The NFL will release the full 2026 schedule on Thursday. However, the league already announced on Monday that the Dallas Cowboys will open their season against division rivals, the New York Giants, on Sunday Night Football in Week 1. It will mark the first time the Cowboys have faced the Giants in a season opener since Dallas’ dominant 40-0 win over New York in 2023.

The matchup will mark the fourth straight season that Dallas begins the year on the road away from AT&T Stadium. At the same time, though, the announcement also brought another concerning detail for Jerry Jones’ team. To put that into perspective, the league previously confirmed that the Cowboys will face the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3 at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on September 27, with Dallas serving as the designated home team.

If Dallas ends up playing its Week 2 game at home, the Cowboys would still travel more than 6,500 miles across the first three weeks of the 2026 season alone. And since the bye weeks don’t begin until Week 5, the grueling stretch could quickly take a toll. However, Jerry Jones is not letting the demanding schedule dampen their excitement of being a part of something historic.

“We’re thrilled and honored to be part of Rio’s first NFL game,” Jerry Jones said in a statement during the draft weekend. “Playing in the legendary Maracanã Stadium against the Ravens in front of such a passionate and growing fan base on a global stage will be very special for our team, our entire Cowboys organization and the millions watching back home and around the world.”

The Rio matchup will mark just the second international game in franchise history and the first since Dallas defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-17 in 2014 at Wembley Stadium.

With two of their first three games potentially coming away from home, it is fair to expect Dallas to deal with a hectic travel schedule early in the 2026 season. For the broader context, the Los Angeles Chargers traveled the most miles in the NFL during the 2025 season at 38,214 miles. Coincidentally, the Chargers also played an international game in Brazil last year against the Kansas City Chiefs.

And heavy travel loads early in the season can create legitimate challenges for teams because of long flights, time-zone adjustments, disrupted recovery schedules, and inconsistent sleep patterns. While the NFL still has not unveiled the complete 2026 schedule yet, the Cowboys already appear set to headline one of the toughest travel stretches during the opening weeks of the season.

Still, the Cowboys would likely welcome the Week 1 matchup against the Giants for several reasons.

Season opener against the Giants could be a positive sign for the Cowboys

Ever since one of the NFL’s biggest rivalries between the Cowboys and the Giants began in 1960, Dallas has largely controlled the head-to-head matchup. As of the end of the 2025 season, the Cowboys hold a 78-48-2 advantage over their division rivals. But the dominance is not limited to the overall rivalry alone. When it comes to season openers against the Giants, Dallas has held a major edge there as well.

That is exactly why the 2026 Week 1 primetime matchup against New York could be viewed as a positive sign for the Cowboys. For broader context, Dallas and New York have faced each other in season openers eight times since 2006, and during that stretch, the Cowboys hold a dominant 7-1 record. The lone loss came during the 2016 season in Dak Prescott’s rookie debut, when the Giants escaped with a 20-19 victory.

Here’s a look at the results:

• 2007 season: Cowboys won 45-35
• 2012 season: Cowboys won 24-17
• 2013 season: Cowboys won 36-31
• 2015 season: Cowboys won 27-26
• 2016 season: Giants won 20-19
• 2017 season: Cowboys won 19-3
• 2019 season: Cowboys won 35-17
• 2023 season: Cowboys won 40-0

That said, this September will mark the ninth Week 1 meeting between the two franchises since 2006. Whether Dallas extends the record to 8-1 or New York trims the gap to 7-2 is something we will find out once the 2026 season kicks off.