The 65th season of Dallas Cowboys football begins today.
Nearly eight months after the Cowboys’ 2023 season imploded at AT&T Stadium against the Packers, Dallas starts its quest for a sixth Lombardi Trophy. The journey begins in Cleveland.
Surprisingly, that’s a good omen.
The Cowboys have opened an NFL season against the Browns three times in their history.
All three games were played in Cleveland, as today’s game will be. More importantly, all three games ended in Dallas victories.
With all of the questions hanging over this team as this 65th edition hits the field, they need all the good omens they can get.
The Cowboys begin this year with an all-time record of 562-413-6 (.576) over the previous 64 seasons. They will play their 1,000th regular season game in September of next year – the second of that year, to be exact.
All-Time Vs. Cleveland
As mentioned above, Dallas is 3-0 when they open the season against the Browns.
The first victory came on September 17th of 1967 – when both teams were in the NFL and before Cleveland migrated to the AFC after the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
Don Meredith threw touchdown passes to Bob Hayes and Dan Reeves. Chuck Howley’s third-quarter, 28-yard pick six proved to be the game winner in the 21-14 victory.
The second victory came on September 1, 1991.
Troy Aikman threw a pair of second-quarter touchdowns – one each to Jay Novacek and Michael Irvin – in the 26-14 win.
The last time the teams met to open a season was in 2008. Tony Romo threw a touchdown pass to Terrell Owens and Marion Barber added two rushing touchdowns.
Dallas won 28-10.
Despite the opening day successes, the Browns still hold an 18-14 lead in the overall series.
In the other 12 meetings between the teams in Cleveland – not played on the opening week – the Browns are 10-2 against Dallas at home. The Cowboys are 9-8 when playing Cleveland in Texas.
The Browns won the last meeting – played at AT&T Stadium – on Oct. 4, 2020, by a 49-38 count.
Dak Prescott threw for four touchdowns in the loss. But Odell Beckham had three total touchdowns in the win.
Prescott is 1-1 against the Browns, picking up a 35-10 win in Cleveland on Nov. 6, 2016.
All-Time In Season Openers
Including the three wins in Cleveland, the Cowboys are 40-23-1 all-time in season openers.
It will be the second-straight season that Dallas has opened on the road. Last year’s 40-0 rout of the Giants in New York snapped a three-game losing streak in season-openers.
It also broke a three-game losing streak in season-openers on the road.
The Cowboys lost their last home season-opener – 19-3 to Tampa Bay. The last home season-opening win came against the Giants – 35-17 – back in 2019.
Last year’s win over New York improved Dallas’ record against NFC East teams to open a season to 20-4-1 all-time.
The Cowboys are 6-3 all-time against AFC North teams. In addition to the 3-0 mark against Cleveland, Dallas is 3-3 against the Steelers.
They have yet to face the Bengals or the Ravens to start a season.
When it comes to season-opening opponents, the Cowboys have faced all but two of the current NFC teams over the years.
So far, Dallas hasn’t met Green Bay or Seattle in the first week. In addition to the two missing AFC North teams, Dallas still hasn’t opened the season against six other AFC teams.
ALL-TIME OPENING DAY VS. OPPONENTS
- New York Giants 11-1
- Washington Commanders 6-2-1
- St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals 3-3
- Pittsburgh Steelers 3-3
- Philadelphia Eagles 3-1
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1-3
- Cleveland Browns 3-0
- Los Angeles Rams 2-1
- San Diego Chargers 2-0
- Atlanta Falcons 1-1
- Chicago Bears 1-1
- Minnesota Vikings 1-1
- Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts 1-0
- Buffalo Bills 1-0
- Detroit Lions 1-0
- Carolina Panthers 0-1
- Houston Texans 0-1
- Jacksonville Jaguars 0-1
- New Orleans Saints 0-1
- New York Jets 0-1
- San Francisco 49ers 0-1
TEAMS NOT YET PLAYED IN SEASON-OPENER
NFC:
- Green Bay Packers
- Seattle Seahawks
AFC:
- Baltimore Ravens
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Denver Broncos
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Las Vegas Raiders
- Miami Dolphins
- New England Patriots
- Tennessee Titans