The Dallas Cowboys open their 3-game preseason schedule tonight against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night. Here’s everything to know to watch the game and some things to watch for as well.
- Who: Dallas Cowboys at Seattle Seahawks
- What: Preseason Game 1
- Where: Lumen Field (Seattle, Washington)
- When: Saturday, August 15, 8 p.m. EST
- TV: NFL Network
- Odds: SEA -3, O/U 39.5
How the Cowboys & Seahawks Fared in 2025
The Cowboys missed the playoffs for the 2nd consecutive season, going 7-9-1 and featuring 1 of the NFL’s best offenses alongside its worst defense — a terrible combination that came to be after Dallas traded its best player, edge rusher Micah Parsons, just weeks before the start of the regular season.
The Seahawks are coming off 1 of the more dominant Super Bowl runs in recent memory, and did so with a 2nd-year head coach in Mike Macdonald and a 1st-year quarterback in Sam Darnold.
Seattle went 14-3 in the regular season and featured workmanlike, superstar players on both sides of the ball. On offense, that meant Darnold feeding the ball to wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year after he led the NFL with 119 receptions for 1,793 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.
On defense, it was the Legion of Boom reincarnated with a secondary featuring stars like cornerback Devon Witherspoon and rookie safety Nick Emmanwori.
One thing to watch for the Seahawks is how they replace a pair of key starters who left in free agency: running back and Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker and cornerback Riq Woolen.
1 Thing to Watch: Cowboys Try to Revamp Defense
Even though it’s a preseason game that won’t feature starters on the field for meaningful time, all eyes will still be on the Cowboys’ defense.
Because of the Parsons trade, the Cowboys had 2 1st-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft and used both of them on defensive players.
At No. 11 overall, the Cowboys drafted a plug-and-play starter in Ohio State safety Caleb Downs — perhaps the best pound-for-pound player in the entire draft.
While Downs will start the season at slot cornerback, there’s little doubt he could play every position in the secondary and has a football IQ that’s been compared — however unfairly — to Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed and current NFL stars Kyle Hamilton and Derwin James.
“Productive, high-effort safety with three years of starting experience in big games at Alabama and Ohio State,” NFL Draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft evaluation. “Downs is an alpha who brings immense juice on each snap. He’s at his best when deployed near the line as a box safety or big nickel back. He’ll gamble a little bit as a run defender, but he makes more than enough disruptive plays near the line of scrimmage to make up for it. He’s fluent in man or zone over the first two levels and is rarely fooled by play-action or misdirection. While he’s quick to close and strike underneath, there are hints of caution that prevent him from making more plays on the football. Downs isn’t the biggest, fastest or most versatile player, but he consistently puts his stamp on games.”
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