2026 NFL schedule: Cowboys at Giants is Week 1 Sunday night game
The league on Monday announced the Sept. 13 matchup of NFC East rivals at the Meadowlands. The full schedule will be released Thursday with other games revealed in the coming days.
NEW YORK — The Dallas Cowboys are set to visit the New York Giants in the first Sunday night game of the 2026 NFL season on Sept. 13.
The league on Monday announced the Week 1 matchup of NFC East rivals at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The full schedule will be released Thursday with other games revealed in the coming days.
This is the eighth time in the past 15 years the Cowboys and Giants are opening the season against each other.
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Dallas is always a national television draw as “America’s Team,” and New York could get more prime-time exposure with Super Bowl winner John Harbaugh coaching and Jaxson Dart established as the franchise quarterback coming off his eventful rookie year. It is set to be Harbaugh’s Giants debut.
If healthy, it would also be the first meaningful game between Dart and Dak Prescott. While each started the season finale on Jan. 4, the teams were eliminated from playoff contention by then.
This also could be the NFL debuts for a pair of former Ohio State teammates: Giants linebacker Arvell Reese, taken with the fifth pick, and Cowboys safety Caleb Downs, drafted not long after at No. 11.
Dallas at New York also means neither of those teams will be the visitor at Seattle on Wednesday night, Sept. 9, when the defending champion Seahawks unveil their Super Bowl banner and kick off the season. Chicago, Arizona, Kansas City, the Los Angeles Chargers or a title-game rematch against New England are the remaining possibilities.
Jeffrey Lurie has owned the Philadelphia Eagles, which he purchased in 1994, longer than his son, Julian, has been alive. But in recent years, the younger Lurie, heir to the franchise and now 31, has assumed a more pervasive and influential role in the organization. While the Eagles have made no secret about Julian’s increased involvement with the team, specifics about his role have been scant. In recent months, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane spoke to nearly two dozen sources on and off the record to gain a better understanding of not just who Julian Lurie is and what he does, but - most important of all - whether he’ll be ready to assume the reins as Eagles Chairman and CEO, whenever the time comes. Jeff shares the biggest takeaways from his reporting with Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski in this companion episode to Jeff’s feature article about the Eagles' succession plan. Listen here.
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