Jerry Jones Isn't Taking Dallas Cowboys 2026 Schedule Concern Seriously

The Dallas Cowboys have a long trip ahead of them for the Week 3 game against the Baltimore Ravens, but Jerry Jones isn't worried about it at all.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The down side of international games in the NFL is they consist of a lot of travel, which can add some extra wear and tear for players over the course of a season — and that's something the Dallas Cowboys will be dealing with this coming season.

The Cowboys are going to take on the Baltimore Ravens in the first ever NFL contest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in Week 3 and that trip will be 10 hours and over 5,000 miles each way.

Ideally, the Cowboys get the next week off, but not only did Dallas opt out of that approach, the team isn't going to get its bye week until all the way in Week 14, which is the latest bye the Cowboys have had since 1990 (also Week 14).

When asked if he's concerned about the travel to Brazil and lack of a bye for the Cowboys the following week, owner Jerry Jones equated the trip to a "night out on the town."

"The wear and tear is a lot less than a night out on the town," Jones said, per Yahoo Sports' Jori Epstein.

Mileage adds to tough schedule

Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

There are a few reasons why the Cowboys have a tough schedule for 2026, and one of them has to do with Dallas' opponents.

According to Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis, Dallas has the fourth-toughest schedule in the NFL based on win totals from Vegas oddsmakers for the coming season.

The Cowboys have a whopping seven playoff teams on their slate, including the Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars.

That isn't the extent of their tough opponents, though, as the New York Giants, Washington Commanders, Ravens, Tampa Bay Bucs and Tennessee Titans could all be better than last season.

Then, there's the mileage. The Cowboys will travel the fourth-most in the league, mostly thanks to the more than 10,000-mile round trip to Brazil. Even if we remove that trip entirely, the Cowboys would still be around the middle of the pack in travel mileage.

Both of those factors make the Cowboys' Week 14 bye daunting. A tough slate like Dallas' could use a break sooner than when the Cowboys will actually get one.

Granted, Week 4 isn't exactly an ideal bye week, either, but in this case if we had to choose between Week 4 and Week 14, it's easy to choose the former.