Dallas Cowboys 2024 NFL schedule release: Dates, times, primetime games and more 

The 2024 Dallas Cowboys schedule is here!

Open your calendars and start your engines. The 2024 Dallas Cowboys schedule is here.

After multiple days of purposeful reveals and unavoidable leaks, the entire 2024 NFL schedule has arrived and with it the path that the Dallas Cowboys will travel to what we hope (as always) is a sixth Super Bowl title.

On Monday we got the announcement that Dallas would visit the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 under the watchful eye of new FOX analyst Tom Brady, but the days following saw a slow drip of different reports that we tracked all throughout the process to get to this point.

We will have plenty of discussion here on the blog about some of these ideas in more specific detail, but here are some immediate takeaways (going chronologically):

• It was a bit jarring to see that the Cowboys’ home opener is a 1 PM ET kickoff. They have not had a home opener to a season in the early slate since 2020 (the watermelon kick game against Dan Quinn’s Atlanta Falcons).
• Playing on a Thursday night so early in the season is extremely weird and uncommon. In fact, since the dawn of Thursday Night Football in 2006 this has never happened. Getting one out of the way is nice, but having to experience a road Thursday game is something Dallas had avoided until 2022 when they played the Tennessee Titans. Amazon has paid a lot for the TNF package and clearly want to get their money’s worth. Now the Cowboys will have two separate parts of their season with Thursday interruptions.
• The Pittsburgh trip is in the first week of October which promises incredible weather for an amazing scene. I’ve made the trek to Pittsburgh for a Cowboys game (2016, yes, it was amazing) and cannot recommend it enough.
• That Steelers game will mark the third road trip in the first five weeks of the season for the Cowboys. Some simple math tells us that the remaining 12 games will feature “only” five road trips. It did not work out in the playoffs obviously, but Dallas was tremendous at home last year. Having the bulk of home games take place over the second half of the season is a good thing for this team.
• Dallas drew the in-state Texans on Monday Night Football in Week 11, but what is notable is what that game kickstarts. Normally the Cowboys go from Sunday to Sunday to Thanksgiving, a three-game stretch in 12 days (they often have played on the Thursday after as well). By playing on the Monday that is 10 days before Thanksgiving that is now shortened to three games in 11 days, not to mention that Dallas also plays on a Thursday night earlier in the season as noted against the Giants.
• Getting the Giants on Thanksgiving is boring. Dallas won in convincing fashion two years ago when the two met while we all had turkey and pie, hopefully it is another easy victory.
• Thankfully the Cowboys come out of Thanksgiving with a bit of extra rest as they head into another Monday night game, this one with Cincinnati. Dallas plays on multiple Mondays and Thursdays in 2024.
• On paper the end of the season looks rather nice for the Cowboys. The Panthers and Commanders are in the mix there and Carolina is one of only two road games from Thanksgiving on (Philadelphia is the other). Thankfully there won’t be any games in too cold of an environment.
• Dallas finishes at home for the first time in quite a while. This will mark the first time since 2019 that the Cowboys close at home, a game that was also against Washington.

The Cowboys preseason schedule is also now available:

• Sunday, August 11th: at Los Angeles Rams (CBS 11) at 3:25pm CT
• Saturday, August 17th: at Las Vegas Raiders (CBS 11) at 9:00pm CT
• Saturday, August 24th: Los Angeles Chargers (CBS 11) at 3:00pm CT