2026 NFL schedule: Cowboys at Giants on Week 1 Sunday night, host Eagles on Thanksgiving
NEW YORK (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys remain a popular draw for the NFL and its television partners despite struggling the past couple of seasons.
The league announced on Monday that the Cowboys will visit the New York Giants in the first NBC “Sunday Night Football” game of the season on Sept. 13 and they will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Fox on Thanksgiving Day Nov. 26.
The full schedule will be released on Thursday with other matchups 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. It also marks the 15th time the NFC East rivals are meeting on NBC's Sunday night package, the second-most played matchup since the network started the package in 2016.
Dallas is always a national television draw as “America's Team,” and New York could get more primetime exposure with Super Bowl winner John Harbaugh in his first year coaching the Giants and Jaxson Dart established as the franchise quarterback coming off his eventful rookie year.
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.
This will only be the third time, and first since 2014, that the Eagles will be the Cowboys' Thanksgiving opponent.
Dallas has won its past four Thanksgiving games, including a 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last year.
The late afternoon Thanksgiving game is traditionally the most viewed of the regular season. Last year’s game averaged 57.23 million viewers on CBS, making it the most-watched regular-season game in league history.
This will be the second straight season Philadelphia will have the spotlight on Thanksgiving week. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles hosted last year's Black Friday game and lost to the Chicago Bears 24-15.
Monday's announcements mean the Cowboys know the dates for three of their 17 games. It was announced a couple of weeks ago their game in Rio de Janeiro against the Baltimore Ravens will take place in Week 3 on Sept. 27 and air on CBS.
Dallas at New York in Week 1 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.
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