Cowboys vs. Giants preview Week 1
Here's everything you need to know when the Dallas Cowboys play the New York Giants Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season.
Video Transcript
If you can make it here, Week 1, maybe you can make it anywhere in 2026.
New York at home to start the season, a little Sunday Night Football.
Giants with something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue, of course.
So guess they're ready to say I do.
Two rookies have breathed life into this franchise.
America's Team is in town.
Okay, at the very least, the Cowboys are Dallas' team, hoping to shed the Alice Cowboys label and restore the D to the Big D. This team is different, and I am so proud.
I will fight with you guys any time, any place.
The NFL season is back, and as always, that means more Game Preview Guy NFL Game Previews.
Still just us poor humans creating these.
We've got John Connor working for us, so we've been able to hold off all the terminators from taking over with their fancy AI programs.
So don't worry, you're safe here.
Keep it simple.
Hope abounds for everybody.
That's how Week 1 works, and 10 storylines to watch is how our opening game previews work, and what the Giants look like under John Harbaugh leads the way.
The longtime Ravens coach makes his Big Blue regular season debut at home versus the hated Cowboys.
So this is a chance for him to make quite the impression.
It's a different vibe.
It's stronger.
They're, they're ready to go.
They're more physical.
They're working hard.
Not that, nothing against past regimes, but they're working really hard, and you can see it.
Dallas doesn't have a new head coach, but they do have a new DC, Christian Parker, who's trying to restore some kind of respectability to that defense- Can't run all day.
You can't run all day that cost the Cowboys a number of wins last year.
It was one of the worst, if not the worst, defense in the league.
Many a star faithful will be watching to see if it looks any better under Parker's command.
Can they get home?
Reddy Stewart.
To look good, the Boys have to contain Jaxon Dart.
To the goal line, touchdown, Giants!
He's back to start his second year off after tantalizing G-Men faithful with his dual-threat abilities, not to mention flair.
Oh, here he goes, winding up, oh, he's down.
Touchdown!
He has Matt Nagy guiding him, New York's new OC.
So what does that combo look like for an entire 60 minutes of football?
Now he's gonna run with it, cuts to the 50, to the 10, to the 5, touchdown, Giants!
How he fares as a passer could hinge on whether Malik Nabers plays.
He's hoping to return for this game after a long rehab.
At the time this was going to print, as it were, wasn't 100% for sure, so have to track his status as we get closer to kickoff.
Lobs it downfield.
He's got Nabers in the end zone who makes the catch for the touchdown.
Lots of new pass catchers for Dart to work with, too.
Darnell Mooney, former Falcon, third-round pick Malachi Fields.
Fires it into the end zone.
Touchdown, Giants!
Malachi Fields.
And some chap who goes by OBJ.
Giants fans, he used to be pretty good at catching the football with one hand.
You should warm up to him.
That may be the greatest catch I've ever seen.
They're doing battle with Dallas' highly touted first-round pick Caleb Downs, who makes his regular season debut.
A lot of expectations for him, and he has met expectations so far.
Dallas' remade secondary has a number of new faces that make it up.
Safeties Jaylon Thompson, former Cardinal, P.J.
Locke, former Bronco, and cornerback Kobe Durant, who played the pass great for the Rams a year ago.
This group is on the hook trying to make their D tougher to deal with.
Intercepted, Kobe Durant at the one.
Dallas' front seven also has a new look to it.
Former Niner Dee Winters debuting at linebacker, former Packer Rashawn Gary.
Their other first-round pick, Malachi Lawrence, will be coming off the edge.
Three of the seven starters at levels two and three, new to the silver, blue, and white.
One person that made that play possible for Marquise Bell, Malachi Lawrence.
They will not only be tasked with tracking down Dart, but stopping his partner in crime, Cam Skattebo.
The running back was just as much a part of energizing the fan base with his no-holds-barred runs.
Oh, he does a backflip!
He also had his season cut short by injury, so we'll see if he can pick back up where he left off before getting hurt.
They brought a blitz thinking Skattebo was gonna pick somebody up.
He just snuck right out past the blitzer.
Will New York's offense need their track shoes?
They will if Dallas' offense hasn't slowed down.
We owe it to ourselves.
We owe it to ourselves to stay on their ass.
Dak, CeeDee, Pickens, Ferg, Javonte Williams, they racked up plenty of points in most games.
Barring a drop-off, they should do so again.
He dumps the ball, touchdown, Cowboys!
They square off with a Denard Wilson new-look Giants defense.
Burns gets a sack, forces the fumble.
Scooped up by the Giants.
Wasn't the strongest unit around in 2025, so a new DC, a new DT in DJ Reader, new defensive end in Shelby Harris, plus two new linebackers, first-round pick Arvel Reese, as well as Tremaine Edmunds, former Bear, paired with Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter, and Brian Burns.
They seem plenty capable of putting pressure on Dak.
Spiderman races the Raiders on third down.
Okay, a few bonus storylines since we went heavy on New York.
Do the Giants have the corners to slow Lamb and Pickens down?
Toss right, he's got Lamb wide open on the right side of the end zone.
There are few teams with a wide receiver duo like theirs.
Both guys are basically WR1s.
Both cracked 1,000 yards, Pickens putting up a career year in 2025.
How will New York contain those two?
Triples it up.
One, five, Pickens, pylon!
And finally, will Prescott snap his Week 1 streak and start hot?
That's all we got.
That's all we need.
The last four Week 1s for Dak, 188 yards, 179, 143, and 134, doesn't fit his overall body of work.
All day.
They missing What else are you looking at?
Even with 12, we didn't cover everything, so jot down storylines you're interested in, in the comments section, with a score prediction, of course.
G-Men's win last year over Dallas snapped a nine-game losing streak to them.
Boys have won 16 of the last 18, and are up by 30 all-time.
Before we see who our newly infused panel of 10 is gonna go with in this one, let's soak in some of that sweet '80s grainy film, and revisit a huge 1985 clash between the two, that would determine who would win the division On December 15th, the Cowboys met the New York Giants to decide the championship of the NFC East.
It was a game where the Cowboys fired all their big guns, knocking out a few bricks at a time, until the whole Giants house caved in.
Hogeboom back to throw out of the shotgun on third down.
Deep right side, he's got a man, and it's caught by Renfro at the five.
Renfro, is he in?
Touchdown, Dallas.
58 yards.
First and 10 at the Cowboy 22, Simms to throw.
Little pressure coming, ball is tipped and intercepted by Jeffcoat, and Jim Jeffcoat is gonna run this back the length of the field for the tying touchdown.
How do you do?
The amazing turnaround continued when the Cowboys scored their second touchdown in less than a minute, and built a 21 to 14 lead.
But ultimately, a title hinged on two unlikely heroes.
Both Gary Hogeboom and Danny White had thrown touchdowns, but in the fourth quarter, both had been knocked out of the game.
Enter young Steve Pelure, who had never thrown an NFL pass.
Facing a crucial third and 14 situation, the second-year quarterback correctly read and reacted to an all-out Giant blitz.
Rookie receiver Carl Poe turned the pivotal play of the game into 28 yards, and the critical first down.
Timmy Newsome's touchdown constructed a 28 to 14 lead.
After the Giants scored again, they had one last chance to tie the game at 28.
As Dale said, it's a one-play season, and this is the play.
Fourth down and 18 for the Giants at the Dallas 24-yard line.
Motion from McConkey, 52 seconds left.
They need the six.
Cowboys blitz.
Simms out to throw, throws on the run, broken up and intercepted by Victor Scott.
In a madcap, topsy-turvy, schizophrenic season, the Dallas Cowboys had done what few thought possible.
They had done it with new stars and old heroes.
They had overcome draining losses one week, with spectacular victories the next.
They had carried on the tradition of doing the unexpected.
