{"id":672711,"date":"2026-05-16T04:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/672711\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:47:21","slug":"5-top-storylines-from-cowboys-2026-schedule-includes-a-gooey-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/672711\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Top storylines from Cowboys’ 2026 schedule includes a gooey middle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL released the full 2026 schedule<\/a> on Thursday, and the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> finally got to see what their slate of games would look like. The opponents have been known for months, but the time and date of the matchups weren\u2019t set until now.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys<\/a> appeared to have a tough road to ttravel even before the order was known, and that hasn\u2019t changed. There are two stretches of the schedule that will be particularly challenging,, but there is also a soft spot that could help the Cowboys reset. Here is what’s in store for the Cowboys on the 2026 schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Rough first two months<\/p>\n

The first seven weeks might tell fans everything about these Cowboys., They\u2019ll face a stretch of games that will test their endurance before the team even gets to November.<\/p>\n

Once again, the Cowboys’ season starts against the New York Giants<\/a>, then they’ll return to play their first home game against the Washington Commanders<\/a>. Neither opponent was great last year, but divisional games are rarely easy and both teams look like they’re much improved from last season. After those NFC East battles, stiffer tests await.<\/p>\n

Starting in Week 3 with a matchup in Brazil against the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, Dallas will play three games in 12 days. After their international contest, the team will fly home before going on the road to play one of the more physical teams in the league in the instate rival Houston Texans<\/a>. Four days later, the Cowboys host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> on Thursday Night Football.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s a lot for a three-week stretch, but it\u2019s only part of the first seven game gauntlet that will test the Cowboys. From Week 4 to Week 7, the team will play three playoff teams from last season; they\u2019ll be at the Texans in Week 4, head to Lambeau Field in Week 6, and host the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> in Week 7 on Monday Night Football.<\/p>\n

A team may not be able to secure a playoff spot in September and October, but the Cowboys could lose one if they don\u2019t play well early on.<\/p>\n

Primetime favorites<\/p>\n

No matter who tries to pry the title away, the Cowboys are still America\u2019s Team and the schedule proves it. Much to Jerry Jones\u2019 delight, his squad will play six primetime contests<\/a>: one on Thursday night, three Sunday nights, and two Monday Night Football games, as well as a seventh standalone game on Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

That number is tied for tops in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Among the oddities of the schedule, the Cowboys will play three straight primetime games in Weeks 5-7, against the Buccaneers, Eagles and Green Bay Packers. Then they won\u2019t have another primetime matchup until Week 13 when they travel to play the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks on MNF, before ending their standalone slate by hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> on SNF in Week 16.<\/p>\n

8 games against playoff teams<\/p>\n

Each season is different, but the Cowboys will have eight games against teams who made the playoffs last year. Five of those contests will come on the road, including two away games against the NFC championship participants from last year, and the team will play four straight games against playoff teams from 2025.<\/p>\n

That gauntlet begins with the Eagles on Thanksgiving<\/a> in Week 12 and ends with the Jaguars in Week 16. Luckily for Dallas, they do have their bye week sandwiched in between those four matchups.<\/p>\n

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If one includes the Buccaneers and Ravens, who were both in contention for a playoff spot in Week 18 of last year, it\u2019s 10 playoff-caliber teams on the schedule.<\/p>\n

Soft middle, late bye<\/p>\n

After the road matchup with the Eagles in Week 7, the Cowboys have possibly their easiest string of games. Starting on November 1, from Week 8 through Week 11, Dallas plays three teams that had losing records and also aren\u2019t expected to be contenders this year. This includes two games against teams who had just three wins in 2025, the Arizona Cardinals<\/a> and Tennessee Titans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The only difficult game in that stretch is the Week 10 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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If Dallas can survive a difficult start to the season, the schedule eases up and gives them a chance to get healthy in the middle of the campaign before a tough ending.<\/p>\n

Another benefit to the schedule for the Cowboys is their late bye week<\/a>. The Week 14 off week is the latest for the team since 1990 and is the last bye week given by the NFL. Getting extra rest late in the season could help a late season surge.<\/p>\n

Start, and end, season on the road, again<\/p>\n

For the third time in four seasons, the Cowboys will start and finish their schedule on the road. Ironically, in 2023, Dallas began their season on Sunday Night Football against the Giants and ended it on the road against the Commanders, just like they do this year. It\u2019s also the last time the Cowboys went to the postseason, so perhaps it\u2019s good omen for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 1: at New York Giants – Sunday, Sept. 13 (8:20 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 1: at New York Giants – Sunday, Sept. 13 (8:20 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 2: vs Washington Commanders – Sunday, Sept. 20 (4:25 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 3: vs Baltimore Ravens – Sunday Sept. 27 (4:25 p.m. ET) at Maracana Stadium, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 16<\/p>\n

Inside the 7 most intriguing weeks on the Cowboys’ 2026 schedule<\/p>\n

Week 4: at Houston Texans – Sunday, October 3 (1 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 5: vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Thursday, October 8 (8:15 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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6 \/ 16<\/p>\n

Inside the 7 most intriguing weeks on the Cowboys’ 2026 schedule<\/p>\n

Week 6: at Green Bay Packers – Sunday October 18 (8:20 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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7 \/ 16<\/p>\n

Inside the 7 most intriguing weeks on the Cowboys’ 2026 schedule<\/p>\n

Week 7: at Philadelphia Eagles, October 26, MNF, (8:15 p.m.) ET<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 8: vs Arizona Cardinals, November 1 (1 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 9: at Indianapolis Colts, November 8 (1 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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10 \/ 16<\/p>\n

Inside the 7 most intriguing weeks on the Cowboys’ 2026 schedule<\/p>\n

Week 10: vs San Francisco 49ers, November 15 (4:25 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 11: vs Tennessee Titans, November 22 (1 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 12: vs. Philadelphia Eagles, November 26 (4:30 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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13 \/ 16<\/p>\n

Inside the 7 most intriguing weeks on the Cowboys’ 2026 schedule<\/p>\n

Week 13: at Seattle Seahawks, Monday Dec. 7 (8:15 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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14 \/ 16<\/p>\n

Inside the 7 most intriguing weeks on the Cowboys’ 2026 schedule<\/p>\n

Week 15: at Los Angeles Rams, December 20 (4:25 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 16: vs Jacksonville Jaguars, December 27, SNF (8:20 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

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Cowboys 2026 Schedule<\/p>\n

Week 17: vs New York Giants, January 3, 2027 (1 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter\u00a0@BenTalksCowboys<\/a>\u00a0and be sure to follow\u00a0Cowboys Wire on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to join in on the conversation with fellow\u00a0fans!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Top storylines from the 2026 schedule for the Dallas Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL released the full 2026 schedule on Thursday, and the Dallas Cowboys finally got to see what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1745,1742,49,48,1721,1737,11286,1749,1728,514,12105,1747,72405,948,13280,82,1733,1741,29822,1758],"class_list":["post-672711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-houston-texans","tag-jaguars","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-packers","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-playoff-teams","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-seahawks","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-the-cowboys","tag-washington-commanders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}