With Sunday Night Football almost here, let’s take a look at the keys to the game for the Dallas Cowboys ahead of their week one matchup versus the New York Giants.
Can Dallas protect Dak Prescott without Tyler Smith?
With Tyler Smith out for a minimum of four weeks, T.J. Bass will get the start at left guard in week one. While we are right to have confidence in Bass as a high quality backup, there is a clear drop off between the two players.
Luckily for Bass, the Giants’ edges are far superior players as compared to the defensive interior – especially
after trading away Dexter Lawrencebefore this year’s draft. Sure, Bass may be required to deal with the occasional games from the Giants defensive line, but he’ll be primarily be dealing with the likes of D.J. Reader, Shelby Harris, Chauncey Golston and Darius Alexander for most of the night. Bass has proven capable against Reader in past starts, as well as other dangerous interior defenders.
Ground delivery or air mail?
How Brian Schottenheimer and Klayton Adams choose to attack the Giants defense early is going to be one of the most important keys of the game. In 2025, the Giants defense was ranked last in EPA allowed per rush – and that was with Dexter Lawrence in the middle. Given the success Dallas had on the ground last season paired with the lack of success from the Giants, this screams ground and pound offense for the first 15 scripted plays.
But then again, Dallas has perhaps the best WR room in the NFL alongside a top-10 quarterback in Dak Prescott. The Giants secondary is a rebuild in progress. Lighting up the scoreboard early puts pressure on second-year quarterback Jaxon Dart to play keep up. That could go a long way in helping the newly rebuilt Cowboys defense start the season strong. The question will be if Guyton and Steele will hold up against what should be an excellent Giants pass rush off the edge.
In either case, Dallas should have the advantage on offense.
First look at Christian Parker’s new defense
The Cowboys will field a massively overhauled defense when they take the field for the first time this season on Sunday night. The new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker, will have access to 11 key contributors that were not present at the start of week one last season. This includes dynamic playmakers such as Quinnen Williams, Caleb Downs and DeMarvion Overshown.
The biggest question heading into 2026 is whether or not the Cowboys defense will have improved enough to adequately support Dak and the high powered offense. Sunday night will be our first look into what Parker and his players have in store for 2026. Expect this defense to commit to stopping the run early to put pressure on Jaxson Dart and the passing game.
Special teams are special!
Newly extended Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey has his first opportunity to reward the front office’s faith in him this season. Looking back at week two of last season, Aubrey disappointed Giants fans everywhere with a 64 yard field goal to send that game into overtime. He followed it up with a game winning kick from 46 yards out.
Outside of Aubrey, the special teams wasn’t exactly special in 2025. Dallas struggled with the field position battle throughout the entire season. Some of that has to do with the failures on the defensive side of the ball, but the return teams had plenty of problems as well. With the revamped defense, we should expect to see KaVontae Turpin take advantage of more returnable punts. Let’s see if that means a return to form for the dynamic return specialist this week. At the very least, he should just make sure to know the fair catch rules.
