The New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys will help get the 2026 NFL season started by squaring off on Sunday Night Football. Don't let the commercials, social media posts and hype videos fool you — this rivalry game has been anything but in the last decade.
Since 2017, the Cowboys are 16-2 against New York. The two losses came in 2021, when Andy Dalton was under center, and in their final meeting last year when Dak Prescott sat the entire second half (the playoffs were already unattainable for both teams). That's not a rivalry. That's big brother bullying little brother and letting the latter feel good every once in a while so he thinks he has a chance next time.
Dak Prescott owns the New York Giants and Sunday's season opener will be another example of his dominance
Prescott is the main reason Dallas has dominated New York in that stretch. Since he was drafted by the Cowboys in 2016, he's recorded 14 wins and just three losses against the Giants. Facing a weak secondary year in and year out has definitely helped. Prescott has completed 66 percent of his passes for 4,346 yards, 31 touchdowns and thrown just nine interceptions when facing the G-Men.
It's not just New York either. Prescott has essentially ended all NFC East rivalries his team has. Prescott is 13-2 against the Washington Commanders and 10-5 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite his reputation for failing to deliver in the postseason, he's been the quarterback of the division.
Should Prescott remain healthy for the 2026 season, the NFC East could be in big trouble as Dallas featured one of the best offenses in the league last year. Prescott was the third-leading passer with 4,552 yards and 30 touchdowns. Roughly a third of that came against division foes.
Giants-Cowboys is a rivalry in name and feeling only
The Giants haven't really been competitive with Dallas when you look at the all-time record. The Cowboys lead the series 78-48-2. In the last decade, Dallas owns two stretches of seven and nine consecutive wins — the latter of which was snapped in Week 17 last year.
They've only met once in the playoffs (which is crazy to think about across 128 meetings) and New York owns those bragging rights. The only reason these two teams get as much hype as they do when they face one another is because of the intense hatred shared by the fans. Giants fans have the most reason to feel that hate as it seems inevitable their team can chalk up two automatic losses every year courtesy of Dallas.
There's only one reason Giants-Cowboys was given a primetime slot at the very start of the season — the same reason the matchup has featured as the marquee event six times in the past — and that's because there's always hope New York will show up better than it did the last time. In those six contests, the Giants never won once and have been outscored 202-106.
Sunday's season opener looks primed to be another Dallas thumping over a JV-like New York team full of stacked names but unproven talent. Prescott will get to pick apart the Giants secondary with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, regardless of how quickly the "scary" New York pass rush gets there. Jaxson Dart, Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo will have to pull off an Eli Manning-esque miracle at MetLife Stadium.
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