The first Dallas Cowboys game of the season is in the books, with a gut-wrenching loss to the Philadelphia Eagles that kicked off the 2025 season with the NFC East in the spotlight. This will be a familiar place for a division the Cowboys hope to get back to contending in this season, and so too will be a number of “open Sundays” for Cowboys fans.
We are well aware that many Cowboys fans have their own traditions and rituals that make a Cowboys Sunday special, myself and colleagues included, but every now and then there is something uniquely enjoyable about being open to watch more of the action around the NFL, and do so a bit more stress free compared to when watching America’s Team.
These Sundays are most noticeable when the Cowboys play on either a Thursday or Monday, which they will do five more times this season including on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but also when the Cowboys play a Sunday night game leaving the early and late afternoon kickoffs open for Dallas fans “waiting all day for Sunday night”. This adds two more games to the total this season, with the Cowboys hosting the Packers on SNF in week four and the Vikings in week 15.
So, what are some things that might peak the interest of Cowboys fans watching on the couch right out of the gate this season on its first Sunday? Here are a couple of games of note.
Early kickoff: New York Giants at Washington Commanders
This is an obvious place to start for so many reasons. By the end of week one, the entire NFC East will have seen how they fared against one of their closest rivals. The Cowboys came up four points short against the Eagles, and now the team the Eagles hosted in last year’s conference championship will start the season at home against the Giants.
Some Cowboys fans may be watching this game with more of an interest in what the Commanders will look like in year two under Dan Quinn and with Jayden Daniels at quarterback, as well as a player that’s been a thorn in their side in the past, Deebo Samuel. The road team is next week’s opponent coming to AT&T Stadium, and if the Cowboys are going to continue their dominance against the Giants, they’ll have to do it against a new quarterback.
Russell Wilson will be making his debut for the Giants in this early kickoff game. Wilson wasn’t exactly the answer for the Pittsburgh Steelers last year (who the Cowboys did not face when they beat the Steelers either), but he adds a level of viability at the most important position in the game the Giants haven’t had in some time. Mobility also isn’t his strong suit anymore, but given the Cowboys’ defensive struggles against Jalen Hurts scrambling in the opening loss, it will be something to keep an eye on just a little bit.
The Commanders swept the Giants last season with a 21-18 win in week two and 27-22 win on the road in week nine.
Afternoon kickoff: Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
Whether or not Micah Parsons is going to make his debut for the green and gold in this game remains up in the air, with the pass rusher officially listed as questionable. Even learning that there might be more than just gamesmanship going on when it came to the timing of Parsons’ back injury relative to his status with the Cowboys pre-trade has not completely quenched the flames of Dallas fans still upset about Parsons not being in blue and white. His presence was certainly missed against the Eagles, with the Cowboys making good on their goal of being better against the run, but lacking Parsons’ speed to chase down Hurts at other times.
If Parsons does play in this game, the local DFW area won’t have a hard time tuning into the NFC North battle.
Beyond the low hanging fruit that is the Parsons storyline in this game, in a more general sense all Cowboys fans regardless of their thoughts on the trade need to be rooting against the Packers for the foreseeable future. Dallas owns their next two first-round picks.
This game is also a meeting of teams that have been in the playoffs the last two seasons, with young rosters looking to build staying power within the NFC. The Cowboys will see the Packers shortly after in week four at home. The NFC North was the most competitive division in football in 2024, and like the NFC East, they will go through week one all playing each other. Vikings at Bears puts a bow on week one on Monday Night Football.
The Lions swept the season series against the Packers for the second time in three years last season as part of their 15-win campaign, and have won three in a row at Lambeau Field. The pressure is firmly on the Packers to take the next step this year, and they’ll be tested right away against the Lions.
Early kickoff: Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints
We go from a former Cowboys player making his debut elsewhere, to a former coach making his debut as a head coach for the first time. Kellen Moore’s first game with the New Orleans Saints comes at home against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
The Saints are one of the teams projected to be in contention for the number one overall pick this year, and whether or not that’s fair to a coach who was just the Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator (in Philadelphia) will start to be found out in week one. The Cardinals lost five of their last seven games a season ago, so this might be an early opportunity for the Saints to get a win that would still come as a surprise. They are a 6.5-point underdog at home on FanDuel.
As offensive coordinator for the Eagles, Moore was able to lean into the run game thanks to Saquon Barkley in ways the Cowboys could only dream of during his time in Dallas. It will be interesting to see the next evolution of Moore’s offense with yet another roster where his best skill player is in the backfield with Alvin Kamara. The Saints also named the mobile Spencer Rattler their week one starter. Rattler started six games a season ago as a fifth-round pick. Former Cowboys receiver Brandin Cooks will be one of Rattler’s targets in this game.
The Saints are the reason this game is on the watch list, but the Cowboys also will see the Cardinals this year in week nine on Monday Night Football.
Early kickoff: Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars
At first glance, this game being the final one on the list might feel completely out of left field. Allow me to explain, because there are actually quite a lot of connections to the Cowboys in Jacksonville on Sunday.
For starters, this is a battle of two teams that drafted wide receivers (at least partially for the Jags) in the first round of this year’s draft. This was a position the Cowboys were expected to target, and not only did the first round not allow them to do so, thanks in large part to the Panthers drafting Tetairoa McMillan eighth overall, but they came away from the draft without a single rookie receiver. How much the Cowboys will be haunted by this remains to be seen, as they struggled to get contributions outside any receivers past CeeDee Lamb in week one.
The Jaguars drafted uber-athlete Travis Hunter second overall in a trade-up situation, a player that plenty of fans from around the league will want to tune in to see a little bit of how Jacksonville plans on using him – both on offense and defense. This will be one of the essential tasks for a fellow first-time head coach to Brian Schottenheimer for the Cowboys, Liam Coen with the Jaguars. Coen is similarly getting his first shot at a head job after being an assistant coach in the NFL on and off since 2018, and spending last season as offensive coordinator for the Buccaneers.
When Travis Hunter is on the field defensively for the Jaguars, he will be teamed up with longtime Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis who left in free agency this March. They will be tasked with defending another former Cowboy as well, running back Rico Dowdle who emerged last season. The Cowboys did not have many notable players depart in free agency this offseason, but Lewis and Dowdle were two of them, and in a much lesser sense backup lineman Chuma Edoga is also now with the Jaguars.
Also in a very weird scheduling quirk, week six on the road this year for the Cowboys will be the third year in a row they play the Panthers. They are a team trending in the right direction that’s proven to be pesky before, and for week one they travel to a team looking to finally put it all together around Trevor Lawrence and compete in the AFC South.
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