By way of Fansided's Dallas Cowboys branch in The Landry Hat, team Analyst Levi Dombro just threw down the gauntlet ahead of this year's face-off with their in-state rivals in the Houston Texans in week four.
In an intel piece published on Monday, July 5th (this week), Combro audaciously claimed,
"The Dallas Cowboys are America's Team, so it goes without saying that they run the state of Texas. And while they didn't turn in the best record within the Lone Star State's borders during the 2025 NFL season, the arrow is pointing up for them to reclaim that throne this coming fall."
While the NFL world still has exactly 31 days until the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers do battle in the league's annual "Hall of Fame" preseason kickoff game from Canton, Ohio, it's never too early for bulletin board material. With that, let's examine the bodacious stance of my metallic silver-clad counterpart in Dombro so that we can get to the bottom of where things project to land in what will be the eighth meeting all-time between the two Texas-based franchises.
Where things stand between the Texans and Cowboys in 2026
For starters, let's address the AT&T Stadium-sized elephant in the room. The last time these hombres had a hoedown during an NFL season was way over yonder in 2024, when the visiting Texans moseyed into the Cowboy saloon and proceeded to have a hog-killin' time to the tune of a 34-10 Houston victory. I reckon the boys in deep steel blue thoroughly enjoyed themselves, especially as the Texans' defense had the Cowboys' offense in the hoosegow all game long.
Ahem. Old Western lingo aside, the Texans have enjoyed more recent success than the Cowboys, both in head-to-head contests and overall performance. If we just go from 2023 until now (the arrival of quarterback C.J. Stroud and head coach DeMeco Ryans), the two teams have put up respective stretches of:
Houston Texans
- Overall record: 32-19
- Playoff record: 3-3
- Head-to-head record: 1-0 (two of the last three since 2018)
Dallas Cowboys
- Overall record: 26-24
- Playoff record: 0-1 (missed the playoffs the last two seasons)
- Head-to-head record: 0-1 (last won 27-23 in 2022)
Now, historically we all know that Dallas dwarfs Houston in terms of overall success and national reach, especially with the former having at least a 42-year head start on the latter. Then, with a 5-0 Lombardi advantage in the Cowboys' favor, of course the Texans have a mountain to climb in order to just sniff the same organizational stratosphere as them. However, the NFL is a "what have you done for me lately?" business, and Houston is firmly in the driver's seat in that department as of late.
While Dallas comes into the 2026 season with the services of multiple All-Pro skill position players in quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, Houston will enter their 25th anniversary season with both the league's best overall defense, and an offense led by a motivated 25-year-old in Stroud who wants to prove to doubters that he's still one of the best young signal callers in the league.
Speaking of Stroud, this will be the first official on-field meeting between Stroud and Prescott, as a major injury to Prescott in 2024 knocked him out of the aformentioned contest in Dallas.
It should be an electric contest regardless, as stated in my synopsis of the upcoming contest in Dombro's piece that was referenced earlier. But make no mistake, I'll have my pesos on the Bayou City desperados to lay claim to the "best team in Texas" title for at least one more trip around the sun.
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