The NFL finally got sick of putting Cowboys games against the Giants in primetime.
The Dallas Cowboys, America’s Team, have six primetime games on their 2025 schedule. That total ranks second among all NFL teams, just behind the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles win a Super Bowl, yet they are given just five primetime matchups (it just felt necessary to put that there).
One matchup missing from all the optimal time slots for Dallas this year is against the New York Giants. Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated was the first to highlight this point in his NFL schedule column.
I’m taking a victory lap for my 2021 column on the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants no longer being premium television. Flex notwithstanding, this is the first time I can remember (research pending) this game not having even one premium time slot.
That sounded like an open invitation to do some digging. Even if Monday night, Thursday night, and Sunday night are considered the “primetime slots,” any game that appears during the 4:25 pm ET window will have less competition for games or be on America’s Game of the Week. Therefore, it should be considered a ‘prime viewing’ window for any matchup.
With that criteria in mind, it will be the first time since 2005 that the Cowboys and Giants will not have a matchup in a prime viewing window (Week 18 is currently TBD). It’s not like the NFL has tried to make this change slowly. They have decided to cut cold turkey.
Dak Prescott hasn’t lost to the Giants since his rookie year in 2016. pic.twitter.com/zV2NqOreWu
— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) September 27, 2024
Last year, Dallas and New York played two Thursday night matchups, one being on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys 27-20 win over the Giants “averaged 38.8 million viewers, the fourth most-watched Thanksgiving Day game on record and fifth most-watched NFL regular season game on record (records date back to 1988).”
Even with drawing in record-setting numbers, let’s be honest—it’s been a painfully one-sided matchup for years, especially in recent history.
Week 1 (2023) — Cowboys 40 Giants 0
Week 10 (2023) — Cowboys 49 Giants 17
Week 4 (2024) — Cowboys 20 Giants 15
Week 13 (2024) — Cowboys 27 Giants 20 *was 27-10 heading into the 4th quarter*
Dallas against New York has been a marquee matchup for the NFL, having them face off in Week 1 seven times since 2012, three consecutive years from 2015 to 2017. However, the league had to pull the plug on prime scheduling for this game with New York fading into the distance among NFC teams.
There’s a chance that Week 18 could mean something if the game is put in the 4:25 pm ET window, but history will favor the fact that it probably won’t happen.
