Dallas Cowboys Egregiously Disrespected in Post-Schedule Release NFL Power Rankings

Dallas Cowboys fans might want to sit down for this one.

FOX Sports' Ralph Vacchiano put out his latest power rankings after the schedule release last week and he has the Cowboys sitting in the No. 21 spot.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Vacchiano actually has the Giants sitting ahead of the Cowboys in the No. 19 spot.

Vacchiano is clearly down on the Cowboys, and partly because of their tough schedule that includes a lot of travel, primetime games and plenty of tough opponents.

"They have the third-toughest schedule when measured by expected wins for their opponent, and they travel more than all but three NFL teams (27,980 miles)," Vacchiano said. "Add in five prime-time games and they have an exhausting road."

Meanwhile, Vacchiano views the Giants' first six games as a plus and it's safe to assume he's hopping on the John Harbaugh bandwagon.

"The NFL teed up the first six games for John Harbaugh, with only a road trip to the Rams looking impossible. They better build up a nice cushion, though, because life gets tough after their Week 8 bye," Vacchiano wrote.

Bear in mind, the Giants have the ninth-toughest strength of schedule based on 2026 win totals of opponents from Vegas oddsmakers, so they don't have an easy road, either.

Why Cowboys ranking is egregiously bad

Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb (88) smiles while on the bench in the second half against the Atlanta Falcons. — Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb. | Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

In no world should the Cowboys be ranked behind the Giants.

Based on what we saw last season, we know by default that Dallas has the better offense. Maybe that changes and Jaxson Dart goes on to have a monster season and leads the Giants' unit to a ton of success, but that hasn't happened yet.

Defensively, there's certainly a scenario in which the Giants sport a better defense after giving up fewer points than Dallas in 2025.

However, it's not like the Giants were lighting the world on fire defensively last season after finishing as the seventh-worst scoring unit in the league.

Add to that the fact that the Cowboys made several additions to improve their defense and the Giants lost two key players in Dexter Lawrence and Cor'Dale Flott and it sets the stage for these two teams to be even, at best, defensively.

At the very least, the Cowboys should be ahead of the Giants in these rankings, and we wouldn't argue with anyone saying the Cowboys should be even higher than No. 19.

That said, the Cowboys should be considered a fringe playoff team for now because they still have to prove their defensive overhaul was a success and that will be the difference in the team's season.

Add us as a preferred source on Google