The Dallas Cowboys will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, with the holiday matchup set for FOX and the FOX One app in the 2026 NFL regular season. The game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington was announced Monday and gives one of the league’s fiercest rivalries a national stage again.
The matchup carries real weight because last season’s meetings were both decided by one score, including Dallas’ 24-21 comeback in late November at home. Dak Prescott threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third in that win, Brandon Aubrey ended it with a 42-yard field goal as time expired, and the 21-point rally matched the largest in Cowboys history.
That comeback came against a Philadelphia team that was 8-2 before the loss and then slid into a three-game losing streak. The Eagles still won the division, but they fell to the 49ers in the wild-card round. Dallas, meanwhile, went on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving the following week, only to lose four of its final five games and finish 7-9-1, missing the playoffs.
There is a reason this holiday date feels larger than a routine schedule note. The Cowboys are trying to turn a defense that gave up a league-high 30.1 points per game last season into something sturdier, and they moved quickly to change the staff. Matt Eberflus was fired after the season, and Christian Parker was hired as defensive coordinator after spending the last two seasons on Philadelphia’s coaching staff. Parker had been the Eagles’ defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator, and he arrived after Philadelphia finished fifth in points allowed and won the Super Bowl in 2024 with him on the staff.
Dallas also spent the offseason trying to remake part of its roster, trading for former Green Bay Packers edge rusher Rashan Gary and using draft picks on Ohio State safety Caleb Downs and a UCF player. The moves do not erase last season’s problems, but they show how much the Cowboys have tied this game — and the season around it — to a reset on defense.
For Philadelphia, the Thanksgiving trip is another chance to test itself in a game that has already shown how little separates the teams when they meet. For Dallas, it is a nationally televised shot at a rival that has beaten it, pushed it and exposed it, all before the holiday table is cleared. On Nov. 26, the attention will be there whether either team is ready for it or not.
