FRISCO, Texas — Jerry Jones said Tuesday that he has lost a season opener and won the Super Bowl, and the two teams in last season’s Super Bowl did the same thing in Week 1.
The Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager made his weekly appearance on 105.3 The Fan two days after a 28-20 loss to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Jones’ hosts noted that Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer has not been shy about championship aspirations, and that the conversation has since turned to growing pains.
Jones answered by going back to the last two teams to play for a title, and how they grew over the 2025 season.
“The two teams that played in the Super Bowl last year, they both lost their opening game,” Jones said. “Both of them evolved as the season went along. I’ve lost the first game and won the Super Bowl.”
The Seattle Seahawks lost 17-13 at home to the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 7, 2025. The New England Patriots lost 20-13 at home to the Las Vegas Raiders the same day. Both finished 14-3, and Seattle beat New England 29-13 in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium.
Dallas lost its 1993 opener 35-16 at Washington on Sept. 6, 1993, at RFK Stadium. The Cowboys went on to win Super Bowl XXVIII.
Jerry Jones Calls The Opener ‘Unquestionably Important’
Jones did not wave off Sunday.
“So the first game for this team was unquestionably important. Don’t get it wrong,” Jones continued. “We all needed the exact plan executed and in place, and had the kind of game the Giants had. But can we basically keep in place where we’re trying to go with this group? I saw nothing on review all day yesterday. I saw nothing that tells us we should depart away from the plan we’ve got of getting better on defense.”
New York held the ball for 36:40, ran 68 plays to Dallas’ 52, and punted once. Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart completed 23-of-29 passes for 230 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Chief operating officer Stephen Jones appeared on the station’s K&C show Monday and said the Cowboys still have the right group on offense.
Where The Cowboys Stand After Week 1
When Jones called back into the show after his phone cut out, he said the organization is where it thought it was on the things that hurt Dallas on Sunday.
“The question is, okay, what are we going to do about it? What is there to do about it?” Jones said. “Well, the real world is that we’re where we thought we were, relative to continually working on the things that you saw kick us in the butt. And we’re going to continue that.”
“Really, the very things that, frankly, caused us to not win that ball game are the things that we should be working on and what we were working on going into the game,” Jones added.
Dallas went 7-9-1 last season and has missed the playoffs two years running. The Cowboys hired defensive coordinator Christian Parker in January after allowing a league-high 511 points.
Schottenheimer told his players after the game that Dallas had lost mile one of a 17-mile marathon.
The Cowboys host the Washington Commanders on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX. Dallas then plays the Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, and Philadelphia Eagles.
