Cowboys: 3 ways NFL screwed Dallas over with 2022 schedule
By John Buhler
The NFL absolutely had it out for the Dallas Cowboys for giving them all these hard games.
If they are going to put you in primetime five times, well, six if you count the Thanksgiving Day game, you better be ready to play if you are the Dallas Cowboys.
If it was possible, the NFL would put the Cowboys in primetime every single weekend. They are America’s Team after all. Despite not having been to a conference championship game since the Bill Clinton Administration, this fan base of theirs is as passionate as ever. But even if the Cowboys have the biggest reach of any team in the league, they still have to play to win the games, right?
Here are three instances where the NFL totally screwed over the Cowboys with their scheduling.
Dallas Cowboys: 3 instances where the NFL made their schedule way too hard
3. Week 2: vs. Cincinnati Bengals (Sunday, Sept. 18)
It may not even be a primetime game, but the NFL somehow found a way to screw the Cowboys before fall even gets here. While they have the distinct pleasure of getting to host Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Jerryworld on Sunday Night Football in Week 1, this is not where the NFL sticks it to the Cowboys. It is when they host the AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2.
Though the Cowboys could conceivably beat both of these teams out of the gate, when has Dallas ever asserted itself as a standup franchise over the last quarter century? They are more likely to go 0-2 from the jump than to be undefeated heading into Week 3. Of course, the Bengals could pull back considerably if their Super Bowl hangover is of the devastating stay-in-bed variety.
Even if their next two games are very winnable ones at the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, because of course it is, and home vs. the Washington Commanders, nobody is going to believe the Cowboys are a good football team if they drop the opening pair to the Buccaneers and Bengals consecutively. Two early-season losses will be a difficult narrative for them to overcome.
Losing to Brady is one thing, but following that up with a loss to The Geauxt is not an ideal start.