The Dallas Cowboys face the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday night to begin their season. Dallas has made many changes in an effort to improve the areas where they fell short last year. Not including Quinnen Williams, whom Dallas traded for at last year's deadline and have now designed their defense around, the Cowboys added five defenders via the draft, two more via trades, and five in free agency. Overall, 46% of their defensive snaps from last season are from players no longer on the team.
The defense was the clear problem in 2025. They were at the bottom of the league in almost all categories, but the offense wasn’t perfect either, and considering how much talent is on that side of the ball, they have to be great at nearly everything.
While all questions can't be answered in one contest, here are some areas fans can look at in Week 1 to see if the team is heading in the right direction.
Offense starts fast
The biggest weakness of the Cowboys' offense might have been how slow they started. They only scored four touchdowns on opening drives, under 24%. They only scored points on 41% of their drives. They had the same percentage of drives ending in three-and-outs as touchdowns, and the same 41% of their drives ended in turnovers or a three-and-out as they did scoring points. If the Cowboys can score on their opening drive, especially a touchdown, it’ll signal a change in opening scripting could be successful.
The defense gets off the field on third down
The defense had so many issues, and so many things could signal huge improvement. Dallas was bottom five in points per game and the bottom three in yards allowed per game.
The main focus though has to be on third-down defense. The Cowboys finished last in the league, allowing a 47% third-down conversion percentage. If that is vastly improved, the yards per game and points per game will naturally drop significantly. New defensive coordinator Christian Parker can give the fans some excitement if he can get control of the third-down defense starting in New York on Sunday.
Score more red zone touchdowns
Dallas has stud receivers George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott’s security blanket in Jake Ferguson, and a bellcow running back in Javonte Williams. There is no excuse for their performance in the red zone last season.
They drove into the red zone 65 times, one of the highest in the NFL, but were in the bottom half of the league in red-zone touchdown percentage at only 57%. That's 37 in 65 attempts. If the offense wants to truly take the next step towards being the “greatest offense there is” (GOTI),the team has to score touchdowns rather than field goals and turnovers.
You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or on YouTube at Across the Cowboys podcast
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: NFL Week 1: 3 ways fans can tell if Cowboys have truly improved in '26
