Sept. 27 at 3:25 p.m.

Game schedule dates, times, locations

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Rangers ▶

June 22 Rangers 4, Miami 3
June 23 Miami 6, Rangers 4
June 24 Miami 4, Rangers 2
June 25 Rangers 6, Toronto 5
June 26 Rangers 5, Toronto 4
June 27 Rangers 7, Toronto 4
June 28 Rangers 3, Toronto 2
June 29 at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m., ESPN
June 30 at Cleveland, 5:40 p.m., RSN
July 1 at Cleveland, 12:10 p.m., RSN
July 2 vs. Detroit, 7:05 p.m., RSN
July 4 vs. Detroit, 3:05 p.m., RSN
July 5 vs. Detroit, 2:30 p.m., NBCSN, Peacock

Wings▶

June 17 Golden State 91, Wings 80
June 20 Wings 93, Chicago 92
June 22 Wings 112, Seattle 110 (OT)
June 25 Las Vegas 99, Wings 84
June 28 Minnesota 85, Wings 77
July 2 at Connecticut, 7 p.m., KFAA, Amazon Prime Video
July 5 at Toronto, 2 p.m., KFAA
July 7 at New York, 7 p.m., ESPN
July 10 vs. Toronto (at Montreal), 6:30 p.m., Ion
July 12 vs. Chicago (at American Airlines Center), 6 p.m., ESPN, Disney+

TCU Football ▶

2026 season
Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), 11 a.m., ESPN
Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Sept. 26 at Central Florida, TBA
Oct. 3 vs. BYU, TBA
Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA
Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA
Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA
Nov. 6 at Arizona, 9:15 p.m., ESPN
Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA
Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA
Nov. 26 at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN

Cowboys ▶

Sept. 13 at N.Y. Giants, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Sept. 20 vs. Washington, 3:25 p.m., Fox
Sept. 27 vs. Baltimore (at Rio de Janeiro), 3:25 p.m., CBS
Oct. 4 at Houston, 12 p.m., Fox
Oct. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Oct. 18 at Green Bay, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Oct. 26 at Philadelphia, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC
Nov. 1 vs. Arizona, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 8 at Indianapolis, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 15 vs. San Francisco, 3:25 p.m., Fox
Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 26 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., Fox
Dec. 7 at Seattle, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC
Dec. 20 at L.A. Rams, 3:25 p.m., CBS
Dec. 27 vs. Jacksonville, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Jan. 3 vs. N.Y. Giants, 12 p.m., Fox
Jan. 9 or 10 at Washington, TBA

World Cup ▶

All local matches at AT&T Stadium
Group stage
June 14 Japan 2, Netherlands 2 (Group F)
June 17 England 4, Croatia 2 (Group L)
June 22 Argentina 2, Austria 0 (Group J)
June 25 Japan 1, Sweden 1 (Group F)
June 27 Argentina 3, Jordan 1 (Group J)
Knockout round
June 30 Norway 2, Ivory Coast 1 (round of 32)
July 3 Round of 32: Australia vs. Egypt, 1 p.m., Fox
July 6 Round of 16: Teams TBD, 2 p.m., Fox
July 14 Semifinal: Teams TBD, 2 p.m., Fox

FC Dallas ▶

May 2 FC Dallas 2, NY Red Bulls 0
May 9 FC Dallas 3, Salt Lake 1
May 13 Vancouver 3, FC Dallas 2
May 16 FC Dallas 3, San Jose 2
May 23 FC Dallas 2, Colorado 1
World Cup break
July 22 at Portland, 9:30 p.m., Apple TV
July 25 at San Diego, 8:30 p.m., FS1, Apple TV

Texas Motor Speedway ▶

July 11 NASCAR Racing Experience
July 11 Hearts in High Gear
July 25 Drift n Drag
Aug. 1 NASCAR Racing Experience
Aug. 29 Team Texas: David Starr's Racing School
Sept. 5 NASCAR Racing Experience

This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 9:32 AM.

Nick Harris

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.

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