FRISCO, Texas – And thought on Wednesday before the complete 2026 NFL schedule reveal came out, the NFL was putting the Cowboys through a meat grinder to start the season.
What with the opener a Sunday night game in the Meadowlands against the New York Football Giants, meaning getting back to DFW no sooner than 4 a.m. on Monday. Followed roughly 10 days later with a 5,241-mile, 10-hour flight to Rio De Janeiro to face the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3, this time arriving back at DFW probably sometime Monday afternoon. That's Brazil, by the way. "South" America.
Exhausting, right?
But by Thursday night, this 17-game schedule over 18 weeks grew worse. So did thegrueling start, if that is even possible, and then a four-game stretch, starting with Thanksgiving Day, playing every one of those games against the best of the NFL's 2025 best.
And oh, for goodness' sake, no midseason break, the mandatory bye not arriving until Week 14, the latest since the original NFL bye in 1990 in Week 14. Seriously. Would not exaggerate any of this. Look it up.
Seemingly just another NFL schedule computer giggle at the Cowboys' expense, asking them to play 16 games – counting the three preseason games, two of those on the road from Oxnard, Calif., at Seattle and Arizona – before providing them a chance to catch their breath.
Holy begeezus!
You know, previously thought the NFL used to punish the Cowboys every season for annually playing that Thanksgiving Day game at home, which they will do again in 2026 for the 57th time in the last 59 years, this one the 50th consecutively in a string starting in 1978. Far too many times, the NFL had the Cowboys playing a road game the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving. Take the 2014 season when, of all things, not only were the Cowboys playing at the Giants that Sunday, but also in a Sunday Night Football game, meaning getting home before the break of dawn Monday, then turning around to play on Thursday. Kid you not. Uh, player safety?
Or the NFL scheduling that had the Cowboys playing the Thursday following Thanksgiving, so three games in 11 days. And like in 2021, the Cowboys played at Kansas City the Sunday before the Thanksgiving game and then at New Orleans the following Thursday night. Made little common sense.
At least this year, the Cowboys catch their only real break in the schedule surrounding Thanksgiving. They will play three consecutive home games: Nov. 15 vs. San Francisco, Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee and then Thanksgiving vs. Philadelphia. Ah, and then don't play again until Dec. 7, a Monday night road game vs. Seattle. Actually, this time a real mini-bye, not playing the following Thursday like they did six times over the past 10 seasons.
Whoo-hoo.
This time, though, does come with a "but."
But starting with playing Philly on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys begin a streak of playing four consecutive games against the Eagles, at the Seahawks, the bye Dec. 13, then at the Rams and home against the Jaguars. That is four consecutive games against 2025 playoff teams, three of those (Philadelphia, Seattle, Jacksonville) division winners, and the Super Bowl champion, of course, in the Seahawks.
Now, we can debate which is the toughest stretch of the season, this or the start of the 2026 schedule turning them into The Road Trippin' Cowboys.
To me, was tough enough having two distant away games in the first three, and come on, that third one in Rio is way, way away, only broken up by the Week 2 home game against Washington. And at least that one at AT&T Stadium is a 3:25 p.m. start. Somewhat of a concession to getting in early Monday morning on the flight back from Newark, N.J.
But get this, after arriving sometime back home after the 3:25 p.m. Central start to the Rio game, likely Monday afternoon, surely comes a home game, right? But dang, yet another road game, this one at least at nearby Houston the following Sunday. Got to be a late start, for sure. You kidding me? High noon.
Well, then maybe a logical break after that, right? How 'bout a Week 5 bye?
Kidding me again? Nope, a short week, Thursday night, 7:15 p.m. start at AT&T against Tampa Bay. Cruel and unusual punishment, wouldn't you say? That is now the first five games within 30 days, three of them on the road, and despite a short jaunt to Houston, the other two will have the Cowboys spending roughly a combined 28 hours in the air over approximately 13,000 miles.
Conditioning is one thing. That players can prepare for. But jet lag?
But as for the players, little to no complaints Thursday night from the 13th annual Reliant Home Run Derby fundraiser, the $82,000 raised going to The Salvation Army as the schedule came out.
"I'm excited, first time playing an international game," said QB1 Dak Prescott. "Going into my 11th season, guessing I would have had one buy now. It's all good.
"Like you said, the travel is tough, but it's part of growing this game. Something we'll manage, figure out the best way to take care of our bodies."
Yet Dak, come on, what about the jet lag, possible sleep deprivation, dehydration, cramping from sitting in a plane that many hours in a short period of time?
"Hopefully get good sleep on the plane will be one of the biggest keys," said Prescott, and guessing if Capt. Dak puts on a good face, who are the rest to complain? "Sleep on the plane has never been a problem for me."
Bless you.
OK, but how about what follows after that, the road game to Houston and then four days later the home night game against Tampa Bay. Meaning, three games in 11 days, starting with the international game a continent away, followed by consecutive road night games to Green Bay and Philadelphia (Monday night). What you say about all that?
Well, this is what differentiates players from the rest of us, Dak saying, "First three games, honestly, after that I couldn't tell you much more. Every season, I probably couldn't tell you our fourth game until Week 2."
How about you, 328-pound Tyler Smith, one of the three Tylers starring in the Cowboys'eight-minute schedule reveal video, "Tyler Takeover," along with Booker and Guyton?
"The plane ride ain't nothing to me," the Pro Bowl guard said, and who knows maybe the backup left tackle, too, if problems occur there this season. "I'll sleep most of the way. I'm asleep but definitely making sure you're taking care of your body the right way during the week, hydrating and pushing fluids."
And you, Jake Ferguson? By the way, after four consecutive years as the bridesmaid, so to speak, at the Home Run Derby, winning this one with 22 homers over three rounds totaling $20,600 earned, with at least one of them a legit homer all the way out of Riders Field. What's your take on all the travel during that first five-game stretch?
"It's cool. Always good to go see different places, you know what I mean?" said the fifth-year Cowboys tight end. "Honestly, just thinking about the first one, nah, that's all we can really do."
Well, good on them. Good attitudes seemingly all around.
But on second thought, whaddaya goin' to do? Whine about it?
There is no whining in football. Not even over a lousy schedule.
