{"id":104056,"date":"2025-12-29T20:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T20:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/104056\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T20:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T20:23:09","slug":"dallas-cowboys-2026-schedule-is-taking-shape-possible-game-in-mexico-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/104056\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys 2026 schedule is taking shape; possible game in Mexico City?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Each year the NFL makes a big production about \u2018releasing the schedule\u2019 in April. But thanks to the NFL\u2019s scheduling formula, we already know 15 of the 17 opponents the Cowboys will face next year, just not when and in what sequence. And with that info, we can take a quick look at what the 2026 schedule will look like for the Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In 2026, the Cowboys will play three home games and three away games against the NFC East; they will play four games against the NFC West and four games against the AFC South; they\u2019ll play the second-placed teams from the NFC North and NFC South; finally, they\u2019ll play an interconference game against the second-placed team in the AFC North.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Per the <a href=\"https:\/\/media.browns.1rmg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/11164514\/2025-NFL-Record-and-Fact-Book.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL Record &amp; Fact Book<\/a>, the home and away matchups have also already been determined and are summarized in this table, with the current record for each team included:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With that schedule, Week 18 has two games with special meaning for the Cowboys: The losers of the Ravens-Steelers and Bucs-Panthers playoff elimination games will face the Cowboys in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There are some other interesting twists lurking in this schedule:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">A Cowboys game in Mexico City?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Roger Goodell announced in November that the league plans to play at lest eight international games next season, with games likely set for London (3), Madrid, S\u00e3o Paolo, Mexico City, Germany, Melbourne, and possibly Dublin and\/or Paris. In total, up to 10 international games could be played during the 2026 season, per the CBA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The host teams for the international games will be selected from the conference with the ninth home game, so clubs will still host eight games in their home stadium. In 2026, the host teams will be NFC teams, meaning the Cowboys could play one of their home games abroad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jerry Jones expects the Cowboys to play an international game next season, and his preference would be Mexico City. Could that mean America\u2019s Team plays in Mexico City next year? The Cowboys would certainly be a big draw.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Cowboys will travel to Green Bay next year and likely face Micah Parsons for the second season in a row. That should make for some interesting discussions about the winner of the trade that sent Parsons to Green Bay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But Parsons isn\u2019t the only familiar face the Cowboys will see in 2026. Pending what happens in free agency, the Cowboys will see DeMarcus Lawrence (Seattle), Jourdan Lewis (Jacksonville), possibly Rico Dowdle (Carolina), Dalton Schultz and Damone Clark (both Houston), Tony Pollard and Xavier Woods (both Tennessee), and many more former players and coaches in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Going strictly by the records of the teams above, the Cowboys face a much tougher schedule on the road than they do at home, which is not how you want it. The away opponents currently (pre-MNF) combine for a 70-56-1 record (.555 strength of schedule) while the home opponents combine for \u201conly\u201d a 61-80 record (.433 strength of schedule).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">What are your thoughts on the 2026 schedule?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each year the NFL makes a big production about \u2018releasing the schedule\u2019 in April. But thanks to the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,47098,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-104056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-cowboys-schedule","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}