Dallas Cowboys fans are high on the team\u2019s roster and coaching overhaul ahead of the 2026 NFL season. But oddsmakers? Not so much, as evident by their stance on the team\u2019s Week 1 matchup. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t![\"Jan](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/USATSI_27930785-scaled.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJan 4, 2026; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) throws a pass during the first quarter against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRobert Deutsch-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Think fast: Is the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 Week 1 road showdown versus the New York Giants an easy game? <\/p>\n
I\u2019m betting most Cowboys fans reading this article will say yes. History does, too. With Dak Prescott at quarterback, the Cowboys have only one loss to the Giants since 2016 and that was Dak\u2019s first ever NFL game. <\/p>\n
But oddsmakers\u2019 stance, which is always worth paying attention to, is that this will be a close matchup. And that raises some awkward questions. Even more so when you factor in win total expectations set on the Cowboys early on. <\/p>\n
The Cowboys open as slight favorites vs Giants<\/p>\n
If I had to guess when the Week 1 showdown was announced<\/a>, I would have gone with the Cowboys being four-point road favorites over the Giants. Instead, oddsmakers had the spread open at 1.5 points, and in most places it has now moved to 2.5. <\/p>\n To be fair, home-field advantage is usually priced by oddsmakers at nearly two points. In other words, if this game was played at AT&T Stadium, the Cowboys would likely be favored by 4.5 points. <\/p>\n Even still, it\u2019s a smaller spread than I expected. And in a way, I\u2019m reminded of sportsbooks being significantly lower on last year\u2019s Cowboys than the fanbase. And unfortunately, the latter was the wrong one about the 2025 team. <\/p>\n Spread brings up awkward questions for the Cowboys<\/p>\n Simply put, the spread, combined with the Cowboys\u2019 win total projected at 8.5, is a reminder that so far, all the promising changes coming to the defense exist only on paper. <\/p>\n Christian Parker appears to be a home run hire at defensive coordinator, but how much impact can he have in Year 1? Caleb Downs may be the steal of the first round, but can he play man coverage at nickel (where Dallas intends to play him initially) to succeed against top receivers? Malachi Lawrence has plenty of upside, but what will his snap count look like as a rookie? <\/p>\n These are the questions that will define how much the Cowboys defense improves in 2026. After all, we\u2019re talking about a historically bad unit. Not to mention, concerns exist on offense as well. Can Dallas overcome mediocre pass pro at offensive tackle? When will George Pickens show up? <\/p>\n In my writing, I hate to hit readers with question after question. I think it\u2019s kind of a gimmick. But, that\u2019s kind of the point here. <\/p>\n As excited as we are about many of the changes brewing in Dallas, and I am, it\u2019s only fair to wonder why an objective third party (oddsmakers) view the Cowboys with much more pessimism.<\/p>\n This is far from a perfect team. And with the fourth hardest schedule of the 2026 season, every game is a must win. If you ask the money, not even the Giants will be a walk in the park. <\/p>\n \t\t\t Dallas Cowboys News<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t The Dallas Cowboys schedule is coming out on Thursday, May 14. We already know about three dates\/rivals, but here are four predictions about what\u2019s dropping later in the week. <\/p>\n 2026 NFL Schedule Release<\/a> Dallas Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys fans are high on the team\u2019s roster and coaching overhaul ahead of the 2026 NFL season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[119497,230,229,257,2461,7,6],"class_list":["post-890499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-cowboys","tag-2026-nfl-schedule-release","tag-cowboys","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallascowboys","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116569733179483573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Nov](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/USATSI_27683728-200x200.jpg\")
\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCowboys 2026 Schedule Release Predictions: Primetime matchups, season finale, Christmas Day, and more\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n