The 2026 season is set to begin for the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday night. It’s the eighth time in the last 15 years they've kicked off their campaign against the New York Giants, with the Cowboys holding a significant 6-1 advantage.
That’s good news for a team trying to get off to a good start and hoping to put a disappointing 2025 behind them. There is a positive feeling about this Cowboys team and beating the Giants would reinforce the hype behind Brian Schottenheimer’s group. Here are three reasons to love the Cowboys’ season-opening matchup with the Giants.
Dak Prescott dominates
By now, it should be well-known on both sides just how dominant Prescott has been against the Giants. The record of 14-3 speaks for itself, but Prescott hasn’t lost in a game where he’s
started and finished against New York since his rookie year, when he lost both matchups.
Since the 2016 season, the Cowboys and Prescott are 14-1 against the Giants, and the lone loss was in last year’s season finale when Prescott only played in the first half and the Cowboys weren’t playing to win.
Just worth pointing out that the Dallas Cowboys are 14-2 when Dak Prescott plays the Giants.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) August 10, 2026
(I’m not counting Week 18 when he was pulled after a few drives + they were winning) https://t.co/XWKIm051in
Not only have the Cowboys owned the Giants with Prescott under center, but the veteran quarterback also has his best numbers in the games between the two teams. Prescott’s thrown for 31 touchdowns, the most against any team, against just nine interceptions in his career.
The coaches and players have changed on both sides, but one thing that hasn’t in the last 10 years is Prescott’s supremacy over the Giants.
Questions about Giants' secondary
One of the biggest question marks for the Giants heading into the season is their secondary. It’s a group that consists of seven cornerbacks and safeties drafted in the first three rounds in the last five years, but they haven’t shown to be good enough as of yet.
Last year’s prized free agent pickups, cornerback Paulson Adebo and safety Jevon Holland, weren’t effective in their first seasons with the team, and now they’ll try to revitalize under new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson. The team also drafted CB Colton Hood in the second round, to pair with Adebo and former first-round selection Deonte Banks, to boost the secondary's potential.
CB Greg Newsome arrives via free agency with high expectations that he can help slow down the Cowboys’ elite wide receiver duo of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
Giants CB Greg Newsome II on facing George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb in Week 1:
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) September 6, 2026
"Definitely great players, but I like our chances." pic.twitter.com/LxYHK4KGie
That's a high amount of confidence for a Newsome, but good luck in stopping Prescott and the passing game. Talk is one thing, but the Giants’ defense hasn’t prevented the Cowboys from scoring at least 40 points in three of the last four games they’ve played with Prescott under center.
Rough WR room
The Giants have one of the NFL’s best wide receivers in Malik Nabers, but a season-ending torn-ACL last year has left his season debut in doubt for Week 1. It appeared as though Nabers would be playing but recent comments left some uncertaintyabout his ability to sustain a full workload.
Even if Nabers does play, it’ll be his first game since the injury, and he won’t be the same player he was before he went down. It takes time to fully get back to form after an ACL injury, and without Nabers at 100%, the Giants don’t have a top receiving threat on the outside.
Aside from Nabers, the WR room consists of veterans Darnell Mooney and Odell Beckham, as well as rookie Malachi Fields. Tight end Isaiah Likely is also in the picture as an option in the passing game, but that’s an easier group to defend than one with a star who isn’t fully healthy yet in Nabers.
The Cowboys’ remade defense has question marks at CB, and beginning the season with a team that doesn’t have elite WRs is something that goes in their favor.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys vs Giants: 3 things to love about the matchup in Week 1
