FRISCO, Texas – The NFL released the Cowboys' 2025 schedule on Wednesday, as Dallas prepares for the first year of the Brian Schottenheimer era.
They'll be thrown right into the fire from the get-go, with their opening game coming in the first NFL game of the season on Thursday, September 4 on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles and two holiday games on Thanksgiving against the Kansas City Chiefs and Christmas Day against the Washington Commanders.
There's also some intriguing matchups against playoff teams such as the Vikings, Lions and Packers, not to mention a first-ever regular-season game in Las Vegas and return to Denver for the first time in eight years.
Let's take a deeper dive into the numbers behind the Cowboys' schedule and what makes it unique compared to years past:
0
The Cowboys currently have zero regular-season games ever played in the city of Las Vegas. The team did play in the preseason last season but will make their first official trip to the Sin City for the Nov. 17 game against the Raiders on Monday Night Football.
4
The Cowboys will play on Thursday night four times in 2025, the most times a team has played on Thursday in NFL history. Week 1 against the Eagles, Week 13 against the Chiefs, Week 14 against Detroit and Week 17 against the Commanders all come on Thursday nights. The good news for Dallas is that they'll only have a short week in two of those instances, going into the game against Kansas City on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day against the Commanders.
6
For the second year in a row, the Cowboys will play in six primetime games in the 2025 season. In 2024, they went a split 3-3 with wins over the Giants, Steelers and Buccaneers and losses coming to the 49ers, Texans and Bengals. This season, they'll play at night against the Eagles in Week 1, Packers in Week 4, Cardinals in Week 9, Raiders in Week 11, Lions in Week 14, and Vikings in Week 15.
7
2025 will be the seventh time in the Cowboys' history that they'll play both teams that played in the year prior's Super Bowl matchup during the regular season. The Eagles are a given with them and the Cowboys both being in the NFC East, but Dallas will also host the Chiefs, who lost Super LIX to Philadelphia 40-22, on Thanksgiving. In fact, they'll actually play both teams in a matter of four days, with the Cowboys hosting the Eagles on Nov. 23 before Kansas City comes to town on Nov. 27.
8
After finishing 7-10 a year ago and missing the playoffs, the Cowboys will have to play eight teams that were in the playoff field in 2025. The Eagles, Packers, Commanders, Broncos, Chiefs, Lions, Vikings and Chargers all made the cut in 2024. Three of the four teams that made it to their respective AFC or NFC conference championship games are also on the schedule, with the lone exception being the Baltimore Ravens, who Dallas will host at AT&T Stadium in Week 2 of the preseason.
15
The last time the Cowboys played on both Thanksgiving and Christmas Day was in 2010, a difficult season for Dallas after losing quarterback Tony Romo for the rest of the season in Week 7 with a fractured clavicle. They lost to both the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day respectively, by a combined four points.
16
While Sept. 4 seems like a long time from now, it'll be 16 full weeks until the Cowboys square off on Thursday night against the Eagles. In the meantime, the Cowboys will have three weeks of OTAs, a three-day mandatory mini-camp and close to a month of rest before traveling to Oxnard in late July.
30
The last time the Cowboys played the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving was in 1995, a game the Cowboys won 24-12 thanks to 192 passing yards and two touchdowns from Troy Aikman. It was also the last year that the Cowboys won a Super Bowl, when they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX by a 27-17 margin.
33
Over the course of his nine-year career, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is 33-8 in games against NFC East opponents as Dallas' starting quarterback. That further breaks down to a 9-4 record against the Eagles, 11-2 against the Commanders and 13-2 against the New York Giants. As he returns from a season-ending hamstring injury, the Cowboys are certainly hoping that his success against the division continues.
81
From Weeks 12 through 17, the Cowboys will play one of the toughest six game stretches in NFL history. The Eagles, Chiefs, Lions, Vikings, Chargers and Commanders won a combined 81 games in the 2024 regular season, and Dallas will have to play the Chiefs and Commanders on short weeks. All six teams in that stretch were winners of at least 11 regular season games in 2024 as well.
