DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - The Cowboys schedule was released last week, and while we knew the opponents and where the games would be played, we didn’t have the specifics about travel, rest, and primetime slots.
Now that we have all of that information, let’s rank Dallas’ 17 regular season games from easiest to toughest.
17. Sun 12/11 Houston (12:00, FOX)
It’s the Texans and you’re at home. I really don’t know any other way to summarize this one.
16. Sun 12/18 at Jacksonville (12:00, FOX)
Jacksonville is notoriously muggy, and the Jaguars are working to put talent around Trevor Lawrence, but they are still a ways off from being a contender, and the weather should be more tolerable with the game being played in December instead of September.
15. Sun 10/30 Chicago (12:00, FOX)
The Bears are still trying to figure out what they’re doing. New coach, new GM, and a critical year for Justin Fields’ development. They weren’t great in 2021, and they traded away Khalil Mack, and didn’t have a first round pick in April.
Tough to see them being much better right away.
14. Sun 10/23 Detroit (12:00, CBS)
The Lions weren’t great last season, but there was incremental progress that Detroit can be optimistic about. This game and the Chicago game are about the same to me, but the Lions game comes off a week of travel, whereas the Bears game is the second of back-to-back home games.
13. Mon 9/26 at NY Giants (7:15, ABC/ESPN)
The Giants could be good in the near future, but that time is not right now. Cowboys get an extra day of rest on their travel to the Giants in week 3.
12. Thu 11/24 NY Giants (3:30, FOX)
The second Giants game comes in as a little more difficult than the first. You’re at home, but the short rest is a bigger factor with the game being played on Thanksgiving.
11. Sun 1/8 at Washington (TBD)
I’ll be surprised if Dallas’ week 18 matchup with Washington matters much to playoff seeding.
There’s a chance this one is played largely by reserves.
10. Sun 10/2 Washington (12:00, FOX)
This game is earlier in the season than the second Washington game, so there will still be some competitiveness. It’s also being played on a short week coming off of travel.
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9. Sun 11/20 at Minnesota (3:25, CBS)
Minnesota is a tough team to figure out. I kind of always expect them to be good, but not quite good enough. Which makes sense that they landed right in the middle of this list.
8. Sat 12/24 Philadelphia (3:25, FOX)
This is the part of the list where the games get a bit tougher. This game in week 16 of the NFL season will almost certainly have playoff implications.
Philadelphia will be Dallas’ toughest competition for the division, but a home date at the end of the season helps alleviate some pressure.
7. Sun 12/4 Indianapolis (7:20, NBC)
Indianapolis is a good team, and they upgraded at quarterback with Matt Ryan. The only thing that prevents this from being higher on the ranking is that Dallas is at home, they’ll be coming off an extended rest, and Dan Quinn showed in 2021 that he can handle Matt Ryan just fine.
6. Sun 9/18 Cincinnati (3:25, CBS)
The Bengals are a good football team, and they have a superstar in the making at quarterback. Two things keep this game out of the top five: there’s a little recency bias with the Bengals (they had a great run, but they were not the second best team in the NFL last season) and it’s early in the season when every team is still finding themselves.
5. Sun 10/16 at Philadelphia (7:20, NBC)
Prime time football, on the road for the second consecutive week, against the toughest team in your division. This game will be Dallas’ biggest hurdle in the division.
4. Sun 9/11 Tampa Bay (7:20, NBC)
Cowboys looking for some primetime revenge to open the season after last year’s heartbreaker. The Bucs showed some cracks last season, and the Cowboys get the benefit of playing this one at AT&T Stadium.
3. Thu 12/29 at Tennessee (7:15, PRIME)
What did Dallas most struggle with in 2021? Physicality. Bullies. That type of football is Tennessee’s bread and butter. A road game against a team like that in surely brisk temperatures could make things tough on the Cowboys.
2. Sun 10/9 at LA Rams (3:25, FOX)
The Rams have plenty of weapons, and the Cowboys are just 1-3 against Sean McVay since he took over in LA. We’ll be talking about this game as an early season “measuring stick” to determine if the Cowboys are true contenders.
1. Sun 11/13 at Green Bay (3:25, FOX)
The best quarterback opponent on the Cowboys’ schedule, on the road, with plenty of potential distractions as Mike McCarthy returns to Lambeau. This will be the toughest regular season game for the Cowboys in 2022.
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