After the conclusion of the NFL regular season on Sunday night, the 13 opponents for the Dallas Cowboys in 2026 have been finalized.
The nine home games next season will include matchups with the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Washington Commanders.
The eight away game contests will include trips to take on the Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders.
The expectation remains that the Cowboys will play an international game in 2026. That could include one of the nine home games being relocated to an international destination — such as Mexico City — or the away game against the Rams being played in Melbourne, Australia.
While the opponents are finalized, the complete 2026 schedule with dates and times will be released in late May.
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How are the opponents determined?
Although most NFL fans think the league schedules opponents at random, there is actually a rotation and method to determine who plays who every season.
Since the Cowboys are in the NFC East, they will always play a home game and an away game against all three divisional opponents every season: the Giants, Eagles and Commanders.
Every four years, the division will play against a division from the AFC. In 2026, that division is the AFC South, making it the first time since 2022 that the Cowboys will play the Titans, Colts, Jaguars and Texans.
Every three years, the division faces off against a division from the NFC. In 2026, that division is the NFC West. Two additional NFC opponents are added by making the same-place finisher in every division face off against each other. Since the Cowboys finished second in the NFC East in 2025, they will face off against the Packers (NFC North second-place finisher) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFC South second-place finisher).
When the 17th game was added in 2021, the league created an additional four-year rotation of matching NFC teams with same-place finishers in the AFC. In 2026, the NFC East is placed with the AFC North which is why the Cowboys will play the Baltimore Ravens.
However, the three preseason opponents are selected by the league each season, typically with an emphasis on teams playing other teams in the same region that are not divisional opponents. The Cowboys are typically placed with at least one West Coast team as a product of having training camp in Oxnard, California, each season. That schedule will also release in late May.
This story was originally published January 4, 2026 at 10:38 PM.
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.
The NFL announced the full 16-game slate for the final week of the regular season Sunday night, including the Dallas Cowboys’ season finale against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. The game will kick off at noon CST on Sunday, Jan. 4.
Both teams have been eliminated from playoff contention, meaning that Sunday’s game will only matter toward draft pick positioning. The Cowboys could pick as high as No. 11 in the first round with a loss or as low as No. 18 with a win, depending on other results around the league.
While a final determination hasn’t been indicated by head coach Brian Schottenheimer, the Cowboys could elect to sit starters such as quarterback Dak Prescott in the finale. After the Cowboys’ Christmas Day win over the Washington Commanders, Prescott said he is under the impression that he will finish off his Pro Bowl season with a 17th start.
“In my mind and the conversations I’ve had with [Schottenheimer] and anybody about it, it would be that I’m playing,” Prescott said.
Weather could play a factor in the finale as well, as the forecast on Sunday predicts freezing temperatures and potential snow in New Jersey.
Here is the full slate for Week 18 across the NFL (all times Central):
Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3:30 p.m. Saturday)
Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers (7 p.m. Saturday)
Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings (12 p.m. Sunday)
Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals (12 p.m. Sunday)
Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans (12 p.m. Sunday)
Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants (12 p.m. Sunday)
New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons (12 p.m. Sunday)
Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars (12 p.m. Sunday)
Los Angeles Chargers at Denver Broncos (3:25 p.m. Sunday)
Kansas City Chiefs at Las Vegas Raiders (3:25 p.m. Sunday)
Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles (3:25 p.m. Sunday)
New York Jets at Buffalo Bills (3:25 p.m. Sunday)
Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots (3:25 p.m. Sunday)
Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams (3:25 p.m. Sunday)
Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears (3:25 p.m. Sunday)
Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers (7:20 p.m. Sunday)
This story was originally published December 28, 2025 at 10:43 PM.
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.
In just the sixth Christmas game in franchise history, the Dallas Cowboys made a festive trip to the nation’s capital and took down the Washington Commanders 30-23 on Thursday.
Both teams were eliminated from playoff contention before the day began, but division pride and the opportunity to play in front of a national Netflix audience saw both teams keep most of its starters in the mix.
For the Cowboys, the running back duo of Javonte Williams and Malik Davis helped power things offensively, while a big day from defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (1.5 sacks) kept the defensive effort at least palatable.
Just one game remains in the 2025 season for the Cowboys, as they will get the shot to finish at .500 next week against the New York Giants. But for now, let’s take a look at the takeaways from the back end of a clean sweep of the Commanders for Dallas this season:
Defense can’t steal Christmas this time
There are no other ways to write how bad the Cowboys’ defense has been in 2025. But in a game where it had just about every natural advantage to succeed, it held up.
Was the unit perfect? Absolutely not. Starting in just his 10th career game across 11 seasons, Commanders quarterback Josh Johnson’s life wasn’t made particularly difficult. In addition, running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt ran for 105 yards and two scores.
The offense controlled the time of possession battle to help out the other side, and the defense still gave up over 300 yards, but the group led by defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus did what it needed to do.
Call it a Christmas miracle.
Javonte, the hard-nosed reindeer
If running back Javonte Williams hadn’t already cemented his value for the future, his first-half performance Thursday should have sealed the deal.
It was a prove-it year for Williams, and he delivered with his 13th total touchdown Thursday. He carried the ball 13 times for 54 yards, including a fourth-down conversion that saw him get hit twice behind the line before driving forward to move the chains. That came after a carry on the first drive that saw him drive Commanders cornerback Mike Sainristil into the ground on a truck hit that drew some attention from the stadium.
A physical, tough runner may have a shorter career than most running backs — Williams did leave Thursday’s game in the first half with a shoulder injury he’s been battling for three weeks. And yes, he’s 25 years old. But considering the consistent production he’s given the offense throughout the season, re-signing him in the offseason to a multiyear deal is a no-brainer.
Take the naughty with the nice with Turpin
If you did a full-season evaluation of wide receiver/kick returner KaVontae Turpin, you’d see a mixed bag of good, bad and ugly. On Thursday, that was all bottled up into one sequence.
After letting yet another punt go over his head that was downed inside the 5-yard line, Turpin made up for the bad field position by getting loose out of the slot on third-and-11, hauling in a perfect Dak Prescott deep ball and dashing through the grass for an 86-yard score.
Is his three-year, $18 million contract worth the bad moments like the many misjudged punts and untimely drops/fumbles? Probably not, but I bet you won’t be complaining when the moments flip to the positive side.
Better underdog: Rudolph or Malik Davis?
Like running back Malik Davis throughout most of his career, no one thought Rudolph had the ability to take over when the moment mattered — but both saved Christmas when called upon.
After Williams went down in the first half with his shoulder injury, Davis came in and picked up the load, carrying the ball 20 times for 103 yards — both career-highs. In a game where protecting Prescott was straight-up ugly (more on that later), handing the ball off to Davis became the best medicine for a struggling offense in the second half.
When the Cowboys needed Davis, he followed through. When a starting running back goes down and opportunities are left to a player who didn’t even start the season on the roster, it’s tough to expect much. But behind Davis’ shiny bright running down the hole, Dallas was able to escape with this one.
Leave milk and cookies out for Joe Milton III
It’s been an incredible season for Prescott. He will finish the season with his fourth-highest single-season passing total and will be top-three in the league in yards. He will have fought through a disappointing season for the overall team by powering a top-three offense in the NFL.
However, it’s time to shut him down.
The Cowboys are already working without starting left tackle Tyler Guyton, and the protection has been shaky over the past four games. Entering Thursday, his previous three games saw him get pressured 52 times and sacked eight times. Against the Commanders, he was brought down six times and took a couple of ugly hits.
It’s understandable to want to play on Christmas in front of a national crowd. But entering a game in Week 18 that actually means nothing, it’s time to let Prescott ride the pine and send backup quarterback Joe Milton III onto the field against the Giants.
This story was originally published December 25, 2025 at 3:09 PM.
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.
In the Dallas Cowboys’ final home game of the season, the playoff-bound Los Angeles Chargers entered AT&T Stadium and came away with a 34-17 win to move to 11-4.
The loss ensured Dallas (6-8-1) will finish without a winning season for the second consecutive year.
The first half was a points bonanza, with the Chargers taking a 21-17 lead into the halftime break after both teams found offensive success. However, the defenses adjusted in the second half — one better than the other — and the Chargers blanked the Cowboys’ offense over the final 30 minutes for the win.
Just two games remain in the Cowboys’ season, and the team is already showing signs of looking to the future.
Here are five takeaways as Dallas begins to put its offseason plans together:
Could a change come before the end of the season?
In Sunday’s game, defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus coached from the booth for the first time this season in a move that the staff hoped would allow the defense to make quicker adjustments throughout the game. Well, different approach, same result.
The Cowboys’ defense allowed over 400 yards (452) for the sixth time this season, while Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert threw for more yards (300) in this one than he had in any game in the past two months. The Los Angeles offense averaged 7.3 yards per play and scored over 31 points for just the second time all season.
It’s become a troubling trend for a Cowboys defense that hasn’t been able to stop anything over the course of the season — much less an offense for a team destined for the playoffs.
As Eberflus’ job comes more into focus in the final two weeks, could Dallas elect to make an early decision on his future? It most likely won’t happen on a short week with a game on Thursday, but one final game with an interim coordinator in place could give Dallas a jump-start at evaluating a future candidate.
Brian Schottenheimer will need work in the offseason, too
As a play-caller, Brian Schottenheimer has mostly found success with his unit.
It has been far from perfect, but he has a 4,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and two 1,000-yard receivers in his first season calling plays for the Cowboys. However, some situational play-calling has to get cleaned up.
After a strong performance in the first half that saw Dallas put 17 points on the scoreboard and 216 yards of total offense together, the second half saw the first-team offense go scoreless and finish back-to-back drives with fourth-down misses.
On the first, a fullback dive to Hunter Luepke was read the whole way by the Chargers’ defense. On the second, a third-down deep shot to KaVontae Turpin set up a fourth-down play that didn’t allow for any movement toward Prescott’s strong side as he scrambled.
Schottenheimer has been keen on looking at postgame tape to see how he can get better, referring to them as “after-action reports.” An after-action report on the whole season could benefit his play-calling as well.
Again, the George Pickens noise was silly
While the offense certainly had its issues in the second half of this game, George Pickens was the one constant.
After his worst two-game stretch as a member of the Cowboys — posting just 70 yards on eight receptions — Pickens exploded for a 130-yard day on seven receptions. The highlight came on a 38-yard go-ball score that saw him beat one-on-one coverage off the line and streak the sideline for the easy score.
The performance etched Pickens into the top 10 of single-season receiving totals in franchise history, as he now sits eighth in team history with 1,342 yards.
The noise that he took from the two lackluster performances was worth pointing out, but it wasn’t deserving of the effort concerns or long-term questions that began to circulate. In conclusion, Pickens will be just fine.
Tyler Smith sustains value at left tackle
For most of the season, the Cowboys have had issues at both tackle positions. At left tackle, Tyler Guyton has started 10 games and has allowed 31 quarterback pressures, while Nate Thomas has started four games and has allowed 23 pressures. At right tackle, Terence Steele has started every game and has allowed 43 pressures.
With Guyton missing his fourth consecutive game with a high ankle sprain, the Cowboys opted to push Tyler Smith from left guard out to left tackle against the Chargers, a position he has started at in 20 of his 60 career games.
The official pressure numbers won’t be available until the morning after the game, but Smith provided much more reliable protection to Prescott’s blind side than what we’ve seen throughout the season.
With the Cowboys no longer having a financial reason to keep Smith inside at left guard after he signed an offseason extension, maybe the Fort Worth native could be a long-term option at left tackle. Considering Guyton’s college position was right tackle, a move could make sense for the Oklahoma alum if the team decides to move on from Steele.
Cowboys won’t have a WR3 problem in 2026
When wide receiver Ryan Flournoy went down in the second quarter with a knee injury, somebody needed to step up into the third pass-catching role. Needless to say, that didn’t happen.
Pickens and Lamb sustained their productive afternoons, but they failed to get any supplementary help from the receivers behind them on the depth chart when Flournoy exited the game. It’s a reminder of how productive Flournoy has been when the ball has gone his way this season.
On the team’s first drive, he fought through a tackler on the goal line for his fourth touchdown of the season, and he should have had another if it weren’t for a Tyler Smith holding call on a play that ended in Flournoy hauling in a tough touchdown grab.
As the Cowboys look to the future down the stretch, one thing they don’t have to worry about with Flournoy: They have their WR3.
This story was originally published December 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM.
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.
Even the most pessimistic of Dallas Cowboys critics could not foresee some of the lows that they have experienced halfway through the season.
Holding a 3-5-1 record, the Cowboys have now suffered three losses to teams with losing records and are preparing to enter a stretch of opponents in the back half of the season that aren’t nearly as friendly.
After a 27-17 loss to backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett and the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night in front of a sold-out home crowd, the Cowboys are hanging onto the season’s postseason hopes my a mere thread to, now, even the most optimistic critics. But even if Happy-Go-Lucky Charlie still sees a path for the Cowboys to crack into the NFC’s top seven, it will take some major changes during the team’s bye week.
“I’m not commenting on what type of adjustments that might be made,” owner Jerry Jones said after the game. “We made adjustments last week. … And this week we made adjustments for this week, and I’m sure there will be some adjustments this coming week. But the nature of them, whether it’s on personnel, whether it’s offense, defense, I’m not pinpointing tonight at all. I did not plan on sitting here addressing some of the issues that we had tonight, but obviously it is what it is, so we’ll address it.”
The thing is, after each loss since Week 3 this season, change has been discussed.
Following the loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 3, it was about scheme on defense. Following a loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 6, it was about personnel. Then, blitz packages. Then, injury replacements. The list goes on.
With so many “changes” already being tried out, is there anything else that can be thrown out there?
“As far as numbers of changes,” Jones said. “When you say personnel, you’re limited on what you can change. … [I’m] tremendously disappointed for our fans. I thought we would play better than this.”
Change is now starting to permeate to the offensive side of the ball as well. After a disappointing start to his career, backup running back Jaydon Blue was subbed out of the active lineup for Malik Davis on Monday night. It could signal the first of multiple modifications coming on offense after a two-game stretch that has seen the first-team offense average just 13.5 points per game.
“Number-one for me and the offense is we got to score in the red zone,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “We got to score touchdowns, not just field goals. Just finding ways to get our guys the ball simpler, that’s probably number one. After that, it’s just about however we can win games.”
“I think [the bye] gives you time to find answers and find solutions and ask more difficult questions and look at everything,” head coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “You’re looking at where you stand at this point. And again, I see a team that’s very inconsistent, and that starts with me.”
Maybe some food for the optimists: The Cowboys have been here before — very recently.
In 2023, the offense dragged its way to a Week 7 bye before a come-to-Jesus meeting with multiple offensive staffers and personnel helped right the ship coming out of the break. In the next seven contests, the Cowboys won six of them and eventually earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
“I think that was a great week of figuring out what your issues were and having answers to solve them,” Prescott said. “We were very solution-oriented, and that was something that [Schottenheimer] just spoke about in the locker room. He was a huge part of that, so I have no doubt that it’s something that we can do again.”
To even have a shot at inching into the playoffs, theory would tell you that Dallas will need to find a way to finish 6-2 in the final eight games. But even then, they would need some help at 9-7-1.
The big picture isn’t lost on the Cowboys, as Prescott emphasized a need for “urgency” coming out of the bye because of that very reason. But to even find that spark, a lot of questions will have to be asked in the mirror in the bye.
Even more will have to be answered.
“That’s what this bye week is for,” Prescott said. “We’ve got to figure it out.”
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.
Jim Barnes is the Star-Telegram’s sports editor. A Fort Worth native and graduate of Castleberry High School, he returned to Texas after 13 years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He previously was sports editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald and a freelance high school sports reporter for The Dallas Morning News.
Jim Barnes is the Star-Telegram’s sports editor. A Fort Worth native and graduate of Castleberry High School, he returned to Texas after 13 years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He previously was sports editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald and a freelance high school sports reporter for The Dallas Morning News.
Jim Barnes is the Star-Telegram’s sports editor. A Fort Worth native and graduate of Castleberry High School, he returned to Texas after 13 years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He previously was sports editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald and a freelance high school sports reporter for The Dallas Morning News.