IRVING, Texas – The Cowboys will become the first team to play the Rams since their return to California, as they are slated to open their preseason on national TV in Los Angeles this summer.
The Cowboys announced their preseason schedule on Thursday afternoon, highlighted by an Aug. 13 trip to the Los Angeles Coliseum to face off against the Rams in the preseason opener, televised on ESPN.
The trip makes sense, given that the Cowboys will once again go through training camp just up the road in Oxnard, Calif.
The dates for the rest of the preseason aren't finalized, but after their trip to play the Rams, the Cowboys will return to Texas to host the Miami Dolphins. They'll travel to Seattle for their third preseason game, against the Seahawks, before concluding the preseason at AT&T Stadium against the Houston Texans.
Some of those names should sound familiar, given the Cowboys' scheduling history in recent preseasons. The Cowboys have played the Dolphins five times during the preseason since 2010, while this year's meeting against the Texans will be the third in the last four preseasons.
The Seahawks aren't quite as common an occurrence. The Cowboys traveled to Seattle in back-to-back preseasons in 2005 and 2006, but they have not played a preseason contest against the Seahawks in the decade since.
Thanks to the mid-August home date against the Dolphins, the Cowboys will have a shorter stay at training camp than in years past. They are scheduled to arrive in California on July 28 and stay in Oxnard for three weeks before breaking camp on Aug. 19, just before the game against Miami.
Last year, they opened the preseason with back-to-back road games on the West Coast, extending their stay in California to nearly a full month in the process.
Since Jason Garrett took over as the Cowboys' head coach, the team has gone 8-13 in preseason games. Last summer they opened with three-straight losses to San Diego, San Francisco and Minnesota before concluding the preseason with a win against Houston.
In 2014, when they captured their first NFC East title since 2009, they went winless during the preseason.
The NFL typically announces its regular season schedule within two weeks of releasing the preseason schedule, so the Cowboys should know the dates of their 16 regular season games before the start of the 2016 NFL Draft. This year, they have home and away dates with their divisional rivals, as well as home games against Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago and Tampa. They will also travel to play Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Minnesota and San Francisco.
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